LORD DENNING:
The first point to be considered is whether the Nikoi Olai family are entitled to these 900 acres of land as their ancestral property or whether it is Asere stool land. Upon this point the Nikoi Olai family relied greatly upon an earlier case decided in 1948 by the same judge, Jackson, J. It was a case where a piece of land was required for a wireless station. It was part of these Mukose lands. The government had acquired it. The compensation had been assessed by Korsah, J. But the question was: to whom was the compensation payable? The rival claimants were the Nikoi Olai family and the Asere Mantse. Jackson, J. held that the Nikoi Olai family were the parties in possession of seven-eighths of the area as the owners thereof and, as such, were entitled to receive compensation for seven-eights of the area of the land; but that in respect of the remaining one-eighth the Asere Mantse was entitled to receive compensation for that portion. The Nikoi Olai family asserted before …