Nunekpeku And Others v Ametepe [1961] Glr 301-305:

Material Facts:

The plaintiffs-respondents, herein respondents, are the head and principal members of the Agbeve family, recognized as the owners of the Bawe land. A junior member of the Agbeve family had given out a portion of the Bawe land to the defendant-appellant. The respondents sought to eject the defendant-appellant from the land on grounds that he was not a member of the Agbeve family and that he was granted a portion of the Bawe land without the knowledge and consent of the plaintiff. An action by the respondent for ejectment at the South Anlo Local Court succeeded, and the defendant-appellant appealed.

Issue:

Whether or not the defendant-appellant was entitled to occupy the portion of the Bawe land given?

Arguments of the Appellant:

1. That there is no evidence to substantiate the plaintiffs’ statement that the defendant is not a member of the Agbeve family.

2. That there is sufficient admission in the evidence of the plaintiffs that the defendants is a son of a member of the Agbeve family.

3. That if there is evidence that the defendant is a member even of the general and not the immediate family of Agbeve, he is entitled to exercise the customary usufructural right to cultivate, farm and occupy family land, and cannot be ejected, even if he purports to alienate same.

Arguments of the Respondent:

1. That the appellant was not a member of the Agbeve family.

Holding:

The defendant-appellant was entitled to occupy the land.

Ratio Decidendi:

Following an admission by the second plaintiff-respondent that the defendant-appellant was a member of the Agbeve family on the maternal side, the court found that the defendant-appellant is entitled to occupy any available part of the Agbeve family land and that once he has occupied that portion, he has a limited right to it, and cannot be ejected therefrom at the will of the individual member of the family. That the only condition under which the defendant-appellant can be ejected from the land is if the entire family or the principal members thereof had resolved that he should be ejected from or dispossessed of the portion of family land.