OBAAPANYIN ABENA MANFOWA V. RONALD OTCHERE AND THE REGIONAL LANDS OFFICER

RULING

The instant delivery is in answer to a meritless application filed by the 2nd Defendant herein, the [Central] Regional Lands Officer, seeking to set aside the service of the originating processes filed by the Plaintiff herein to initiate the instant action, being a writ and a statement of claim.

For purposes of convenience and brevity, I will henceforth refer to the writ of summons and the accompanying statement of claim simply as “the writ” since under the regime of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (CI 47), a writ of summons and a statement of claim are inseparable documents. It has been held by the Court of Appeal that a writ of summons and a statement of claim are not mutually exclusive of each other, and that they are composite and integral. See: Norteye v. Norteye [2020-2022] 1 GLR 646, CA (per holding 1).

For a better appreciation of this ruling, I need to recount, in some detail, the antecedents of the case culminating in the instant application.

On 29th January …