Decisions of the Ethiopian Federal Supreme Court Cassation Division: Imprescriptible Invalidation of Contract of Land Sale

Abstract

In many parts of Ethiopia, land is the base for economic resources and prestige, as provided under the Constitution of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia this valuable asset is exclusively vested in the State and the peoples of Ethiopia. Land is a common property of the Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia and shall not be subject to sale or to other means of exchange. Concerning contractual agreement, sale of land is made imprescriptible by the decision of the Federal Supreme Court Cassation Division. The problem of this decision is that the civil code of the state provides ten years of period of limitation for invalidation of contract, made no clear exception for that matter, and the Cassation Division is empowered to only interpret the law of the state, not making a new law. Based on the problem narrated, the following questions are posed: whether the decision of the division falls under the ambit of its mandate or not and what is the practical value of the ruling?  The questions are addressed via consultation of legal instruments of the state, the decisions of the cassation division and scholarly materials on the area.