Preface

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(¡) an order partitioning appellant's deceased mother Aji Betty Jeng's property
known as No. 41 Gloucester Street Banjul The Gambia as proposed by the
appellants.
2. Further or Other relief.
3. Cost.
At the hearing of the appeal which came up on 09/06/2011 the parties were
represented by counsel. Mr. Joseph Joof appeared for the appellants and Mr. Papa
Mbye appeared for the respondent. In his submission on grounds 1 and 2 the
learned counsel for the appellant traced the origin of distribution of estate in the
holy Our'an where he said under the Islamic law there are provisions on how the
estate of a person who died having properties can be shared among his children. So
the first duty on the Cadi Court is to ascertain the share of the heirs. He referred us
to Qur'an, Surat Al-Nisa, Verses 11-13 and pages 209-211 of a book on translation
and commentary of the holy Qur'an by Yusuf Ali. Accordingly going by the case at
hand the share of the husband shall be 1/4 of the estate. The share has to be worked
out in monitory terms and physically ascertained on the ground by a surveyor. The
counsel further submitted that under verse 7 of the same Surat of the Qur'an the
share of children has been made clear. It is stated that a male child takes the double
share of a female. All these shall be after payments of legacies and debts which the
learned counsel said did not arise in the current case. He finally on this point cited
and relied on paragraph 2 of page 300 of the famous book of Sharia titled (Sharia
The Islamic Law) by Professor Abdurrahman Doi.
In another breath the learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the
appellant being one of the heirs has maintained the right of pre-emption under the