Adding new laws to a country’s statutes often modifies existing laws. Consequently, analyzing legislative proposals that impact rights and privileges under established laws is a crucial aspect of legislative drafting. Analysts should be familiar with the current legal framework or know where to locate it. Among these laws are human rights treaties ratified by the country, incorporated into domestic law either through "legislative" or "automatic" incorporation. These two approaches are traditionally known as "dualistic" and "monistic" methods. Regardless of a country’s system, ensuring compliance with human rights treaties requires careful analysis to confirm that draft laws align with the principles set out in these treaties.

ሕግ ማርቀቅ አንዱ እና ዋነኛው የሕግ ሙያ ዘርፍ ነው፡፡ ሕግ ማውጣት የሚያስፈልግበት ዋና ዓላማ የመንግስትን ፖሊሲ ለማስፈፀም ነው፡፡ በዚህም የተነሳ ሕግ የፖሊሲ ማስፈፀሚያ ተደርጎም ይወሰዳል፡፡ የሕግ አረቃቅ ላይ ሊወሰድ የሚገባው ጥንቃቄ እና የአረቃቅ ሂደቱ ሕጉ ከፀደቀ በኋላ የሚኖረው አተገባበር ላይ ቀጥተኛ የሆነ ተፅእኖ ያለው መሆኑ ይታወቃል፡፡ የሕግ አረቃቀቅ በኢትዮጵያ ወጥነት የሚጎድለው፤ ትኩረት የሚሻ እና በሕግ አግባብ ሊመራ የሚገባ ዘርፍ ነው፡፡አሁን ላይ ይህ ዘርፍ በአገር አቀፍ ደረጃ የሚመራበት አንድ ወጥ የሆነ የሕግ ማዕቀፍ የሌለውም ዘርፍ ነው፡፡ ዘርፉ በዚህ አግባብ የሚመራበት የሕግ ማዕቀፍ አለማግኘቱ በሕጎች አረቃቀቅ ጥረት፤ ወጥነት፤ መናበብ፤ እና አፈፃፀም ላይ የራሱ የሆነን አሉታዊ ተፅእኖ እንዳሳደረ ይታመናል፡፡

"No law, regulation, directive or practice shall, in so far as it is inconsistent with this Proclamation, have force or effect with respect to matters provided for by this Proclamation”.

1. Introduction

Paradoxically, in most modern societies, the larger proportion of the law—delegated legislation—is not made by elected lawmakers or the proper legislature. To an increasing extent, law in these countries is made through the Executive branch, not the parliament. The common practice for Acts of Parliament to bestow power (through empowering acts) to make regulations, particularly to government Ministers, is an obvious manifestation of this development.

This essay examines the normative contemporary constitutional law question ‘how constitutionality of laws is controlled?’ under Ethiopian and Nigerian Federal Systems. In constitutional terms, both this question and federal systems require a written constitution that serve as a fundamental or basic law and placed hierarchically at the highest peak.

Before considering the subject matter of this article, a brief explanation of the history of Ethiopian Codes and constitutional development is helpful because it focuses attention on the key issues that I would like to raise. The Ethiopian legal system constitutes the Constitution, international treaties, codified laws, and statues as a primary source of law. This essay, however, limits itself to codified laws and primary legislation.