Ethiopia · Overview
The legal system of Ethiopia
A civil-law system that was adopted rather than imposed. Ethiopia was never colonised, and in the late 1950s the government commissioned foreign jurists to write codes from scratch: René David drafted the Civil Code of 1960, Jean Escarra the Commercial Code, and Jean Graven the Penal Code of 1957. The result was a deliberately modernising body of law, in places well ahead of actual social practice, and the codes remain the foundation today — though the Commercial Code was finally replaced in 2021 and the Criminal Code in 2004. Alongside the codes, customary law governs much of rural life, and Sharia courts have jurisdiction over Muslim personal status where both parties consent. Land is the central peculiarity: all land is constitutionally vested in the state and the people, and cannot be sold, so private dealings are in use rights and leaseholds.
Legal tradition
Ethiopia belongs to the civil law with customary and religious personal status tradition. A civil-law system that was adopted rather than imposed. Ethiopia was never colonised, and in the late 1950s the government commissioned foreign jurists to write codes from scratch: René David drafted the Civil Code of 1960, Jean Escarra the Commercial Code, and Jean Graven the Penal Code of 1957. The result was a deliberately modernising body of law, in places well ahead of actual social practice, and the codes remain the foundation today — though the Commercial Code was finally replaced in 2021 and the Criminal Code in 2004. Alongside the codes, customary law governs much of rural life, and Sharia courts have jurisdiction over Muslim personal status where both parties consent. Land is the central peculiarity: all land is constitutionally vested in the state and the people, and cannot be sold, so private dealings are in use rights and leaseholds.
How power is divided
Federal, with regional states and two chartered cities, Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa. Regions have their own constitutions, legislatures, executives and court systems, and residual power lies with them rather than the federation. Regional courts exercise delegated federal jurisdiction in areas where federal first-instance courts have not been established, so the two systems interlock in practice.
Where law comes from
- The Constitution
- Supreme; interpreted by the House of Federation, not by the courts.
- Federal proclamations
- Primary legislation of the House of Peoples' Representatives.
- The codes
- Civil Code 1960, Criminal Code 2004, Commercial Code 2021, and the procedure codes.
- Cassation precedent
- Decisions of the Federal Supreme Court Cassation Division bind lower courts by statute.
- Customary and religious law
- Sharia courts for Muslim personal status by consent; customary law widely applied in family and land matters.
The legal profession
Advocates are licensed federally by the Federal Attorney General's office or regionally by justice bureaux, with the licence determining which courts they may appear before — a federal licence is required for the federal courts. The Ethiopian Federal Advocates Association represents the profession. Judges are appointed on the nomination of the Judicial Administration Council and approved by parliament; law graduates from the university faculties supply both bench and bar.
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