This piece provides a bird’s eye view of the draft proclamation on the Federal Courts with a particular focus on the issue of Cassation. Needless to say, the Ethiopian legal system typically follows a continental legal system as it mainly contains four substantive codes i.e., Civil Code, Criminal Code, Commercial Code, and Maritime Code, and two procedural codes i.e., Civil Procedure Code and Criminal Procedure Code.  This implies that the decisions of courts will not have a binding and precedential value to settle future related cases.

In the first part, I discussed some issues under the draft proclamation. This includes arbitrability of administrative contract, competency-competency, separability doctrine, pauper proceeding, appeal and the standard to challenge the arbitrators. In this part, I will briefly discuss the court's role in arbitration proceedings, the New York Convention, and the nature and impartiality of the Center as envisaged under the draft proclamation.

When we come to commercial dispute which arise out of not respecting contractual obligations by one or more parties, settlement of dispute through court come in the for front. However, the existing Ethiopian court system is extremely sluggish, rigid and expensive. On the contrary arbitration is praised for its speedy proceeding, flexible process, confidentiality of the proceeding, finality of dispute which ultimately saves time and money. Although there are some critics against the heart of the system, arbitration stands out as one of the most popular means of dispute settlement mechanism.