There are various reasons for regulating and protecting the family through the adoption of legislative interventions. Before looking at these reasons it is necessary to define a family. The legal definition of family is not a unitary concept. However, we can find some suggested definitions.   

 Source: Family Law Teaching Material There is no generally accepted definition of family law. ‘Family law is usually seen as the law governing the relationship between children and parents, and between adults in close emotional relationships’ [1] . Many areas of law can have an impact on family life: tax laws, immigration laws as well as insurance laws have great connection with family law. As Dewar noted: Most legal disciplines would claim to possess at least one of two forms of coherence. The first stems from the organizing legal concept from which the discipline in question derives its name: ‘contract’, ‘negligence’, ‘trust’. The second relates to the set of ‘real world’ problems with which the discipline is concerned: labor relations, housing, land use, commerce, government and administration. At first glance, it would seem that the area of study designated as family law possesses a coherence of the second sort. After all, the term ‘family’ has in itself no legal significa...

  Mulugeta Getu Sisay Haramaya Law Review Vol. 4 No. 1 (2015) DOWNLOAD PDF Abstract Most legal theorists agree that law is the ‘mirror of society’ and its purpose is ‘maintenance of social order’. This so called mirror-theory underlines that the basic source of law is social values and interaction, and the state should not blatantly ignoresocietal values and impose aspirational laws. Unfortunately, Ethiopia has taken measures to modernize the country through legislative reforms including by abolishing selected aspects of customary family institutions in 1960 and 2000. As a result, important values of the society have been overlooked in the official family laws and that separate the law from the community. Betrothal, one of the long established practices of Ethiopians, is totally ignored by the federal family law and has become an extra-judicial act.

Mandefrot Belay Mizan Law Review Vol. 10 No. 1 (2016) DOWNLOAD PDF Abstract This note provides the historical context and background of the reform initiative of Ethiopian family law (in 1998-2000) and the outcome thereof. The note identifies the issues that were subject of discourse and shows how the current law has addressed them.

Journal of Ethiopian Law, Volume 25, Issue 2, Sep 2012, p. 236 - 253 Aschalew Ashagre Introduction  Marriage is a sacred institution which has been well accepted by society in every corner of the world. As such, marriage has been recognized and protected by both national laws of countries1 and international legal instruments.2Legal recognition and protection is given to marriage because it is through marriage that humanity establishes and maintains family, which is the fundamental unit of society.3The recognition and protection of marriage becomes meaningful when the law gives recognition and protection to the effects produced by marriage. The basic effects of marriage can be divided into personal and pecuniary.4 In Ethiopia, personal effects of marriage pertain to respect, support, assistance,5 joint management of family,6 cohabitation,7 determination of residence,8 duty of fidelity9 and the like.

Jetu E. Chewaka  Oromia Law Journal [Vol 3, No. 1]   DOWNLOAD PDF INTRODUCTION  The practice of bigamous marriage in rural and urban Ethiopia is deeply rooted in religious and customary practices. According to the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey Report of 2011 (EDHS), eleven percent of married women in Ethiopia are in bigamous marriage, with nine percent having only one co-wife and two percent having two or more co-wives.1 Similarly, five percent among the married men in Ethiopia live as a bigamous marriage having two or more wives.2 Despite its prevalence, however, the practice of bigamy is prohibited under the Family and Criminal Code of Ethiopia. Though the prevalence of bigamous marriage in developed countries is defended on the basis of the right to religion and culture,3 the socioeconomic justification for its prevalence is stronger and more felt in developing countries such as Ethiopia. Particularly, given the low economic and educational status of wom...