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19671 LEGAL SYSTEMS
procedural system with its stress on litigation encourages the judges
to view the law in that context. One writer has suggested that if
common-law trained judges interpreted a civilian code, the code in
the long run would not remain civilian. 299 There is this danger in
Ethiopia, at least at present. However, persons who have received
legal training will understand how a civilian code has traditionally
been interpreted, and as more trained persons enter upon the bench,
the civilian approach may be more extensively employed3 00 On the other hand, the common-law orientation of the present judges
and the common-law concept of litigation could have some very desirable
benefits. It may be possible to formulate an approach that will
combine the best features of both systems. For example, judicial
opinions follow the common-law form as opposed to, say, the French
form. 9 01 The facts are set out in detail, the provisions of law relied
on are fully analyzed, and the ratio decidendi is given. The French
method of decision-a recital of the applicable code provisions and the
court's holding as deductively derived from the cited provisions
would not be suitable. The litigants want the court's specific reasons
for deciding as it did, and whether or not binding precedent and stare
decisis are followed, judicial decisions will help to clarify the law.
Judicial decision based on deduction without specific reasons for the
court's conclusion could be a cloak for arbitrariness. Particularly,
where many judges have not had formal training, the reasons for their
decisions are very important. There will also be many problems of
interpretation. Not only are the codes new, but the legislative debates
and reports of the Codification Commission have not been published.
The codes were drafted in French and translated into Amharic and
English, and there are a number of terminological inconsistencies.
3 --
It is, therefore, necessary to know precisely why the court decided a
particular case as it did. The common-law method of judicial decision
is necessary in Ethiopia, at least for the foreseeable future.
Moreover, the codes must be interpreted in the context of litigation.
A provision may look differently to a judge when compelled to apply
commentaries on the various areas of law, but it will take some time before even
a body of basic works exists.
2 99 Twining, supra note 65, at 235.
300 Dr. Vanderlinden, however, is of the opinion that the present system of legal
education, in which the University Law School is staffed primarily by American
lawyers, cannot help but produce lawyers oriented to the common-law approach.
Vanderlinden, supra note 17, at 260-64.
301 For a comparison of the form and content of judicial decision in common-law
and civil courts, see A. VoN lmHE, supra note 8, at 832-33.
302 Id. at 833.
$03 See Krzeczunowicz, Statutory Interpretation in Ethiopia, 1 J. ETmx L. 315,
317-20 (1964).
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