Establishment of Strict Liability for Motor Vehicle under Ethiopian Law: Issues of Concern

Gizachew Silesh Chane; Fekerabenet Fekadu

doi:10.20372/bdujol.v10i1.1338

Gizachew Silesh Chane Editor-in-Chief
Fekerabenet Fekadu LL.B., LL.M; Lecturer in Law, School of Law, Bahir Dar University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.20372/bdujol.v10i1.1338

Keywords: Motor Vehicle, Strict Liability, Owner, Holder, Insurer, Claimant, Defendant

Abstract

Due to frequent happening of accidents and their severe impact on the victims, court disputes pertaining to liabilities for motor vehicles are not only considerable in amount but also ever increasing in number. Unfortunately, some provisions governing strict liability for motor vehicles are either silent or vague or too general. These factors led to disparities in the application of laws governing strict liability for motor vehicles, particularly on issues related to the establishment of strict liability. This paper, thus, inter alia, raises the following questions: What is the scope of the law governing strict liability for motor vehicles? How the advent of a law on third party insurance against motor vehicle victim affects the scope of strict liability law? Who can be plaintiff and defendant under strict liability law? To address these issues, qualitative research approach which employs legal analysis, interview, and literature and case reviews is used. The finding concluded that laws governing establishment of strict liability for motor vehicles are neither adequate to regulate current dispute nor be able to anticipates possible future developments. Hence, for uniform and proper application of laws governing establishment of strict liability for motor vehicles, amendment of relevant provisions needs to be made, until then, the Federal Supreme Court Cassation bench shall provide guidance through interpreting vague and general provisions in light of theories of strict liability.

Author Biography

Gizachew Silesh Chane, Editor-in-Chief

Gizachew Silesh Chane

Gizachew has earned LL.M in Maritime Law from University of Oslo (2017), LL.M in Business Law from Addis Ababa University (2010), LL.B degree from Addis Ababa University School of Law (2006), and BA degree in economics from Bahir Dar University (2015).

Gizachew is currently working as assistant professor of Business Law at Bahir Dar University, and as Consultant and attorney at Law. With over 15 years working experience in teaching and advisory services, he has been engaged in teaching and training activities extensively. He teaches law of business organizations, corporate governance and finance, alternative dispute resolution (ADR), and Law of Financial Institutions and Markets, among others. He also advises postgraduate students in different universities of Ethiopia on their dissertation.

Specifically for the last 3 years, as of October 2019, he is serving as director of legal service directorate for technology institutes of Bahir Dar University, responsible for advising the administration human resource management, training the staff and the administration on employment issues, among others. He has also undertaken problem solving research on legal matters in collaboration with NGOs, notably with USAID Ethiopia in which he won and delivered, together with associates, two successive researches in 2021 and 2022. Gizachew has published a number of research works in various areas of law.