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LARTEI V. FIO

(1960) JELR 67512 (SC)

Supreme Court  •  9 May 1960  •  Ghana

Coram
OLLENNU J.

Judgement

JUDGMENT

OLLENNU, J.

(His lordship referred to the claim and continued).

It was submitted on behalf of the appellant that the proceedings before and the judgment of the Local Court “A” are null and void for want of jurisdiction, because the claim is for specific performance, an equitable relief which the Local Court is not vested with jurisdiction to grant. There is no doubt that under section 15 of the Native Courts (Southern Ghana) Ordinance, Cap. 98, cases which a native court is empowered to entertain are those involving customary law; it is true also that specific performance is an equitable relief.

But it does not follow that every claim which a Ghanaian makes to compel another Ghanaian to fulfil a promise or an agreement is a claim for specific performance under English principles of equity. Long before the introduction of English law into this country a person could be compelled by the Council of the Chief to fulfil his promise or comply with the terms of an agreement he enters in…

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