Private Law in Ethiopia

Abstract

In 1960, the Government made the first modern attempt at a comprehensive and formal statement of Ethiopian private law by promulgating Civil and Commercial Codes.2 An earlier source of private law rules, the Fetha Negast (Law of the Kings) has been part of the Ethiopian legal experience since at least 1686, when it was translated from the Roman-influenced thirteenth century Nomocanon of the Egyptian Coptic Church. There is no evidence that this compilation was ever officially promulgated, and it was often subordinated to “equity” (personal feelings of justice influenced by the need to maintain social harmony) and the territorial application of diverse and unrecorded traditional laws.3

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