Federal Supreme Court Cassation Decisions

በኢትዮጵያ የወንጀል ተጎጂዎች በወንጀል ፍትሕ አስተዳደር ውስጥ ያላቸው ሚና ከነበረበት የማማ ደረጃ በጊዜ ሂደት ‹‹ከማማ የመውረድ›› ያህል ዝቅ እያለ መጥቷል። ሀገሪቱ በዳግም የኢጣሊያ ወረራ ተፈፅሞባት ከመያዝዋ እ.እ.አ ከ 1935 ዓ.ም በፊት በወንጀል ጉዳት ደርሶባቸው በቀጥታ ተበዳይ የሆኑ ሰዎች ወይም የተበዳይ ተወካይና ቤተዘመዶች በደል ካደረሰባቸው ሰው ፍትሕን በገዛ እጃቸው ያገኙ ነበር። ተበዳይ ጥቃት ያደረሰበትን ሰው ሲፈልግ ይበቀላል፣ ሲፈልግ በፍርድ አደባባይ ይከሳል ወይም ለደረሰበት በደል ከተበዳይ ከሳ ይቀበላል። አይ ይህን ሁሉ አልፈልግም ካለም ከሁሉም ታቅቦ ፍትሕን ከእግዚአብሔር እየጠየቀ ይኖራል። በዚህ ጊዜ ምርመራ አጣርቶ ክስ የሚመሰርት የዐቃቤ ሕግ ተቋም በሀገሪቱ አልነበረም። በግለሰቦች መሀከል የሚፈጠር አለመግባባቶችን ‹‹የወንጀል›› ጉዳይ እና የግለሰቦች የፍትሐብሔር ጉዳይ ብሎ የሚከፋፍል የሕግ ስርአት ባለመኖሩ ጥቂት በሀይማኖትና በመንግስት ላይ የሚፈፀሙ በአሁኑ ሰአት የፓለቲካ ወንጀል እየተባሉ ከሚጠሩ ወንጀሎች በስተቀር ሁሉም አለመግባባቶች ላይ ግለሰቦች በራሳቸው ከሳሽ በመሆን ጉዳያቸውን ለፍርድ ቤት ያቀርባሉ ወይም ፍትሕን በእጃቸው ያገኙ ነበር። ጉዳያቸውን ወደ ፍርድ ቤት የሚወስዱ ከሆነ ክስ የመመስረት፣ የተጀመረን ክስ የሟቋረጥ፣ ቅጣትን በመምረጥ ተበዳይ ግለሰብ ሁሉን አድራጊ ነበር። የወንጀል ይዘት ያላቸው ጉዳዮችን ከፍትሀብሔር ጉዳዮች ጋር በማጣመር የጉዳት ካሳን መጠየቅም ይቻል ነበር። በዘመኑ የወንጀል ተበዳዮች በወንጀል ጉዳይ የሉአላዊ ስልጣን ባለቤቶች ነበሩ።

አዘጋጆቹ በዚህ ጊዜ በመስፍን ታፈሰ እና ጓዶቹ (MTA) የሕግ ቢሮ በአሶሲየትነት በመስራት ላይ የሚገኙ ሲሆኑ ይህን ስራ አዘጋጆቹ በግላቸው የሰሩት እና የሚሰሩበትን ተቋም ያካተተ ወይም የሚወክል አይደለም። ይህ ማውጫ የሚያገለግለው ለትምህርት እና ለመረጃ ምንጭነት ብቻ ነው። በዚህ ማውጫ ዝግጅት ላይ የፌዴራል ጠቅላይ ፍርድ ቤት ያዘጋጀው ከ ቅጽ 1 እስከ 16 ማውጫን በመጠቀም የቀሩትን ቅጾች አጠቃለን አዘጋጅተናል።

አዘጋጆቹ ይህን ማውጫ በሚያዘጋጁበት ጊዜ በውስጡ ያሉትን መረጃዎች እውነታነት ለማረጋገጥ አስፈላጊውን ጥረት አድርገዋል፡፡ ይህ ማውጫ ሲዘጋጅም ትክክለኛ መረጃ እንዲይዝ በማሰብ ነው፡፡ ሆኖም ግን በዚህ ማውጫ ላይ ሊኖሩ በሚችሉ ስህተቶች፣ ግድፈቶች፣ ጉድለቶች እንዲሁም አለመስማማቶች ሊከሰቱ ለሚችሉ ጉዳቶችም ሆነ ኪሳራ አዘጋጆቹ ምንም አይነት ኃላፊነት እንደማይወስዱ ያሳውቃሉ።

ይህ ማውጫ በዋነኛነት የመረጃ ምንጭ እንዲሆን እና ለሕግ ማህበረሰቡ ቀላል እና ፈጣን ማጣቀሻ እንዲሆን የተዘጋጀ ቢሆንም ቀጥታ የባለሞያ ምክር ወይም ድጋፍ አይተካም። ይህን አይነት አገልግሎት ከተፈለገ ከባለሞያ መጠየቅ አለበት፡፡

የፌዴራል ጠቅላይ ፍርድ ቤት ሰበር ሰሚ ችሎት ቅጽ 25 የሰበር ውሳኔዎችን አትሟል። ውሳኔዎቹን ከዚህ ያግኙ!

The preparation of this material is to assist teachers in teaching criminal procedure law and to enrich the dialogue for reform. However, in order to make the material useful for others who are in the practice of law, I restrained myself from raising highly academic questions. However, an effort is made to include almost all of the important issues in our criminal process. I came to learn, during my teaching career that students do not get enough materials on the subject included in Part I—the ideal process, the purpose of criminal procedure law, a little bit of economics of criminal justice, and the existing criminal process. They are included in order to better contextualize the criminal process.

Abstract

Construction industry has two opposite prospective factors toward the development. It is widely recognized as being both economically and socially important. Yet it is also considered to be the most hazardous. Global estimates by the International Labor Organization (ILO) show that occupational health and safety (OHS) problems in the construction industry has a disproportionately high rate of recorded accidents. ILO estimates at least 60,000 fatal accidents a year on construction sites around the world, that is one in six of all fatal work-related accidents while global trade union federation puts the figure much higher at 108,000 which is 30% of all work related accidents. In addition, while the cost of all occupational accidents account to 1.25 trillion USD (4%), Occupational injuries and fatalities within the construction industry have been estimated over 10 billion USD annually.

Regarding Ethiopian situation, study carried out in 2020 revealed that the highest prevalence of occupational injury was reported from the construction sites which are 50.8%. Different studies that were carried out prior to this 2020 study in specific part of the country, like in Addis ababa, Gonder, Dessie, arba minch, SNNP regional state, etc also shows construction accidents is responsible for 38% ~ 46% of all work related accident. More surprisingly, research has found that 98% of these accidents are preventable. An instrument ever created to control this work related tragedy was implementing OSH rule at work site. Ideally, the implementation of OSH rule can be defined by the state of its legal and institutional framework, the level of the capacities of institutions responsible for OSH rules enforcement, and the degree of its actual implementation and enforcement. Thus, the objective of this paper is to appraise the status of legal and institutional framework to implement OSH rule in Ethiopian construction industry to take stock of the progress made in the industry and identify the remaining challenges ahead in general and its prospects and constraints in particular.

Ethiopia introduced a new Commercial Code in March 2021, replacing the Commercial Code of the Empire of Ethiopia Proclamation No. 166/1960 (the repealed Commercial Code) that governed business operation since 1960. There were many factors that necessitated the revision of the repealed Commercial Code including the demand for responsible corporate management. In Ethiopia, the emergence of publicly held share companies and the rise in the number of shareholders demand to give due emphasis to corporate management. The 1960 Ethiopian Commercial Code failed to provide an adequate legislative response to complex governance issues of the day. Consequently, the Federal government of Ethiopia introduced wide-ranging legal reforms as part of the economic liberalization and modernization. However, the lack of up-to-date legal research and expert commentaries has remained a major challenge to adapt for practice and for the judicial sector. This paper aims to uncover changes under the new Commercial Code of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Proclamation No. 1243/2021 (the FDRE Commercial Code) concerning the composition, role, and accountability of the board of directors.

The translation and publication of the Federal Administrative Procedure Proclamation was done by the Ethiopian Lawyers Association in partnership with USAID’s Feteh (Justice) Activity in Ethiopia as part of their efforts to build on the capacity of civil society organizations that are involved in governance and judicial reform efforts. Special thanks goes to the Ethiopian Lawyers Association. 

The translation and publication of the Federal Administrative Procedure Proclamation was done by the Ethiopian Lawyers Association in partnership with USAID’s Feteh (Justice) Activity in Ethiopia as part of their efforts to build on the capacity of civil society organizations that are involved in governance and judicial reform efforts. Special thanks goes to the Ethiopian Lawyers Association. 

The translation and publication of the Federal Administrative Procedure Proclamation was done by the Ethiopian Lawyers Association in partnership with USAID’s Feteh (Justice) Activity in Ethiopia as part of their efforts to build on the capacity of civil society organizations that are involved in governance and judicial reform efforts. Special thanks goes to the Ethiopian Lawyers Association. 

The translation and publication of the Federal Administrative Procedure Proclamation was done by the Ethiopian Lawyers Association in partnership with USAID’s Feteh (Justice) Activity in Ethiopia as part of their efforts to build on the capacity of civil society organizations that are involved in governance and judicial reform efforts. Special thanks goes to the Ethiopian Lawyers Association. 

The translation and publication of the Federal Administrative Procedure Proclamation was done by the Ethiopian Lawyers Association in partnership with USAID’s Feteh (Justice) Activity in Ethiopia as part of their efforts to build on the capacity of civil society organizations that are involved in governance and judicial reform efforts. Special thanks goes to the Ethiopian Lawyers Association. 

The translation and publication of the Federal Administrative Procedure Proclamation was done by the Ethiopian Lawyers Association in partnership with USAID’s Feteh (Justice) Activity in Ethiopia as part of their efforts to build on the capacity of civil society organizations that are involved in governance and judicial reform efforts. Special thanks goes to the Ethiopian Lawyers Association. 

Traditional dresses are highly dignified among Ethiopians. It is very common to beautify traditional dresses with handwoven embroidery designs, locally referred to as Tibeb. Ethiopians wear traditional dresses decorated with handwoven Tibeb patterns also at important occasions such as religious ceremonies, wedding programs, funerals, public festivals and other cultural events.

The market for traditional dresses with Tibeb patterns is so competitive that weavers always need to create new and aesthetically pleasing designs. Although the basics are learned from ancestors, weaving Tibeb patterns requires special skill and creative talent of the weavers.

Recently, exploitation of Ethiopian traditional dresses decorated with handwoven Tibeb patterns for commercial purposes by foreigners is being observed. On the other hand, both the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and other relevant programs and laws of the country recognize that the government should extend protection for the traditional cultures of Ethiopian communities in general and creative works of citizens in particular.

Hence, the article examines whether Tibeb patterns enjoy any legal protection under Ethiopian law. Since Tibeb patterns can be regarded as works of applied art, the article specifically looks into the country’s copyright regime to check if such regime can protect Tibeb patterns. The article contends that the existing copyright system cannot protect Tibeb patterns. At the same time, since Tibeb patterns are tangible form of traditional cultural expressions, the article also looks into the country’s laws to check if they are protected as such. Now again, the article contends that traditional cultural expressions are not protected, and the same is true with Tibeb patterns.

Then, the article concludes with a recommendation that Ethiopia needs to adopt a sui generis system to protect its traditional cultural expressions and accede to the African Swakopmund Protocol aimed at protecting traditional knowledge and expressions in the continent, thereby Tibeb patterns get protection.

Keywords: Tibeb Patterns, Works of Applied Art, Traditional Cultural Expressions, Copyright, Sui Generis

Due to the need to establish a uniform system for the management of the flow of cases,

To ensure that citizens have the right to a fair trial within a reasonable period of time and to increase their confidence and satisfaction in the judiciary.

To settle cases within the allotted time, according to their assigned and individual characteristics, so that the users have equal access to the judiciary.

To ensure accountability by creating a culture and practice of efficient and effective judicial service in a timely manner by avoiding delays in justice.

The Federal Supreme Court has issued this Directive governing the flow of cases in accordance with the powers vested in it by Proclamation.

Members of parliament have ratified the Commercial Code on March 2021, marking the first time in over six decades that the Code has seen any major revisions. Revised after 62 years, the new Code allows for the legal recognition of holding companies and single-member companies, as well as allowing virtual shareholder meetings. The new Code also introduces a variety of insolvency procedures in addition to bankruptcy, including preventive restructuring proceedings and simplified reorganization proceedings. It also incorporates new clauses that provide protection for minority shareholders on corporate transparency and disclosure, improved rights, and more stringent stipulations of responsibilities on the part of corporate boards. The changes made are expected to improve the ease of doing business in the country.

You can download the official version of this code (English Version) here. 

ABSTRACT

Globalization and economic growth have driven the level of inter-company transactions to new heights. It’s estimated that more than 2/3 of all business transactions worldwide take place within groups. In particular, developing countries are observing immense growth in intra-group transactions due to the fact that their economies are still in the process of opening up and attracting large amounts of FDI. So, it’s of immense importance to halt challenges posed to both national & world economies through controlled transactions. In this paper, I briefly discussed the conceptual introduction of transfer pricing, arm’s length principle, transfer pricing methods recognized under OECD & UN transfer pricing guidelines, and Ethiopian tax law.  Finally, I tried to address whether Ethiopian Transfer pricing law & regulation accords or contradict with OECD & UN transfer pricing manual