Akanbi Dosunmu V. Tijani Amusa Dosunmu (1954)
LawGlobal Hub Judgment Report – West Africa Court of Appeal
Native Law and Custom—Property allotted to wife.
Facts
The plaintiff (now respondent) claimed the rents of some rooms as his alleging that they had been allotted to a wife in accordance with native law and custom, and descended through her; he obtained judgment; and the defendant appealed contending that such law and custom, which meant that property could be allotted and descend not through a child but through a wife, had not been proved.
Held
If it existed, it would mean that on the death of a childless wife, not of the same family as her husband, property vested in her would pass away from the husband’s family, from whom the wife became entitled to it, to the wife’s family; but such a method of devolution had never been accepted by the Courts as part of customary law.
Appeal allowed.
