Jimma University Journal of law

የቀደመ የወንጀል ጥፋተኛነት እንደ ጠቅላላ የቅጣት ማክበጃ የሚያገለግልበት ሁኔታ ከኢትዮጵያ የወንጀል ሕግ አንፃር ሲገመገም (Assessment of Prior Criminal Conviction as A General Penalty Aggravating Factor Under the Criminal Code of Ethiopia)

ዶ/ር ደጀኔ ግርማ ጃንካ — 2023-12-20

በአንድ ማህበረሰብ ውስጥ ሠላም፣ ደህንነት እና መረጋጋት እንዲኖር ለማድረግ ከሚያስፈልጉ መሰረታዊ የሕግ ማዕቀፎች መካከል አንዱ የወንጀል ሕግ ነው፡፡ የወንጀል ሕግ ሰዎች መፈፀም የማይገባቸውን ድርጊቶች እና ማከናወን የሚገባቸውን ተግባራት በዝርዝር የሚደነግግ ሲሆን ድንጋጌው ሳይከበር ሲቀር ጥፋተኞቹ እንዲቀጡ ያዝዛል፡፡ በተፈፀሙ ወንጀሎች ምክንያት በጥፋተኞች ላይ የሚጣሉ ቅጣቶች በተጣሱ ድንጋጌዎች መሰረት የሚለዩ ሲሆን እንደ ሁኔታው እነዚህ ቅጣቶች ሊቀሉ ወይም ሊከብዱ ይችላሉ፡፡ በኢትዮጵያ የወንጀል ሕግ መሰረት ቅጣት እንዲከብድ ከሚያደርጉ ሁኔታዎች መካከል አንዱ የቀደመ የወንጀል ታሪክ/ሪከርድ ነው፡፡ ነገር ግን የቀደመ የወንጀል ሪከርድ መኖሩ በቀጥታ ያለ አንዳች ቅድመ ሁኔታ ቅጣት እንዲከብድ የሚያደርግ ሁኔታ ሳይሆን አስፈላጊ የሆኑ መስፈርቶች ተሟልተው ሲገኙ ብቻ ቅጣት የማክበድ ውጤት ይኖረዋል፡፡ በዚህ ፅሁፍ ውስጥ የተቃኘው ጉዳይም ከሀገራችን የወንጀል ሕግ አንፃር የአንድ ሰው የቀደመ የጥፋተኛነት ታሪክ/ሪከርድ እንደ ጠቅላላ የቅጣት መክበጃ የሚያገለግለው መቼ ነው የሚለው ነጥብ ነው፡፡ ይህን ጥያቄ ለመመለስ የተለያዩ የህትመት ስራዎች ዳሰሳ በማድረግ የወንጀል ሪከርድ ትርጉም እና ውጤቱ ምን እንደሆነ ታይቷል፤ የተለያዩ ሀገሮች ልምድ ተቃኝቷል፤ ተገቢነት ያላቸው የሀገራችን የወንጀል ሕግ ድንጋጌዎች ተተንትኗል፤ በጉዳዩ ላይ የሕግ ባለሙያዎች ሀሳብ እንዲሰጡበት ተደርጓል፤ በፍ/ቤት የተሰጠ ውሳኔንም ለመጠቀም ተሞክሯል፡፡ በዚሁ አግባብ ፅሁፉ የቀደመ የወንጀል ሪከርድ/ታሪክ እንደ ጠቅላላ የቅጣት ማክበጃ ሊያገለግል የሚችለው ጥፋተኛው ቀድሞ በተጣለበት ቅጣት መሰረት የመማር እድል አግኝቶ በዚህ ዕድል በመጠቀም ሳይማር ከቀረ እና ሌላ ወንጀል ፈፅሞ ከተገኘ ብቻ ነው የሚል ድምዳሜ ላይ ደርሷል፡፡ ነገር ግን ከቀድሞ ጥፋቱ እና ቅጣቱ ያልተማረውንም ሰው ቢሆን የቀደመ የወንጀል ሪከርድ እንደ ጠቅላላ የቅጣት ማክበጃ የመጠቀሙ ሁኔታ ገደብ የለሽ እንዳልሆነ ፅሁፉ አሳይቷል፡፡

Backdrop and Procedure of Amendment of States’ Constitution in Ethiopia: Imparting Experience for the Recently Established Regional States

Mequanint Dubie — 2023-12-20

The main errand of this work is endeavored to quest what backdrops the states’ constitution in Ethiopia had; how their rules of amendment go with the utmost interest of the living societies of the regional states and what experiences the aged regional states will impart for recent established regional states. To delve into these issues the research employed qualitative research methods. Sub-national units in Ethiopia had been empowered to set and amend their constitutions via the constitution of the federation. To realize this empowerment political actors of each state government had been set their respective constitutions. Afterward to heal some flaws of the pre-setting states’ constitutions all states under the federation revised their constitutions. Within all revised states’ constitutions, the architectures endeavored to set their ‘rules of amendment’. But these ‘rules of amendment’ are not faultless as it is expected to be immaculate. The faults which are viewed under each state constitution include: the rules of amendment recognized under some revised states’ constitutions are defective in providing opportunities to participate in the amendment process to all interested groups like minorities and are not set in the way to safeguard the rights of minorities live within the state. Though the seven revised states’ constitutions tried to provide special entrenchment to the ‘rules of amendment’ itself, under Oromia revised state constitution the entrenching provision itself is not entrenched, in the sense that it will be exposed to the problems of double amendment. Concerning to amendment of human and democratic rights all states’ constitutions have been trying to specially entrench via making their amendment based on the rules of amendment of the federal constitution, but this is against the autonomy of the state; failure to comply with the principles of democracy and bolt the opportunities for the states to provide better protection of human and democratic right for their residence through amending their constitutions. Thus those states’ constitutions that had the aforementioned flaws in their ‘rules of amendment’ shall adjust in the way to heal from their imperfections and those recently established regional states shall learn from the flaws of aged regional states.

Protection of Creditors from the Abuse of Limited Liability in Firms under Ethiopian Laws

Firaol Tafese — 2023-12-20

Limited liability is an imperative part of modern company laws in many jurisdictions. Of course, the concept is common with some forms of partnership firms as well. In both companies and partnerships, limited liability allows the firm’s partners/shareholders to limit their liability to the extent of their contribution within their firms. Nonetheless, unless it is effectively regulated, this ‘privilege’ could be potentially abused and as a result, the interest of the creditors of such firms could be affected. To regulate the potential abuse of limited liability, company laws of national jurisdictions have devised various mechanisms. Prominent amongst these mechanisms are; piercing a corporate veil, requiring larger capitalization, and mandatory insurance schemes. However, it remained an issue of how Ethiopian laws address this problem of abuse of limited liability. Therefore, this article makes a doctrinal analysis of how the relevant Ethiopian laws seek to protect the interest of firms’ creditors in the event of such abuse of limited liability. The paper discovers that the use of piercing corporate veil, requiring larger capitalization, and the mandatory insurance requirements utilized in several jurisdictions as tools to mitigate the hazards of limited liability are inadequate and in some cases do not exist under Ethiopian laws. Thus, the writers recommend the incorporation of broader and clearer grounds for limiting the limited liability itself, adoption of adequate capitalization rule, and stronger implementation of the already started mandatory insurance scheme.

THE HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS IN ETHIOPIA; EXAMINING THE INTERNATIONAL, REGIONAL AND ETHIOPIAN NORMATIVE FRAMEWORKS

Behaylu Girma — 2023-12-20

Internal displacement is one wave of forced migration in which individuals are displaced from their place and become refugees within the territory of their own country. International and national normative frameworks are decisive to protect Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Internal displacement is one of the challenges Ethiopia has faced at different times and remained pervasive throughout the country. The government has attempted to respond and address the plights of the IDPs; however, the number of IDPs increased from time to time with dared living conditions. This study has employed qualitative research methodology and examined the normative frameworks and the human rights protection of IDPs in Ethiopia. The research has identified that there is a lack of comprehensive normative frameworks in the country. The 1995 Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) Constitution and other subsidiary laws gave slight attention to IDPs. Ethiopia ratified the Kampala Convention in 2020 with different reservations and declarations but has not been domesticated yet. Such a stalemate has disrupted the response process and the durable solution of the IDPs. Therefore, it is time for Ethiopia to revisit its normative frameworks and protect the human rights of IDPs

TAXATION OF INCOME FROM E-COMMERCE IN ETHIOPIA: A QUEST FOR INTEGRATING MODERN RULES OF TAXATION INTO ETHIOPIAN INCOME TAX SYSTEM.

Alemu Balcha — 2023-12-20

With the advancement of technology, the traditional commercial environment has been changed to E-Commerce. This change has posed serious challenges to the traditional taxation regimes. To legalize and promote E-Commerce, Ethiopia has adopted the “Electronic Transaction Proclamation” and “Digital Strategy for Inclusive Prosperity 2025” in 2020. This would inevitably pose a challenge to the Ethiopian income tax regime. This article examined the taxation of income from electronic commerce under Ethiopian income tax legislation along with its gaps and opportunities for regulation. To accomplish this, it employed a doctrinal legal research methodology to examine the relevant provision of income tax law and selected double taxation agreements in Ethiopia. Accordingly, the finding of the article shows that neither the domestic law nor the bilateral tax treaties signed by Ethiopia have incorporated a rule for taxation of income from E-Commerce. Besides, the concept of permanent establishment as envisaged under Ethiopian income tax law does not apply to the taxation of E-Commerce. Hence, it is recommended that Ethiopia should integrate the modern rules for the taxation of income from E-Commerce into its income tax law and double taxation agreements.

Potentials and Possible Drawbacks of Adopting Predictive Algorithm AI in the Ethiopian Criminal Justice System: Lessons from the US Experience

Abay Addis Emire — 2023-12-20

Predictive algorithm AI is a type of machine learning that predicts future events by using data and some variables. Predictive algorithms are being applied in different sectors including the criminal justice system such as in predicting crime before it happens, re-offending, flight risk, or recidivism. Ethiopia would benefit from adopting predictive algorithms in the criminal justice system by carefully analyzing the potential and possible drawbacks. The objective of this research is to scrutinize the potential and possible drawbacks of adopting the algorithms in the Ethiopian criminal justice system taking the United States’(US) experience as a lesson. The study employs a qualitative research method with a comparative analysis taking the US as a case study. The US is opted for because the country has a long history of implementing predictive algorithms with a record of the evaluation of the application of the systems in various domains. Examination of the US experience shows that predictive algorithms have immense benefits and some drawbacks mainly related to the data set and the design of the models and best experiences by minimizing the drawbacks and maximizing the benefits can be taken to Ethiopia. The writer suggests Ethiopia's historical, political, and cultural context have to be considered while examining the legal, ethical, and social ramifications of using predictive algorithms. This study recommends the adoption of predictive algorithms with the right design, implementation, and evaluation in place, the adoption of legal frameworks that govern the usage of the systems, and comprehensive data protection law, and the establishment of proper infrastructure.