Till this moment, the Ethiopian legal system has been working without rules of conflicts. There is no law to guide judges to the effect. Ethiopian courts have been in trouble if they were confronted with a case containing a foreign element for they could not avail themselves of any provision of law. It was not, however, because there was no any effort to have same. A number of attempts have been made to draft the Private International law rules.

For the past has yielded an astonishingly rich accumulation of ideas, which still guide the present theory and practice, glimpse to that is very important. There was an early working out of necessary principles of international coexistence and intercourse, primarily on the commercial place. In effect, lending a time to its discussion is, the writers think, worthy.

Two names, neither of which are fully descriptive nor wholly accurate and precise but could be interchangeably used to designate the subject, are in common use viz. Private International Law and Conflict of Laws (also shortened Conflicts rules).