Trustees (Incorporation) Act, 1962 (Act 106) as the courts read it.

In my view, the clear intention of Act 106 is to give statutory force to this common law principle with respect to voluntary associations and bodies formed anywhere in Ghana. Under the Act, therefore, it is the trustees only who are constituted as a body corporate in which, under section 2 of the Act, the lands of the unincorporated association may be vested in trust for the members. It is clear in the Act that the trustees become incorporated only for the purpose of holding land for the benefit of the unincorporated association. Counsel for the defendants, Mr. Joe Reindorf, quite properly concedes that this is the true legal position. It follows, therefore, in my judgment, that the conclusion of the learned judge that the second plaintiffs lacked capacity to sue solely on the ground that the Ghana Muslims Representative Council, as originally constituted, had not been incorporated under Act 106 is, with all due respect, wrong.

GHANA MUSLIMS REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL AND OTHERS v. SALIFU AND OTHERS [1975] 2 GLR 246 [1975] SLR (CA) 24 · Court of Appeal · 1975 · AZU CRABBE CJ