Tort Law and Development: Insights into the Case of Ethiopia and Eritrea

Journal of African Law

Volumn 40, Issue 1, 1996, Pages 43-52

  Bussani, Mauro ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0041739147     PISSN: 00218553     EISSN: 14643731     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0021855300007117     Document Type: Article

References (85)

1. Concentrating on law and economics implies also attempting to gauge to what extent a methodological tool of Western law can be used in concrete terms to understand legal systems very different from those in which it has been applied so far. See C.J. Dias, R. Luckham, D.O. Lynch, J.C.N. Paul (eds.), Lawyers in the Third World: Comparative and Developmental Perspective, Uppsala, 1981.
2. The pioneer of this concept was R. Sacco, in Introduzione al Diritto Privato Somalo, 1973.
3. See, recently, G. Calchi Novati, Il Corno d'Africa nella Storia e nella Politica, 1994.
4. P. Catala and J.A. Weir, “Delict and tort: a study in parallel”, (1963) 37 Tulane L R. 573, 577.
5. On the notion and the characteristics of Western legal tradition see, inter alia, H.J. Berman, Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition, Cambridge, Mass, 1983.
6. G. Calabresi, “Torts, The law of the mixed society”, (1978) 56 Texas L.R. 519.
7. See C.H.S. Fifoot, History and Sources of the Common Law. Tort and Contract, London, 1949, 44ff
8. G. Ponzanelli, La Responsabilitá Civile. Pofili di Diritto Comparato, 1992, 12ff
9. G. Viney, Les Obligations. La Responsabilité Civile: Conditions, 1982, 4ff.
10. O.W. Holmes, The Common Law, London, 1881, 88.
11. As to the civil law systems it should be remembered that the culpa principle dates back to Lex Aquilia (3rd century B.C.) and to its applications which gradually added to the objective notion of damage caused iniuria (without right) the notion of individual culpability. On this evolution see a careful summary in P. Stein, Legal Institutions: The Development of Dispute Settlement, London, 19
12. See C.O. Gregory, “Trespass to negligence to absolute liability”, (1951) 37 Va L. R. 361.
13. See also, J. Wigmore, “Responsibility for tortious acts: its history”, (1894) 7 Ham L R. 315
14. N. Isaacs, “Fault and liability”, (1918) 31 Haw. L. R. 954
15. M. Horwitz, The Transformation of American Law. 1780–1860, Cambridge, Mass, 1977, 85ff.
16. See G. Schwartz, “Tort law and the economy in nineteenth century America: a reinterpretation”, (1981) 90 Yale L.J. 1717
17. “The character of early American tort law”, (1989) 36 UCLA L.R. 641
18. R. Rabin, “The historical interpretation of the fault principle”, (1981) 15 Ga L.R. 925
19. “Some thoughts on tort law from a sociopolitical perspective”, (1969) 51 Wis. L. R. 57
20. W. Malone, “Ruminations on the role of fault in the history of the common law of torts”, (1970) 31 La. L. R. 1ff
21. F. Terré, “Propos sur la responsabilité civile”, (1977) 22 Arch. Phil. Droit 39ff
22. Y. Flour, “Faute et responsabilité civile: déclin ou renaissance?” (1987) 5 Droits 29, 42ff.
23. A conclusion which should not conceal the various obstacles that the recovery might encounter in court, such as the fellow servant rule and assumption of risk as to workers compensation and requirement of privity of contract for product liability. See the survey in Prosser and Keeton on The Law of Torts, St. Paul, Min, 5th ed., 1984, 677ff.
24. See B.S. Markesinis, Liability for Unintentional Harm in the Civil Law and in the Common Law, 1983
25. R. Ogorek, “Actio negatoria und industrielle beeinträchtigung des grundeigentums”, in H. Coing and W. Wilhelm (eds.), Wissenschqft und Kodifikation des Privatrechts im 19 Jahrundert, 1979, 40ff.
26. It should be added, however, that for a long period, even in the cases in which liability was to be based upon negligence, nevertheless liability came to arise only when the victim was injured in one of the legal interests deemed worthy of protection (essentially, life, physical integrity, property). On all these points see the summary in K. Zweigert and H. Koetz, An Introduction to Comparative Law, Vol. II, Amsterdam, 2nd ed., 1987, 292ff.
27. See V. Palmer, “A general theory of the inner structure of strict liability: common law, civil law and comparative law”, (1988) 62 Tulane L. R. 1303ff.
28. Think, for example, of the leading cases which marked the path of product liability: MacPherson v. Buick Motor (1916) 217 N.Y. 382
29. 111 N.E. 1050
30. Donoghue v. Stevenson [1932] A.C. 562
31. Escola v. Coca Cola Bottling Co. of Fresno (1944) 24 Cal. 2d 453
32. 150 P. 2d 436.
33. Compare them with that followed by European civil law systems. In the latter the very different and sometimes contradictory path followed by national courts has long been bearable only thanks to scholarly efforts of rationalization. In the end, such scholarly efforts have been successful also at the E.U. level leading the enactment of a directive. See G. Ponzanelli, La Responsabilitá Civile. Profili di Diritto Comparato, 1992, 67ff and 107ff.
34. See F. Snyder, “The failure of law and development”, (1982) Wisconsin L. R. 373.
35. For a general survey on the law and development movement, see F. von Benda-Beckmann, “Scapegoat and magic charm: law in development theory and practice”, (1989) 28 J. of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 129
36. A. Ferguene, “Eléments pour un autre dévéloppement”, (1993) 31 Rev. Algér. Sc. Jur. 79.
37. S. Adelman and A. Paliwala, Law and Crisis in the Third World, London, 1993
38. R.B. Seidman, The State, Law, and Development, London, 1978.
39. From the economic point of view, see I.M.D. Little, Economic Development: Theory, Policy and International Relations, New York, 1982 (focusing on how, in developing countries, part of die economy operates under paternalist or quasi feudal regime.
40. See R. Sacco, Introduzione al Diritto Private Somalo, 1973.
41. See for example, W.J. Mommsen and J. de Moor, European Expansion and Law: The Encounter of European and Indigenous Law in 19th and 20th century Africa and Asia, 1991.
42. See for example, F. Ostini, Trattato di Diritto Consuetudinario dell'Eritrea, 1960
43. F.F. Russell, “Eritrean customary law”, (1959) 3 J.A.L 99ff
44. Zaki Mustafa, “The substantive law applied by Muslim courts in Ethiopia. Possible justifications for the continued application of the Sharia”, (1973) 9 J.E.L 138ff.
45. As to the Fetha Negast (the term derives from Ge'ez, the ancient language of Ethiopia, and can be understood to mean “justice of the Kings”) which is a sort of compilation of religious and civil precepts, whose sources seem to have been the Old and New Testament, a certain number of original Apostolic writings, the canons of early Councils, other writings which reflected the principles both of die compilation of Justinian as appearing in the books of Syro-Roman Law, and of Mohammed Law School of Cairo, see I. Guidi, Il Fetha Negast o Legislatore dei Re. Codice Ecclesiastico e Civile dell'Abissinia, 2 vols, 1895–1899
46. M. Perham, The Government of Ethiopia, 1948, 138ff
47. Y. Berhane, Delict and Torts: An Introduction to the Sources of the Law of Civil Wrongs in Contemporary Ethiopia, 1969, 3ff.
48. As to the influence of Fetha Negast on the civil codification works, see R. David, “Le rapport entre le nouveau code civil et l'ancien Fetha Negast est facile á reconnaître”
49. in R. David, “Les sources du Code Civil Ethiopien”, in (1962) 14 Rev. Int. Dr. Comp. 497
50. see also the Preface to die Civil Code by Emperor Haile Selassie I: “die codification Commission has been inspired in its labours by the genius of Ethiopian legal traditions and institutions as revealed by the ancient and venerable Fetha Negast”.
51. For valuable remarks on this phenomenon see R. Sacco, “Diffusion at dépérissement des modéles juridiques italiens en Afrique, notamment en Somalie”, in G. Conac (ed.), Dynaminues et Finalisés des Droits Africaines, 1980, 26f
52. M. Guadagni, Il Diritto dei Paesi Africani Nella Letteratura Contemporanea, 1984, 27ff, 215ff.
53. P. Brietzke, Law, Development and the Ethiopian Revolution, 1982
54. J. Vanderlinden, “Le droit de la révolution éthiopienne”, in Conac (ed.), Il Diritto dei Paesi Africani Nella Letteratura Contemporanea, 331.
55. Compare D. Haile, “Law and social change in Africa: preliminary look at the Ethiopian experience”, (1973) 9 J.E.L 380ff
56. P.L. Strauss and M.R. Topping, “Decision trees”, (1970) 7 J.E.L 447ff
57. T. Geraghty, “People, practice, attitudes and problems in the courts of Ediiopia”, (1969) 6 J.E.L. 426ff.
58. It seems, however, unlikely mat the exporters and the drafters of legal models and codes failed to take these problems into consideration. What may be more likely is that this issue was underestimated by the various African intellectuals who gained power, who had studied overseas and come under the influence of “traditional” Western legal models; on this point see D. Haile, “Ethiopia”, in M. Guadagni (ed.), Legal Scholarship in Africa, 1989, 29ff.
59. On this phenomenon see for example, J. Griffith, “What is legal pluralism?” (1986) 24 J. Leg. Pluralism and Unofficial Law
60. S. Engle-Merry, “Legal pluralism”, (1988) 22 Law and Soc. Rev. 869.
61. G. Krzeczunowicz, “Code and custom in Ethiopia”, (1965) 2 J.E.L. 425ff
62. “A new legislative approach to customary law. The ‘repeals’ provision of the Ethiopian Civil Code of 1960”, (1964) 1 J.E.L. 57ff.
63. P. Brietzke, Law Development and Ethiopian Revolution, 1982, 82ff
64. R. Sacco, Diritto in Africa (forthcoming).
65. As far as Ethiopia and Eritrea are concerned, see for example, Haile, Diritto in Africa
66. Strauss and Topping, Diritto in Africa
67. On tort law provisions of the Code, see Y. Berhane, Delict and Torts: An Introduction to the Sources of the Law of Civil Wrongs in Contemporary Ethiopia, 1969
68. G. Krzeczunowicz, The Ethiopian Law of Extracontractual Liability, 1970.
69. As to the civil code as a whole, R. David, “Civil code for Ethiopia”, (1963) Tulane L. R. 187.
70. M. Guadagni, Diritto dei Paesi Africani, Enc. Giur. Treccani, 1991.
71. With specific regard to Ethiopia and Eritrea, see Y. Berhane, Diritto dei Paesi Africani, Enc. Giur. Treccani
72. Cf. M. Bussani, “Short notes on tort law in Ethiopia and Eritrea”, in E. Grande (ed.), Transplants, Innovations and Legal Tradition in the Horn of Africa, 1995, 373ff.
73. The spread of law and economics is one of the most important examples of methodological legal transplants in Western law. For its methodological development see R. Sacco, “Legal formants: a dynamic approach to comparative law”, (1991) 39 Am. J. Comp. L. 26ff, 346ff.
74. See F.I. Michelman, “Pollution as a tort. A non accidental perspective on Calabresi's costs”, (1971)80 Tale L. J. 647.
75. See, for the American experience, Comment, “An enemy of the people: prosecuting the corporate polluter as a common law criminal”, (1990) 39 Am. Un. L. R. 311.
76. See S.D. Murphy, “Prospective liability regimes for the transboundary movements of hazardous wastes”, (1994) 88 Am. J. Int. Law 24, 54.
77. Am. J. Int. Law, at 54.
78. For a discussion of how different institutional mechanisms can be used in this regard see W.K. Viscusi, “Towards a diminished role of tort liability: social insurance, government regulation, and contemporary risks to health and safety”, (1989) 6 Tale J. Regulation 65
79. S. Shavell, “Liability for harm vs regulation of safety”, (1984) 13 J. Leg. Stud. 357.
80. See R.D. Cooter and T.S. Ulen, Law and Economics, 1987.
81. On this point compare P. Dasgupta, An Inquiry into Well-being and Destitution, 1993.
82. On these points see the works quoted above, n. 28; and I.S. Fraser, “The administrative framework for economic development in Ethiopia”, (1966) 3 J.E.L. 118ff.
83. See J. Clare Mohamed, “Environmental law trends and concerns in Zimbabwe”, in I.L. Backer, H.C. Bugge and A. Helium (eds.), Environment and Development in Developing Countries: National and International Law, Skriftserie, 1994, 15, 20ff.
84. See T.O. Elias, The Mature of African Customary Law, Manchester, 1956.
85. For some examples of African national statutes tackling pollution, A. Adekunle, Statute Note, (1992) 36(1) J.A.L. 99ff.