Theodore Taylor V. Bernard Tsevi Agbanavor (1954)

LawGlobal Hub Judgment Report – West African Court of Appeal

Administration—Administrator selling land ultra vires—Rights, of purchaser against administrator personally.
Appeals in Civil Cases—Amending judgment on appeal—W.A.C.A. Rules, 1950, rule 36.

Facts

The above rule provides that “The Court (of Appeal) shall have power to give any judgment and make any order that ought to have been made, and to make such further or other order as the case may require, etc.”

The appellant sold land as administrator to the respondent; but he had earlier conveyed the land, as attorney to the owner, to one S.K.O., who sued the respondent claiming the land.

The respondent, rightly, submitted to judgment and then sued the appellant for compensation, and was given judgment against the appellant as administrator, who now appealed.

(In the Gold Coast only the personal estate vests in an administrator; as such the appellant could not sell land. He did, however, and entered into the usual covenants for title and quiet enjoyment.)

Held

The appellant had purported to have authority to sell land and the respondent having suffered loss on the faith thereof was entitled to compensation; but the judgment ought to have been against the appellant personally and would be amended accordingly under rule 36 of the W.A.C.A. Rules, 1950.

(Editor’s Note: In Nigeria real property may be administered within certain limits: see The Administration (Real Estate) Ordinance (Cap. 2) in the Laws of 1948, and the case of Bamgboye v. Administrator-General decided in the Court of Appeal on 26th October, 1954.)

Appeal dismissed; Judgment amended.