Unit Two /2/

Rule of Law

BY NATI M. 1
 UNIT TWO
RULE OF LAW
RULE OF LAW AND CONSTITUTION
• Rule of law prevails under a democratic gov’t with a
democratic constitution. The federal constitution
established the federal gov’t that exercise power over the
entire country.
• Both the federal and regional states’ constitutions
prohibit gov’t officials from violating the laws of the
country.
• Rule of Law Vs Rule by Law
• Rule of Law Vs Rule of Men
• Rule of Law Vs Law of Jungle
BY NATI M. 2
 The Formulation 1995 Constitution of Ethiopia
Drafted by Constitutional Commission
It composed representatives of political parties civil
societies & legal experts

Discussion and Development by different sections of

society /ideas inputs coming from people at grass root
level ie elders, respected persons and religious leaders/

Ratification by Constitutional Assembly

Having 538 representatives of nations, nationalities &
peoples of Ethiopia.
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• The FDRE constitution was adopted in December 8 1994
and put in to practice since 21 August 1995.
This constitution has two major parts
1/ The Preamble
2/ The Main body
• The preamble states about the objectives or aspirations of
the Ethiopian people and the principles and mechanisms
for achieving these objectives.

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 Salient features of the FDRE Constitution
A/ Ethnicity as a major component
• In Contrast with the past constitutions, the 1995
constitution grants recognition to the nations,
nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia.
B/ Parliamentary Democracy
• The 1995 constitution establishes parliamentary form
of government.

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 C/ The Right to Secession / Ar 39/
• The most peculiar feature of the 1995 constitution is its
recognition of the right to self determination unto
secession. The right to self determination include the
right to self gov’t , the right to use and develop one’s
language, the right to use, maintain and promote one’s
culture and history.

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D/ Language policy Ar 5
• The constitution gave grants recognition to the equality
of all languages and nations have the right to speak and
develop their own language.
E / Secularism
• 1/ State and Religion are separate
• 2/ There shall be no State Religion
• 3/ The State shall not interfere in Religious matters
and Religion shall not interfere in State affairs

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 The Necessity of Rule of Law

Rule of law prohibits people from violating the rights of

others.
• Absence of rule of law can also create inequality & an
absence of the equal protection.
• Conflict means disagreement that arises due to
differences that can result from divergence interest in a
society.

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• Rule of law helps to prevent and manage conflict
through legal means and established procedures. This
means, before the conflict turns in to violence and
anarchy, rule of law attempts to prevent its occurrence
and manage it by using appropriate mechanisms.

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 Limited and Unlimited Government
• Limited government is a gov’t its power is
restricted constitutionally and also an absence of
arbitrary power and protection of basic rights and
freedoms of citizens.
• Limited gov’t is a gov’t that all its power is emanate
from people or citizens & govern its people based on
clear, fair and equal rules and regulations.

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Every democratic gov’t is characterized by limiting the
power of officials.
Unlimited government characterized by absence of
rule of law. It is associated with authoritarianism and
totalitarianism.
e.g Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini, Nazi Germany
under Adolph Hitler and Spain under General Franco.

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Totalitarianism
Rule by a single political party. 
People are forced to do what the government tells them
and may also be prevent from leaving the country. 
Authoritarianism
a form of gov’t in which individual freedom is completely
subjected /subordinate/ to government officials.

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Government and State
 State is the highest and most powerful political
organization of a society. The state possesses
the monopoly of power to use with in its
territory.

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4 Essential Elements of State
1/People:- population is one of the essential
elements of state. Population refers to peoples
living in a define territory of a state. We cannot
imagine a state to exist with out people. E.g the
state of Ethiopia could have not been existed
without Ethiopian people.
‘’ State is made up of people’’

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The existence of the state requires to have its own people
who live permanently with n a particular territory.
The other things remain equal, a state with larger no of
people is more powerful than a state with smaller no of
people. A state can exist with a very small or large
number of people. There is no standard in the
international law with regard to the no of people in a
state or to form state.

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2/ Territory:- refers to the landmass and its resources
administered by a state. The territory of a state requires a
recognized boundary, which is known to international
agreements. The existence of the state is not determined
by the size of its territory. The state can exist with very
small like Vatican, Luxemburg, Djibouti or very large
territory like China, USA, Brazil and Russia.
In fact, the size of territory has its own impact on the
power and maintenance of the state.

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• According to international law all states are equal in rights
and status, regardless of inequalities in area and
population. Yet in reality, a tiny state finds in a difficult
position & it usually must seek protection from one or
more of the great powers in order to maintain its
existence.

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3/ Government it is the executive agent that acts in
the name of the state. Gov’t is important institution
carries on its functions and realizes its policies and
objectives. Sometimes if there will not be effective gov’t
it is difficult to maintain the existence of the state.

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4/ Sovereignty the word sovereignty denotes supreme
and final legal authority above and beyond which no
further legal power exists. Sovereignty has two
dimensions internal supremacy with the territory of the
state over all matters and external independence means
from direct political control by any other state.

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 State
Relatively permanent
It entire the whole people
It is more or less
permanent/immortal/
It is prerequisite for gov’t
State may exist with out
gov’t but it is difficult
BY NATI M.
Gov’t
• Gov’t is temporary, come
and go in a specific years
• It includes only relatively
small proportion of the
population
• Gov’t is unthinkable with
out state
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