Lord Tomlin:-

This is an appeal from a judgment of the West African Court of Appeal which dismissed an appeal from the Chief Justice of the Gold Coast Colony, who had refused an application to set aside an award in favour of the respondents made by Hall, J., of the Supreme Court of the Gold Coast, sitting as an arbitrator. The facts which give rise to this appeal are of this nature: There is a province, or kingdom, in the Gold Coast Colony called Abuakwa. The ruler of that province who holds the title of Omanhene, and who occupies the throne or stool of that province, has under him some fourteen subordinate chiefs, the province being divided into fourteen divisions. Each of those chiefs is the Ohene of his particular division. Some of the divisions have, or, at any rate, one of them has, further subdivisions, each of which is ruled in its turn by a still more subordinate chief, known as the Odikro. One of the fourteen divisions of Abuakwa is Asamangkese, and Asamangkese has a subdivision known as Akwatia, and it is the Ohene of Asamangkese, and the Odikro of Akwatia who are the appellants before their Lordships, the respondent being the chief of the whole Province of Abuakwa, the Om