{"title":"8. Use and abuse of ‘the right to consent’","authors":"D. Amsalu","doi":"10.14361/9783839450215-009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839450215-009","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines how the local community in Ankober handles its right to consent to enter into customary court or switch to the formal one. The only condition attached to resolving disputes through customary court is that both parties in the conflict should agree to it.This sounds like a fair arrangement. But, as there are no laws that regulate how consent, already given, should be sustained or terminated, the right to choose and shift between courts is open to abuse. Article 34(5) of the 1995 Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE 1995) Constitution stipulates that disputes relating to personal and family laws can be dealt with in accordance with customary or religious laws ‘with the consent of parties to the dispute’. Article 34(5) of the 2001 Revised Constitution of the Amhara National Regional State (ANRS 2001) is a verbatim copy of the analogous provisions of the FDRE Constitution. However, neither the constitutions nor any of the subsidiary laws give any details on how to apply the constitutional notion of consent. Both constitutions stipulate that ‘Particulars shall be determined by law’, but this has not been done so far.","PeriodicalId":357074,"journal":{"name":"Legal Pluralism in Ethiopia","volume":"61 1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126824393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"7. Federal Sharia Courts in Addis Ababa","authors":"M. Abdo","doi":"10.14361/9783839450215-008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839450215-008","url":null,"abstract":"Sharia-based law in Ethiopia gained greater political and legal prominence with the political liberalization that followed the regime change in 1991.However, almost two decades after they were formally constituted, Sharia courts have received limited academic attention and only a small number of research works focus on their jurisprudence and day-to-day operation.This chapter examines the nature of Sharia case law, litigants and the procedures for settling cases. Besides providing an analysis of the statistics of Sharia courts and a description of court proceedings, most importantly, it will look at two recent developments affecting the Muslim community: growing human rights and women’s rights consciousness; and increasing Muslim demands for self-autonomy over religious matters, and their influence, if any, on Sharia court rulings. The research shows that, despite the fact that Sharia law prescribes a patriarchal tendency in marital ties and sanctions a sex-based differential treatment of divorce and post-divorce matters, young, educated and economically independent women form the overwhelming majority in suits brought before Sharia courts in Addis Ababa. It also shows that Sharia courts tend to apply civil procedure rules rather leniently but that their proceedings appear consistent. Shafie Islamic jurisprudence, which is said to be relatively less conservative over family and divorce matters than other schools of thought, guides their judgments. However, attempts by the Sharia courts to expand their jurisdiction to matters beyond those delineated by legislation has been kept in check by the state’s judicial and quasi-judicial organs.","PeriodicalId":357074,"journal":{"name":"Legal Pluralism in Ethiopia","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129696631","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}