YIADOM AND OTHERS V. KONADU AND OTHERS

ARCHER CJ.

I have had the advantage of reading beforehand the opinion of my brother Ampiah JSC and I agree that the appeal should be allowed. However, there is one aspect of this appeal which should be stressed. There is an established principle in appellate courts, that where findings of fact on the evidence and on the credibility of witnesses have been made in two concurrent judgments, an appellate court has no unfettered licence and unbridled discretion to make its own findings contrary to the facts found in the concurrent judgments of the courts below. In this particular appeal, the judicial committee of the National House of Chiefs ignored this principle and embarked upon speculating on what the probable custom was. I do not think an appellate court is entitled to tread such a path. Where there are concurrent findings of fact, and there is sufficient evidence to support them, those findings of fact should not be disturbed. This has been an established principle since appeals were …