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19671 LEGAL SYSTEMS
liability of hotel owners served as the basis for some provisions of the
Civil Code, and the Geneva Conventions of 1930-31 concerning negotiable
instruments were used as a model for some of those provisions
in the Commercial Code. 82 Some common-law doctrines such as reasonable
time in relation to damages for breach of contract83 and specific
torts84 were also incorporated. Finally, some articles are original
in the sense that they are not based either on existing Ethiopian law
(as will be seen, some provisions had this source) or corresponding
provisions of foreign law. In this category, the drafter lists the pro-
8 5
visions relating to water rights and registers of civil status.
The same eclectic borrowing took place in the drafting of the Penal
Code. Here, the drafter was aided by the existence of the 1930 Code,
and the Ethiopian tradition as reflected in that Code was the point of
departure."8 As was pointed out earlier, penal law was the most important,
and consequently, the most developed area of the law there. 87
Since the drafter, Professor Jean Graven, was an authority on Swiss
penal law, many borrowings were made from the Swiss Penal Code,
but a number of other codes were also consulted. 8 The final product
incorporated the provisions of the 1930 Code that seemed desirable to
retain and a number of provisions from foreign codes. Again, no foreign
law was "received."
Moreover, there was a most careful effort at adaptation. The codes
as will be seen, were not intended to be a codification of existing customary
law, but new and original works. 8 9 Although the incorporation
of customary law was fairly rare, there were numerous instances of
provisions reflecting particular Ethiopian problems and needs. Adaptation
is perhaps the most important part of the process of deciding
what the law will be. Careful adaptation insures that the new law
will have a truly national character and may minimize some of the
problems of application. 0 The procedure by which the codes were
adopted was designed to bring about such adaptation. There were
three steps in this procedure: (1) the preparation of a projet by the
82 David, supra note 21, at 504.
83 Id. at 505.
84 See CIvm CODE OF ETmIopm. arts. 2038-65. See Russell, supra note 41, at 240-41.
85 David, supra note 21, at 505-06.
8 6See Graven, supra note 20, at 279.
87 See notes 32-35 supra and accompanying text.
88 The citation to various sources of the Ethiopian Penal Code will be found in
S. LowENsTEI, MAITmALS FOR THE STUDY OF THE PENAL LAW OF ETropIA, app.
(1965). A detailed citation to the sources of articles 1-84 will be found in P.
GRAVEN, AN INTRODUcTION TO ETmoPIAN PENAL LAW, app. (1965).
89 See David, supra note 21, at 500.
90 The absence of such adaptation in Turkey made itself felt in the early years
following adoption. See Twining, supra note 65, at 244.
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