ADU V. KYEREMEH

JUDGMENT

ADADE J.S.C.

It is a serious indictment on the administration of justice in this country that a case of such simple dimensions should take as long as 26 years to see itself through the courts. It started in November 1960; it is now, in April 1987, being given hopefully its final farewell. 24 out of these 26 years were spent in the Court of Appeal alone. When in 1981, in Abba v. Nframa, Supreme Court, 30 November 1981, unreported, I came upon a similar situation, I whined. That case took twelve years. This one is worse.

The facts here are straightforward. On 18 January 1958 Yaw Kwayie, a licensed moneylender, lent the defendant, Moses Adu, £1,400 repayable on 31 January 1959, at an interest of £100. To secure repayment of this loan Moses Adu mortgaged his house (the one in dispute), and a cocoa farm to Yaw Kwayie. The deed of mortgage was tendered as exhibit E. Adu failed to repay the debt on the due date; accordingly, as is customary with moneylenders, Kwayie foreclosed the mort…