2016/03/03 by Fiseha Assefa · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Judicial and Constitutional Studies #African history and culture analysis #Comparative and International Law Studies
paper · doi:10.1093/law/9780198759799.003.0012
openalex publication_date 2016/03/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
This chapter examines the relationship between the judiciary and the legislature in Ethiopia. The country has adopted a parliamentary system of government, but by contemporary standards, it has some unusual features. Its governments have historically blended judicial and executive functions, leaving the position of the judiciary somewhat unclear, and the Supreme Court has not tended to assert its power. There are signs of the use of legislative overrides to reverse individual decisions, and of ouster clauses to transfer jurisdiction on various issues from the courts to administrative tribunals within the executive. Although lower courts have attempted to review decisions of these tribunals, the Supreme Court has overruled them on the basis that it lacks jurisdiction. The highest ranks of the judiciary therefore seem to be accepting of a vision of the separation of powers in which other branches define the judicial role.