
Radar | Jan 16,2021
Jan 5 , 2020
By DIBORA SAMSON ( FORTUNE STAFF WRITER
)
If the parliament legislates the bill, the Federal First Instance Court will be able to review cases concerning up to 10 million Br, 20 times higher than the current cutoff of half a million Birr.
Drafted by the Law & Justice Advisory Council, which was formed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) to reform the justice system, the draft federal courts proclamation extends the jurisdiction of the court. The bill was tabled to the parliament on December 19, 2019.
The high inflation in the economy and the aim of making the High Court an appellate one, are the major reasons for the amendment, according to Tesfaye Neway, spokesperson of the Federal Courts and vice president of First Instance Court.
The bill also proposes increasing the number of presiding judges on trials at the First Instance Court. Currently, only one judge is presiding over cases there.
Additionally, it calls for the High Court gaining the jurisdiction to review cases based on the type of cases rather than the amount of money involved. The High Court will review international cases, cases that concern nationality issues, and cases that had rulings in foreign countries, according to the bill.
To make the judicial system free, neutral, efficient and predictable, it was important to work on multi-disciplinary reforms by identifying gaps and corrections in the system, according to Solomon Ejigu, communications director at the Federal Supreme Court.
The three committees under a Judicial Reform Advisory Council, which is composed of 15 law professionals, has been conducting research and proposed to amend the federal judicial administration and courts proclamations. The three committees have also been working on administrative issues, a legal framework and services.
The first team works on the independence, neutrality and accountability of the judicial system by conducting studies and modifying the previous federal judicial administration proclamation, while the second is engaged in the federal courts' proclamation. The third committee is involved in subjects that affect judicial proceedings and summarises them by gathering ideas for input to the draft proposals.
Legislated in 1996, the Federal Courts' Proclamation passed through four amendments that came into play in 1998, 2001, 2003 and the last one 15 years ago.
In the last fiscal year, the First Instance Court has reviewed 210,337 files and closed 161,759 of them. The High Court closed 26,233 cases out of the 26,500 files on its docket. The Federal Supreme Court presided over 20,104 files until late July and managed to close 16,238 of them.
The bill also clarified the role of the Cassation Bench, which was confused with the jurisdiction of lower courts, according to Tesfaye.
The Cassation Bench's mandate was basically to review cases that have an error of law in rulings passed by lower courts, however, in practice the Bench was presiding over cases that should have been reviewed by lower courts, according to Tesfaye.
"The bill defined basic errors of law and listed the mandates of the Bench," he told Fortune.
Liku Damtew (PhD), a legal practitioner, believes that any civil litigation should start at the First Instance Courts, saying that it will increase the Courts' contribution to the justice system.
He also believes the government should work on the capacity building of these courts.
“Working on assigning qualified and able judges to the courts should also get attention,” said Liku.
PUBLISHED ON
Jan 05,2020 [ VOL
20 , NO
1028]
Radar | Jan 16,2021
Commentaries | Sep 18,2021
Radar | Apr 03,2021
Commentaries | Apr 30,2022
Fortune News | Sep 08,2019
Radar | Dec 28,2019
Radar | Aug 24,2019
Fortune News | Apr 17,2021
Radar | May 15,2021
Fortune News | Apr 13,2019
Dec 24 , 2022
Biniam Mikru heads the department of cabinet affairs under Mayor Adanech Abiebie. But...
Jul 2 , 2022 . By RUTH TAYE
On a rainy afternoon last week, a coffee processing facility in the capital's Akaki-Qality District was abuzz with activ...
Nov 27 , 2021
Against my will, I have witnessed the most terrible defeat of reason and the most sa...
Nov 13 , 2021
Plans and reality do not always gel. They rarely do in a fast-moving world. Every act...
Mar 25 , 2023
At a crossroads, Addis Abeba finds itself on the precipice of monumental transformati...
Mar 18 , 2023
Ethiopia's economy once hailed as a paragon of growth and development, now faces a co...
Mar 11 , 2023
Ethiopia is rapidly emerging as one of China's top African debtors, second only to An...
Mar 4 , 2023
Once again, Ethiopia has claimed international attention in the past few weeks for re...