Looking for a file in my computer, I stumbled upon this that I wrote a year or so ago, in relation to a debate/conversation that I was having with friends on facebook. Now I said why not and posted it here.
የጉዳዩ መነሻ
ለዚህ አጭር ጽሁፍ መነሻ የሆነኝ የፌዴራሉ ጠቅላይ ፍርድ ቤት ሰበር ችሎት በሰበር መዝገብ ቁጥር 74950 የሰጠዉ ዉሳኔ ነዉ፡፡ ጉዳዩ የገንዘብ ብድርን ይመለከታል፡፡ ተበዳሪ ከአበዳሪ በታሕሳስ 26 ቀን 1995 የተወሰደዉን ብር 237000.00 በጥር 30 ቀን 1995 ለመመለስ ቃል ገብቷል፡፡ ነገር ግን ገንዘቡን ሳይመልስ በመቅረቱ የአበዳሪ ወራሾች በተበዳሪ ላይ ሐምሌ 21 ቀን 2002 ባስገቡት ክስ ተበዳሪ ዋናዉን ገንዘብ እንዲመልስና ከየካቲት 01 ቀን 1995 መሰረት የሚታሰብ ወለድም እንዲከፍል ዳኝነት ይጠይቃሉ፡፡ ተበዳሪ በበኩሉ በዉላቸዉ ዉስጥ ወለድ ይከፍላል የሚል ቃል እንደሌለና ማስታወቂያ/ማስጠንቀቂያ ስላልተሰጠዉ ወለዱን መክፈል እንደማይገደድ ይከራከራል፡፡ በዚህ ሙግት የተነሳዉና ይህ ጽሁፍ የሚዳስሰዉ ጥያቄም ይኸዉ ነዉ፤ ያልተመለሰ የገንዘብ ብድር ያለስምምነትና ያለማስታወቂያ/ያለማስጠንቀቂያ ወለድ ይቆጥራል?
What would you answer if you were confronted with a question: is appeal a fundamental right? Would you say yes, no, or neither? I think the argument leans towards yes, does not it? Art 20(6) of the constitution affirms the right of any person to “appeal to the competent court against an order”; yet, I do not aim to discuss appeal in courts, but its general perception in arbitration.
The following is an extract from a monograph that I am developing on Ethiopian criminal law. I posted it here with a view to soliciting views from readers. Ethiopia is a federal state. Hence, the first question that should be raised is as to how trial jurisdiction is allocated between federal courts on the one hand and courts of regional states on the other.
I say 1958 was a year the international arbitration world took a remarkable move. The UN and other parties interested in international arbitration embarked an international convention to recognize and enforce foreign arbitral awards. The convention was signed in New York, The New York Convention to Recognize and Enforce Foreign Arbitral Awards (NYC), and it became the most popular convention in the whole wide world. The major trading nations, those that appear to be antagonistic have signed it without any kind of reservation. Thus far, round about 150 countries have signed and ratified it. Even, it is hailed as the “successful convention drafted by the UN.”
Speaking of the current Russia-Ukraine crisis, here is an interesting but less visible international legal dimension to the story.
Ukraine used to be part of the Soviet Union, during which time it had possessed huge stockpile of nuclear weapons arsenal – actually the third largest stockpile in the world at the time. Russia would not have ventured into Crimea today had Ukraine maintained possession of those nuclear weapons. What happened in 1994 was dramatic, and a bit embarrassing for Ukraine.
ዛሬ በጠዋቱ ዜናው በሙሉ ከአዲስ አበባ ወደ ሮም ሲጓዝ የነበረን 202 ሰዎችን ያሳፈረ የኢትዮጵያ አውሮፕላን 'መጠለፍ' ጉዳይ ነበር፡፡ የኢትዮጵያ ኮሙንኬሽን ጉዳዮች ሚኒስትር ‹ጠላፊው ካርቱም ላይ የተሳፈረ ሰው ይመስላል› ቢሉም በመጨረሻ አውሮፕላኑ ካርቱም ላይ ከነጭራሹ እንዳላረፈና ጠላፊውም ረዳት ፓይለቱ እንደሆነ ተረጋግጧል፡፡ ረዳት ፓይለቱ ለምን ይሄን ተግባር እንደፈፀመ ሲጠየቅም ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ መኖር ስጋት ላይ እንደጣለው በመግለፅ፤ ሲዊዘርላንድ ጥገኝነት እንድትሰጠው ጠይቋል፡፡
In 2002, when I was doing my undergraduate degree, our contract law teacher started talking about period of limitation and its effect. I neither had a concept nor an argument about period of limitation under art 1845 of the civil code. I attended the whole class, tried to understand arguments, justifications and ration d’être of the period of limitation. Mulugeta Mengist, in his monograph says that period of limitation is used to ensure certainty and predictability in transactions.
ፕሬዝደንቱ የስልጣን ጊዜአቸውን ጨርሰው ከሥልጣን ሊወርዱ የወራት ወይም የቀናት ዕድሜ ነው የቀራቸው። ከሥልጣን ከመውረዳቸው በፊት ግን ለወደፊት ሕይወታቸው ገንዘብ ለመሰብሰብ የሚያስችላቸው አንድ አጋጣሚ ከፊታቸው ተደቅኗል። ይህ በሚሊዮን የሚቆጠር ዶላር የሚያስገኝ አጋጣሚ አሁን ባላቸው የፕሬዝዳንትነት ስልጣን ሊያደርጉት የሚችሉት ነገር ነው። ይህ አጋጣሚ “ፕሬዝደንታዊ ይቅርታ” (Presidential pardon) ነው። እስረኛው ይህንን ይቅርታ አግኝቶ ከእስር ከተፈታ የሚከፍለው ገንዘብ እጅግ ብዙ በመሆኑ በሥልጣን ደላላዎች (Power brokers) አማካኝነት ገንዘቡን ተቀብሎ የይቅርታ ሰነዶቹ ላይ ፈረመ።
World Trade Organization (WTO) was established with the main objective of liberalizing multilateral trade, based on the belief that trade liberalization brings multiple benefits to the world population. To this end, the preamble to the Agreement Establishing the WTO (Marrakesh Agreement), provides that “[t]he Parties to this Agreement, recognizing that their relations in the field of trade and economic [endeavor] should be conducted to raise standards of living, ensure full employment and a large and steadily growing volume of real income and effective demand.”