Yode Kwao V. Kwasi Coker (1931)

LawGlobal Hub Judgment Report – West African Court of Appeal

Res judicata—Estoppel—Purchase of land by syndicate—judgment against one member of the syndicate binding on the other members.

Facts

Some time before 1896 one N. sold certain land to A. A. sold a portion of this land to T., a predecessor of the defendant.

Later N. sold the land a second time to a syndicate consisting of three persons, B., C., and the plaintiff. This resulted in an action between A. and N. in a Native Tribunal, in which A. was declared to have been owner of the land.

Some time after this B. asserted a right to a portion of the land and was sued for trespass by the defendant in a Divisional Court. The land was found to be the property of the defendant.

In the present suit the plaintiff sued the defendant for trespass on the same land.

Held

Affirming the decision of the Court below, that the title of plaintiff was identical with that of B. and that as he had stood by and acquiesced in the title being determined in favour of the defendant in the Divisional Court, he was estopped now from asserting a title to the land.

The appeal must be dismissed with costs assessed at £36 1s. 6d