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4. Understanding customary laws in the context of legal pluralism

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Gebre Yntiso
Gebre Yntiso
Gebre Yntiso
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Abstract

Being a home to more than 80 ethnic groups, Ethiopia has to balance normative diversity with efforts to implement state law across its territory. This volume explores the co-existence of state, customary, and religious legal forums from the perspective of legal practitioners and local justice seekers. It shows how the various stakeholders' use of negotiation, and their strategic application of law can lead to unwanted confusion, but also to sustainable conflict resolution, innovative new procedures and hybrid norms. The book thus generates important knowledge on the conditions necessary for stimulating a cooperative co-existence of different legal systems.
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4. Understanding customary laws in the context
of legal pluralism
Gebre Yntiso
Introduction
             
             
            
              
             
            
         
           
             
          
          
          
           
 
            
              
          
           
            
          

          
          
         
         
        
            
         
72 Gebre Yntiso
          
           
         
             
             
 
           
            
            
         
      
            
          
           
              

         
             
          
            
          
              
           
     
           
             
            
               
           
               
            
    
          
           
            
            
           
            
             
           
Understanding customary laws in the context of legal pluralism 73
              
        
           
             
               
           
           
              
           
          
               
          
        
           
          
        
         
             
         
             
            
     
           
            
               
           
           
           
              
            

           
          
           
           
         
           
            
          
              
74 Gebre Yntiso
          
             
          
           
           
          
           
       
            
              

            
         
        
           
          
            
            
           
      
Towards conceptual clarity
            
          
           
         
       
          
             
             
             
   
            
            
               
          
               
      
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            
          
          
            
         
          
            
             
           
      
             
          
           
           
          
            
          
        
          
        
            
             
        
        
           

          
           
           
           
            
          
           
             
           
           
          
         
         
  
76 Gebre Yntiso
         
          
       
       
         
            
               
           
          
           
         
            
  
Types of incompatibility
               
           
          
          
             
              
            
           
            
           
         
   
           
         
            
              
        
         
           
               
     
Understanding customary laws in the context of legal pluralism 77
Methods of handling incompatibility
         
          
          
           
          
          
           
         
         
            
            
              
           
              
            
         
        
        
          
          
              
            
  
          
       
            
            
            
            
           
            
            
          
            
            
              
   
         
              
78 Gebre Yntiso
            
            
          
           
             
           
            
            
          
             
             
            
            
           
      
            
           
         
               
        
       
             
            
          
           
            
   
           
            
           
          
           
          
              
         
           
   
      
          
            
           
Understanding customary laws in the context of legal pluralism 79
            
           
              
          
             
            
           
             
             
           
            
             
          
             
          
    
            
         
            
           
            
           
          
     
Approaches to ending incompatibility
            
         
         
          
             
            
  
         
          
          
          
            
            
            
80 Gebre Yntiso
          
           
            
            
           
        
    
         
           
           
            
           
            
           
          
            
          
            
   
          
          
           
          
           
 
         
           
           
          
            
            
             
         
          
          
            
            
             
            
       
Understanding customary laws in the context of legal pluralism 81
         
           
          
           
              
              
            
         
        
          
          
            
           
           
            
           
     
               
           
            
           
         
         
         
             
       
Values and virtues of customary laws
           
            
            
            
             
          
              
          
            
           
82 Gebre Yntiso
            
          
              
        
           
            
            
            
   
Restoration of social order
            
        
            
            
           
             
             
             
            
             
            
             
     
            
              
           
             
            
              
            
             
             
           
               
 
           
              
            
               
Understanding customary laws in the context of legal pluralism 83
            
             
          
            
            
Quest for truth
           
            
            
             
              
              
             
        
              
           
           
         
             
             
           
             
             
         
         
           
           
          
            
            
            
            
           
           
             
          
            
            
        
84 Gebre Yntiso
Public participation
            
          
             
             
              
          
   
         
           
         
          
           
              
            
           
          
           
   
          
         
        
           
            
           
           
   
Collective responsibility
           
           
          
            
            
             
           
             
         
           
Understanding customary laws in the context of legal pluralism 85
           
        
         
            
        
           
         
            
             
           
          
              
             
             
 
          
            
          
          
           
          
        
Accessibility, eciency and affordability
           
          
             
             
           
            
            
           
              
              

        
            
             
              
           
86 Gebre Yntiso
             
           
         
        
          
Systematic and comparative research
             
            
             
            
            
           
 
The structure of customary courts
           
             
            
          
            
 
          
           
           
           
          
             
            
 
          
        
           
           
    
          
                
             
Understanding customary laws in the context of legal pluralism 87
             
            
             
            

           
               
            
             
           
             
          
             
            
         
The procedures of customary courts
           
           
         
           
           
            
              
                
         
           
             
            
           
             
          
            
         
           
              
 
              
            
            
88 Gebre Yntiso
             
           
        
           
             
           
         
          
           
         
             
           
             
         
            
            
Summary and conclusion
              
       
          
            
           
         
           

           
       
            
            
          
           
           
             
           
          
      
           
            
Understanding customary laws in the context of legal pluralism 89
           
   
            
         
          
          
            
             
          
              
         
    
         
               
           
          
           
            
        
         
           
         
             
         
           
             
           
          
            
          
             
            
   
References
         
          
         
  
90 Gebre Yntiso
          
           
          
   
       
            
           
   
            
      
           
           
           
         
     
         
          
           
          
        
          
  
         
          
         
  
           
          
        
          
    
            
         
           
           
      
           
         
           
      
Understanding customary laws in the context of legal pluralism 91
         
   
         
          
           
   
           
         
           
         
           
         
        
             
           
            
 
            
          
     
        
            
           
        
          
       
          
          
        

          
       
           
        
          
    
             
          
              

          
92 Gebre Yntiso
        
          
          
      
       
           
         

     
         
           

            
            
  
        
           
          
    
         
          
   
           
  
            
          
          
     
         
           
         
    
        

          
           
          
  
          
             
Understanding customary laws in the context of legal pluralism 93
          
       
         
           
          
  
          
   
... 78 Although the existing subsidiary laws have not incorporated much from customary laws, there is an exception in the case of rural land administration and use proclamations. Most of the regional land administration proclamations 74 Gebre Yntiso (2020). "Understanding Customary Laws in the Context of Legal Pluralism", in Susanne Epple and Getachew Assefa (eds.), ...
Effect of Formalization of Rural Women’s Land Rights in a Plural Justice System: The Case of the Sidama Regional State
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Full-text available
  • Oct 2023
Joint land registration and certification program has been introduced in Ethiopia to secure rural women’s land rights through a joint titling of a husband and wife. This article examines the effect of this program in the protection of women’s land rights in the context of the plural justice system and the process of women’s choice-making among the various justice systems that exist in the Sidama regional state. The findings demonstrate that the land registration and titling process contributed to bring change in the type and frequency of cases brought before courts and in its decision by raising women’s consciousness of their land rights. It has also contributed to bringing change in some of the applicable norms in the customary justice system towards women’s inheritance rights. Rural women alternate between the formal and informal justice systems by choosing the one that best serves their interests while taking into account various factors that affect their land rights. However, the practice of polygamy, informal land transactions and the entrenched social norms that discriminate against women have made the contribution of the land certification program to be minimal and has limited the enforcement of women’s land rights in the plural justice setting.
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Integrating Traditional and State Institutions for Conflict Prevention: Institutional, Legal and Policy Frameworks in Ethiopia
Article
Full-text available
  • Dec 2022
Despite the prevalence of traditional institutions and the growing official and academic need to ‘recognize,’ ‘empower’ and incorporate them in the state system, competition and harmony between the two persists. There are seventy-six officially listed ethnic groups in Ethiopia, and there exists a great plurality of livelihoods, social organizations, belief systems, and political and legal systems in the country. Notwithstanding the human right issues, traditional institutions operating outside the state are the dominant form of conflict prevention and resolution in Ethiopia. However, the relationship between traditional institutions and state institutions remains unclear. Previous researches either focus on the constitutional set-up and legal framework of states, or their scope is too specific relating to local case studies and their relationship with the state local institutions. This relationship does not, however, only involve legal issues or concerns at the bottom, but it is also an issue of governance and political structure. This article is based on content and document analysis and examines the harmony and competition between the state and traditional institutions in Ethiopia. I argue that despite their practical prevalence, the policy, legal and institutional frameworks in Ethiopia do not plainly address the relationship between the state and traditional institutions. Although de facto recognition seems to exist, the practice shows that the state that envisages the importance of traditional institutions undermines their role in case of conflict with state institutions.
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Current Illusions and Delusions About Conflict Management—In Africa and Elsewhere
Article
Full-text available
  • Jul 2002
  • LAW SOCIAL INQUIRY
This paper provides a critical perspective on the use of U. S. alternative dispute resolution (ADR) approaches for managing conflict in African and other communities. It argues that imposition of American ADR as a condition for foreign aid or capital investment is deeply problematic, and urges a more sophisticated analysis of the power dimensions and ideological basis of ADR. When viewed as an ideologically laden paradigm for how conflict should be resolved (i. e., a conflict paradigm), ADR can be seen as carrying troubling baggage. For example, ADR approaches imported from the United States deal with dispute resolution simply in terms of mechanisms or techniques, ignoring substantive issues central to conflict management in African and other communities. The entire discourse surrounding ADR pays insuficient attention to problems with terms such as modern or traditional, and encourages an ingenuous denial of the effects of inequality in power and money on conflict resolution. This ideological baggage renders unreflective imposition of ADR incompatible with the best interests of African communities. The authors urge a more complete and objective analysis of the global ADR revolution-one that takes a broader perspective.
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Type I and Type II Errors in Culturally Sensitive Conflict Resolution Practice
Article
Full-text available
  • Mar 2003
  • Conflict Resolut Q
Drawing on recent, critical work dealing with culture theory, ethnicity, and multiculturalism, this article seeks to address the nexus between conflict resolution theory and practice and aims primarily to contribute to the work of practitioners functioning as third parties and intervenors in intercultural and interethnic conflicts and disputes. Two conceptions of culture are proposed and analyzed: a technical, “experience-distant” sense of the term, crucial for conflict analysis (and for education and training); and an affectively laden, often politicized, “experience-near” sense of the term, at the root of so much intergroup conflict and thus implicated in effective and ethical intercultural practice.
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Customs and constitutions: State recognition of customary law around the world
  • May 1960
  • 251-278
  • Borena Wogidi
  • South District
  • Wollo
Culture and conflict resolution. Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace BIRHAN Assefa, 2011 "Yamare fird [customary court] in Wogidi and Borena District, South Wollo" (in Amharic), in: Gebre Yntiso, Fekade Azeze, and Assefa Fiseha (eds.) Customary dispute resolution in Ethiopia, 133-156. Addis Ababa: The Ethiopian Arbitration and Conciliation Center BOHANNAN, Paul, 1969 "Ethnography and comparison in legal anthropology", in: Laura Nader (ed.): Law in culture and society, 401-418. Chicago: Aldine BURTON, John, 1990 Conflict: Resolution and prevention. New York: St. Martin's Press BURTON, John and Frank DUKES, 1990 Conflict: Practices in management, settlement and resolution. New York: St. Martin's Press Cuskelly, Katrina 2011 Customs and constitutions: State recognition of customary law around the world. Bangkok: IUCN DEBEBE Zewde, 2011 "Conflict resolution among the Issa community" (in Amharic), in: Gebre Yntiso, Fekade Azeze, Assefa Fiseha (eds.) Customary dispute resolution in Ethiopia, 341-369. Addis Ababa: The Ethiopian Arbitration and Conciliation Center DEJENE Gemechu, 2011 "The customary courts of the Waliso Oromo", in: Gebre Yntiso, Fekade Azeze, Assefa Fiseha (eds.) Customary dispute resolution in Ethiopia, 251-278. Addis Ababa: The Ethiopian Arbitration and Conciliation Center DEUTSCH, Morton, 1973 The resolution of conflict: Constrictive and destructive processes. New Haven: Yale University Press EMPIRE OF ETHIOPIA, 1960 Civil Code of the Empire of Ethiopia, Proclamation No. 165/1960, Negarit Gazeta Extraordinary Issue, 1960-05-05, Year 19, No. 2
African virtues and the pursuit of conviviality: Exploring local solutions in light of global prescriptions
  • Jan 2016
  • 1-30
  • Gebre Yntiso
GEBRE Yntiso, Itaru OHTA and Motoji MATSUDA (eds.), 2017 African virtues and the pursuit of conviviality: Exploring local solutions in light of global prescriptions. Mankon, Bamenda (Cameroon): Langaa Research & Publishing GEBRE Yntiso, 2016a "Borderland conflicts in East Africa: The unnoticed wars in the Ethiopia-Kenya border", Ethiopian Journal of Development Research 38 (1):1-30
Ethnic boundary making in East Africa: Rigidity and flexibility among the Nyangatom people
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2016b "Ethnic boundary making in East Africa: Rigidity and flexibility among the Nyangatom people", African Study Monographs, 37 (4):143-160
Addis Ababa: The Ethiopian Arbitration and Conciliation Center GLUCKMAN, Max, 1969 "Concepts in the comparative study of tribal law
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2014 "Systematizing knowledge about customary laws in Ethiopia", Journal of Ethiopian Law 26 (2):28-54 2012 "Arra: Customary conflict resolution mechanisms of the Dassanech" (in Amharic), in: Gebre Yntiso, Fekade Azeze and Assefa Fiseha (eds.) Customary dispute resolution in Ethiopia Vol. 2, 51-79. Addis Ababa: The Ethiopian Arbitration and Conciliation Center 2012 with Fekade Azeze, and Assefa Fiseha (eds.): Customary dispute resolution in Ethiopia, Vol 2. Addis Ababa: The Ethiopian Arbitration and Conciliation Center 2011 with Fekade Azeze, and Assefa Fiseha (eds.): Customary dispute resolution in Ethiopia Vol. 1. Addis Ababa: The Ethiopian Arbitration and Conciliation Center GLUCKMAN, Max, 1969 "Concepts in the comparative study of tribal law", in: Laura Nader (ed.): Law in culture and society, 349-373. Chicago: Aldine GRANDE, Elisabetta, 1999"Alternative dispute resolution, Africa and the structure of law and power: The Horn in context", Journal of African Law 43 (1):63-70
Controlling process in the practice of law: Hierarchy and pacification in the movement to reform dispute ideology
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NADER, Laura, 1993 "Controlling process in the practice of law: Hierarchy and pacification in the movement to reform dispute ideology", Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution 9:1-8