A Critical Analysis of Ethiopian Civil Code Governing Sale of Goods in the Light of International Convention and Principles

Abstract

This paper critically analyzes the 1960 Ethiopian civil code governing sales of goods in the context of international convention and principles. And, the paper argues that the Ethiopian civil code governing sale of goods is no compatible with the main provisions of the international convention and principles. In order to examine and prove this hypothesis, particular attention was directed towards examining the main provisions of the international convention and principles i.e. CISG, UPICC, PECL and UCC and related this to critically analyze the Ethiopian civil code governing sale of goods. This enables for the researcher to analyze and establish whether the Ethiopian civil code governing sale of goods is compatible with the international convention and principles. By doing so, the paper will help: 1) the potential contracting parties to choice the best and suitable governing law’s or provisions of a given law; and 2) the Ethiopian government to understand which international convention and principles should be adopted by a country and in which provisions of a given law should the government put its reservation. From the comparisons, the researcher found that the Ethiopian civil code governing sales of goods are incompatible with the aforementioned international convention and principles on the areas of scope of applicability, interpretation, formation of the contract, obligation of the parties, risk of loss, breach of contract and remedies. Therefore, we can understand that, one body of law is not a perfect body of law, and neither can it be, and to some extent they enable themselves to supplement each other and fit well with each other, rather than compete or claim to displace the other.