PAINTSIL V. NYARKOWA AND OTHERS

FRANCOIS J.A.: In an action in the High Court, Cape Coast, the appellant sued for trespass to his family land described as “Okuntan-Osubun situate at Gomoa Hwida . . . bounded on the north by Obofu-Annan, in another direction by the same Obofu-Annan, on the south by Komfu Dadzie and on the west by Obuafu.” He pleaded that the issue as to title had been determined and finally settled in his favour by a judgment of the Supreme Court of 17 January 1966 in suit reported as Eduful v. Pantsil [1966] G.L.R. 27 which had ultimately reversed an earlier judgment of the Gomoa Asin Local Court. He urged therefore that the respondents who were privies to that suit were forever barred from re-litigating the issue. The question posed for determination was consequently one of estoppel per rem judicatam.

The defendants-respondents in answer urged long, uninterrupted possession covering a period of over 40 years, by themselves and 200 years by their grantors, Ebusuapanyin Kofi Eduful and the Twidan fami…