You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
IOWA LAW REVIEW<br />
the suspicion that they favor the party who brings the case to them. 57<br />
It is clear that some institution of this sort is desirable. Not only<br />
does it substantially reduce the burden on the regular courts, but it<br />
provides a device by which cases may be settled in the traditional way<br />
with reference to traditional rules, thereby mitigating the effect of<br />
the new and unfamiliar law. However, there is sentiment that the<br />
jurisdiction of the Atbia Danias be abolished. 58 Perhaps there will be<br />
reliance on the elders, and ultimately it could be provided that persons<br />
recognized as elders in the community would have the power to hear<br />
the cases now within the jurisdiction of the Atbia Danias and render<br />
a binding decision. Another possibility might be to appoint an elder<br />
as Atbia Dania for a term and rotate the position among the elders in<br />
the community. The effort to institutionalize the process of customary<br />
adjudication in the person of the Atbia Dania has not been uniformly<br />
successful, but there should be a recognized place for customary adjudication<br />
in the new system. Additional efforts in this direction may<br />
have to be undertaken.<br />
Consideration may now be given a very important Ethiopian legal<br />
institution, His Imperial Majesty's chilot. 259 In chilot the Emperor<br />
reviews a case that has been heard previously by the courts and<br />
renders the final decision. 260 Historically, the Emperor was recognized<br />
as the ultimate source of justice, and as such he had the power to review<br />
the judgments of kings and other rulers of territory. 281 [Vol. 53<br />
www.abyssinialaw.com<br />
The<br />
Emperor's sovereign prerogative to see that justice was done is similar<br />
to that once exercised by the King of England in the Curia Regis and<br />
by the King's representative, the Chancellor, in the Court of Chan-<br />
257 As in the United States, where justices of the peace and magistrates continue<br />
to collect fees.<br />
258 Some officials in the Ministry of Justice take the position that the jurisdic-<br />
tion of the Atbia Danias was repealed by implication in the Civil Procedure Code,<br />
since no provision was made for the exercise of such jurisdiction. It appears,<br />
however, that they continue to function.<br />
259 This institution has been discussed more fully elsewhere. Sedler, The Chilot<br />
Jurisdiction of the Emperor of Ethiopia: A Legal Analysis in Historical and Comparative<br />
Perspective, 8 J. Am L. 59 (1964).<br />
260 The applicant must have exhausted all appeals before petitioning the chilot.<br />
ETH. CRIs. PRO. CODE art. 183; ETi Civ. PRo. CODE: art. 322.<br />
261 For a discussion of the historical exercise of this power, see F. ALvAREZ, TBE<br />
PRsTER JoEN OF HE IDs 128 (C. Beckingham & G. Huntingford eds. 1961)<br />
(sixteenth century); 3 J. BRucE, TRAvaS To D.scovm=E SouRcE OF THE NIrs 265<br />
(1790) (late eighteenth century); 2 L. DE CASTRO, NmTA TERRA Dr NEGus 131-32<br />
(1915) (late nineteenth and early twentieth century). See also the sources discussed<br />
in M. PmmAm, THE GovERmET OF E mopIA 145-47 (1948). As one observer<br />
put it, "It is a thought dear to most Ethiopians that they can obtain justice<br />
from His Imperial Majesty even if the courts have failed them." Hambro, The<br />
Rebellion Trials in Ethiopia, 12 BuLL. I.NT. CoLM. Jur. 29, 30 (1961).
Change language