The Need to Expand the Space of the Ethiopian Legal System to Accommodate Non-state Law: Exemplifying Non-state Law through the Gada System

Abstract

This article aims to examine the space of the Ethiopian legal system to accommodate non-state law in general and the Gada system in particular. It is an accepted truism that the development method of a given state law determines its space to accommodate non-state law and its efficiency.  The development of non-state law, like law in the Gada system, is evolutionary, while Ethiopia’s legal system has developed through a revolutionary method.  Moreover, a state law that provides good space for non-state law and is developed through an evolutionary method is an efficient than one without fair space for non-state law and developed through a revolutionary method. Scrutinizing the space of the Ethiopian legal system to accommodate non-state law reveals that it has not yet provided justifiable space for non-state law to date. As a result, the researcher, by employing a doctrinal research method, argues that the Ethiopian legal system must be revised in a way that allows state and non-state law will be implemented in a way that complements each other for efficient and effective protection of a common good.