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KORANTENG-ADDOW J.
The respondent was married to the daughter of the appellants under the customary law of the Frafras. He had one child by his wife but for some reason the marriage broke down. According to custom, therefore, the girl brought the matter to the notice of her parents and requested them to go through the formalities for the dissolution of the marriage. The parents contacted the parents of the husband on the matter asking them, as custom demanded, for the return of their “calabash.” (This euphemism is the symbolic language for asking for the return of their daughter who in this graphic language is analogised to that common receptacle — the calabash.) According to Frafra custom, the return of the calabash constituted a dissolution of the marriage. The return of the calabash is a privilege of the husband, that is, the husband’s family, never that of the wife’s. If the request is met the marriage is brought to a peaceful end. But there are occasions when the husband may refus…