Criminal Law I

UNIT ONE: Introduction to Criminal law

1.1. Definition of Crime and

Criminal Law
Crime : No comprehensive definition of
crime has been achieved.
it is deceiving concept because,
depending up on the social,
economic, political and technological
changes the concept of crime/forbidden
act varies (it is not static). The concept
may also differ from place to place.
In common parlance the word crime
is applied to those acts that go
against social order and are worthy
of serious condemnation.
 Crime is a ―Public Wrong—
Blackstone: Blackstone, (1968) has
defined crime as ―an act committed or
omitted in violation of a public law
either forbidding or commanding it”.
This definition is wide enough to incorporate any act that
goes against public welfare. As such it lacks precision
 Public law has different meaning for d/t scholars:

Example: for AUSTIN its equivalent to constitutional

laws.
This shows that, what is crime is only act done against

the constitutional provisions (political documents) and

as such it only define narrowly act of crime as only
political crimes.
for German; public law includes both
constitution and criminal law. Then, this
lead as to define crimes as an act that goes
against criminal law which is still
meaningless.
For Kenny public law refers to all positive laws or
municipal laws. Then crime would mean an act
done in violation of all positive law which is
not true for many acts though done in
breach of law are not crimes.
 The definition is unsatisfactory.
 Stephen: crime is “an act forbidden by law and which is at the same
time revolting to the moral sentiments of the society”. But not all
immoral act is a crime. Or not all crimes goes against morality of
the society. Eg. A skilled swimmer failing to give hand for downing
child, treason
 John Austin: crime is a procedural wrongs because, “A wrong

which is pursued by the sovereign or his subordinates is a crime. A

wrong which is pursued at the discretion of the injured party and his
representatives is a civil injury”. Then he failed to consider up on
complaint crimes. Eg. Adultry Art. 618 Cri.C and Art. 13 Cr.P.C.
 Russell: crime as creation of government policy, specially dictators

are crafted criminal law to safeguard their interest.

 Hence, difficult to come with full fledged def. of crime.
Crime can be also defined as a legal
wrong.
Criminal Code of FDRE, 2005, does not give
any standard definition of crime. But Art.
23(1) simply states that,
“A crime is an act which is prohibited and
made punishable by law. In this Code, an act
consists of the commission of what is
prohibited or omission of what is prescribed by
law.”
Criminal Law: ― As defined by Edwin
Sutherland,
It is a body of special rules regulating human
conduct promulgated by state and uniformly
applicable to all classes to which it refers and
is enforced by punishment.
1.2. The place of criminal Law in Criminal Science

Objectives of Criminal Science are:

A. Discovering causes of criminality.
Mental, physical, hereditary, social,
economic and political factors.
B. Discovering most effective methods
for reducing criminality and
C. Perfecting the machineries dealing
with criminals.
Criminology: the study of causes for
criminality

Criminal Policy or penology: study of

appropriate measures of social organization for
preventing harmful activities and treatment to
be given to those who have caused harm
(Treatment, prevention and Control)
Criminal Law:
A means of implementing criminology and
penology
It defines crimes
It provides types of punishments: capital
punishment, deprivation of liberty, medical
Branches of Criminal law:
a) Substantive Criminal Law: lays down the principles of
criminal liability, defines offences and prescribes
punishments for the same.
defines acts/behaviour (in special part) or omission
considered to be a crime (with all its elements ) and set
the punishment for each crimes.
It provide prior notice to prevent commission crime and
also set the mechanism to deal with once it is
committed.
It could also include other special criminal law
found in different proclamations possibly as per Art
55(5) of the constitution .
b) Adjective/Procedural Criminal law : It provides
practical application for the substantive criminal law.
Regulates how suspects are investigated, charged and
tried to be convicted or acquitted.
Question for discussion: By the Federal
Constitution Power is divided b/n both Federal
Gov’t (Art. 51) and Regional States (Art. 52)
Furthermore, on areas over which the Federal
Gov’t has power to enact laws, takes legislative
measure by virtue of Art 55. Also owes the power
to implement the enacted law through thje
executive (Art 74(3) and 77(1), and exercise the
to power to interpret the law through Federal
Courts (Art. 79 ff.) of different level.
If the power to enact the Criminal Code is given
for the Federal Gov’t and as such the Criminal
Code of 2005 is enacted, then why regional courts
interpret the Criminal Code of Federal Gov’t????
 1.3. General Objectives of Criminal Law

A. Protection of persons and property

Tort law also do the same. But Private
interests are served through the awarding of
damages. The public interests are served by
punishing criminal activity.
Read also Art. 16 and 40 of the Cons’t.
B. Deterrence of criminal behaviour
Through the instrumentality and fear of
punishment individuals can be prevented
(deterred) from committing crime. Read also
Art. 18 of the cons’t
Reasonable punishment
C. Punishment of criminal activity
Since it is impossible to avoid the
commission of crime by deterrence only,
those who has committed crime shall be
punished.
D. Rehabilitation
The government has designed various
programs to educate and train criminals in
legitimate occupations during the period of
incarceration/ imprisonment.
Upon release, therefore, there should be no
reason to return to a life of crime.
 Purpose of Punishment
 Five purposes of punishment were known in
general
1) Deterrence: Deterrence prevents future crime by frightening
the defendant (in the case of specific deterrence) or the public(in the case
of general deterrence).
 2) Incapacitation/prevention: It prevents future crime by
removing the perpetrator from society. Eg, it could be
through incarceration, house arrest, or (execution pursuant to
the death penalty permanent incapacitation).
 3) Rehabilitation/Reformation: Rehabilitation prevents
future crime by altering a defendant’s behaviour. Eg, it
could be through educational and vocational programs,
treatment centre placement, and counselling, as it could be
cumulative with imprisonment or independently
4) Retribution: It prevents future crime by
removing the desire for personal avengement
(in the form of assault, battery, and criminal
homicide) against the defendant.
5) Restitution: It prevents future crime by
punishing the defendant financially. Restitution
is when the court orders the criminal defendant
to pay the victim for any harm and resembles a
civil litigation damages award. Read Art 154 of
the Cr.Pro.C.
 1.4. Criminal Law, Private law and Morality-
Distinguished:

Any commission of forbidden act or omission

from the perspective of societal religion,
norm, ethics, rules and values are wrongs.
Any society has its own values and norms.
These wrongs could be (1st) Moral wrongs,
(2nd) legal wrongs.
Legal wrongs could be further divided in to
criminal wrongs (prohibited by criminal
law and coined with penal sanction) and
civil wrongs( which are regulated under
private laws).
 Important legal aspects which distinguish legal
wrongs:

A) Nature of wrong: crime is public wrong which is

against the society. While civil wrongs are private in

nature.
B) Nature of the Right Violated: In a crime and a tort

there is a breach of ‘right in rem’ (right claimable

against property). Whereas in a breach of contract
there is breach of ‘right in personum’(rights claimable
against person)
C) Origin and Nature of the Duty: in crime source of duty is
state through statute, the same is true in tort (as per 2035 of cc)
while in the contract the duty is from agreement of the contracting
parties.
D) Consent of the Victim: consent of the victim is not must in
crime to bring the case before the court except in the case of up on
complaints as per Art 70 of Criminal code.
But in both civil wrongs consent of plaintiff matter most.
E) The Element of Intention: for crime intention is essential as per
Art 57 & 58 criminal code.
For both contract breach and tort intention is not essential.
F) The Element of Negligence: For crime negligence is an
element - Art 59. Mere negligence may amount to a
tort (Art.2029 ECC). There is no question of
negligence in an action for breach of the obligation
arising out of a contract.
G) Relevancy of Motive: in crime motive is
necessary to determine the quantum of
punishment. Motive also matter in tortuous
liability while it is irrelevant for the breach of
H) Initiation of Legal Proceedings: by states
save as up on complaints. But in both civil
matter the injured take the case to court.
I) Remedies Available: in crime ranged from
fine to capital punishment, but in tort,
compensation, restitution and injunction. For
breach of contract cancellation of contract,
damages, specific performance and forced
performance of contract are the available
remedies. Note: There might be convergence
between crime and tort as most of the time
the same Act could be crime and lead to
tortuous liability. Further the act that harm
individual is indirectly harm society as
Criminal Law : It is a body of special rules
regulating human conduct promulgated by
state and uniformly applicable to all classes to
which it refers and is enforced by punishment.
The gravity of the injury is more directed to
the public at large (including the specific
victim) and the state by itself takes a direct
action against the wrong-doer. Therefore, the
state stresses the necessity of punishing the
wrong-doer rather than concerning itself with
the question of payment of compensation to
the injured party by the wrong-doer.
Violating criminal laws can be named as criminal
wrong
Civil Law: It is a body of rules enacted by the
government to regulate the relationship between
individual citizens and is enforced by the
instrumentality of payment of compensation or
performance of an obligation.
Where the magnitude of injury is supposed to be
more concentrated on the individual, the state, at
the instance of the injured individual or the group,
directs the wrong doer to compensate the injured in
terms of money.
Violating civil laws can be named civil wrongs.
The government prosecute in criminal case while
individual victims bring their case before the
attention of the court in civil case
Morality: morality explains the values of a
particular society that are used to determine right
and wrong.
Society prohibits or promotes certain activities
based on the general conscience of the society,
which is found in the values and norms of the society.
Criminal law and morality are related to each other
in that they both aim at maintaining social order.
There is a category of wrongs towards which law and
morality react with common hatred. They are
offences like murder, rape, arson, robbery, theft, etc.
 Chapter 2: The Development of criminal law of
Ethiopia

2.1. Historical Background

The historical dev’t of Eth.n criminal law before
the enactment of the 2005 Criminal Code
encompasses all the ff.
A. The Fewuse Menfessawi,
B. The Fetha Negest,
C. The Ethiopian Penal Code, 1930.
D. The Penal Code of the Empire of Ethiopia, 1957.
E. The 1974 Revolution and Criminal Law
F. Special Penal Code of 1981
A) The Fewuse Menfessawi(The Canonical
Penance The first compiled written law of the time
which had been compiled by orthodox church scholar
under supervision of the emperor.
 The motive for its enactment is the intention os the
emperor highly reduce using amorphous customary
laws.
 It only has 62 article mainly criminal and thus, less
comprehensive and left other crime unregulated.
B) The Fetha Negest (The Law of the Kings): Zara
Yaicob consider the gap of the first written law and
forced to adopt fetha negest to fill the gaps. This
codification was better and include the following
concept of crime,
 Concept of intention and negligence
 Balancing fault and sanction
 Individualization of punishments
 Forgiveness and redemption of offender
 The sharing of guilt in fighting case.
Fetha Negest formally incorporated under Ethiopian
modern legal system by Minilik II by 1908 and it tried
to incorporate modern criminal principle though with
the following drawbacks.
 No differentiation between general vs specific and also
between exception vs rule.
 Aggravating and mitigating ground is not clearly
provided
 haphazard organization and difficult to
locate relevant provision
 Understandable only by clergy
C) The Ethiopian Penal Code of 1930: it reflects
the norms and values of the old absolutist
monarchy of the generation of Emperor
Menelik II and Emperor Zewditu (i.e. the
era between 1889 and 1930). The source of
this code is Fetha Negest and the
Siamese(Modern Thailand) Penal Code
and the Penal Code of the French Indo-
China(form modern vetinam) of the time.
 It did not include modern concept related to
crimes.
Drafter was Frenchmen
 Some attributes of 1930 penal code were:
 Crime and its sanction is defined in clear fashion
 under its special part protect these three areas of interest
1. The state and Community,
2. Persons, and
3. Property
 Petty offense were included at the end
D) The Ethiopian Penal Code, 1957: this penal code is drafted
by graven Swiss jurist and it used to operate till 2005 criminal
code with slight amendment by Derge regime.
 It tried to be comprehensive and include modern concept and
principle of criminal laws
 Unlike 1930 penal code whose source is Asians this come
almost from western world European countries.
 The object of criminal law should not be retributive from
the outset, despite the fact that punishment will serve as
deterrent of prospective offenders.
 The following areas are where this penal code
incorporated modern principle of criminal code:
 Collective Punishment: traditionally if criminal
could not be separated from the group, then it lead to
group liability, but under this code if one prove the fact
that he /she had not committed the said crime then, he
could be free.
 Mutilation of Human Body as Punishment-Abolished:
 Presumption of Innocence’- Introduced as opposed to guilty
presumption
 Rules Applicable to Young Offenders:
 Probation and Suspension of Sentences
 The Personal Nature of Criminal Punishments And Measures:
 The Punishment For Burning Of Crops (Arson):
 Capital punishment and corporal punishment
(flogging) were maintained but with all the
necessary precautions as to the instance of
application and the conditions of administration.
Pecuniary punishments particularly confiscation
of property were made to be applicable in
limited instances of serious crimes against the
sovereign and the state
Etc.
E. The 1974 Revolution and Criminal Law: Derg
tried to revise the 1957 penal code to address political
offense and made liable all former officials of the
emperor.
In July 1976, the government amended the
Penal Code of 1957 to institute the death
penalty for "anti-revolutionary activities"
and “economic crimes”.
F. Special Penal Code of 1981: This amended
Code( of 1957) included offenses against
the government and the head of state, such
as crimes against the state's independence
and territorial integrity, armed uprising, and
commission of "counterrevolutionary" acts.
3.2. The Criminal Code of FDRE, Pro. No. 414/2004

The rational for the repeal of the 1957 penal code

and enactment of this code are,
A. To incorporate modern legal concepts: The
radical social economic and political changes has
resulted the incorporation of modern legal
concepts in the cons’t and int’l instruments ratified
by Eth.
The equality between religions, nations, nationalities
& peoples,
The democratic rights & freedoms of citizens &
residents,
The Human rights,
The rights of social groups like women and Children.
B. To fill the legal lacunae
The 1957 Penal Code fails to properly address
 The High Jacking of aircraft,
 Money laundering,
 Crimes related to corruption and drugs,
 Grave injuries and sufferings caused to
women and children by reason of harmful
traditional practices.
C. To Adopt a Comprehensive Criminal
Code:
by putting together various Criminal provisions
D. Punishments for Certain OffencesIncreased:
On the basis of public opinion punishments in respect
of crimes like rape (refer Art. 589 of the 1957
penal code and Art 620 of the 2005 Cr.C. and
aggravated theft(Art. 635 of the 1957 penal code and
Art.669 of the 2005 Cr.Code have been increased.
E. Matters Concerning the Determination of
Sentence Revised:
Provisions of the Penal Code that used to make
sentencing complicated and difficult have been
amended. The new code enables courts to pass the
appropriate penalty by carefully examining from the
lightest to the severe most punishment.
Art. 88(4) requires the Federal Supreme
Court to issue sentencing manual to ensure
and control the correctness and uniformity of
sentencing.
F. Purpose of Criminal Law and Objectives
of Punishment Redefined:
Purpose: Ensuring peace & security by
preventing the commission of crimes and
principally through punishment.
Punishment prevent wrongdoers temporarily or
permanently from committing further crimes
and warns prospective wrong doers.
Parole
Probation
Vocational training and provision of
academics.
 This all things show the concern of the code
on rehabilitation/reform & it is clearly stated.
 These express provisions in the new Code are
included with intention that the Courts
should, on passing sentence, take into
account the purpose of the Criminal Law and
the different aims of punishment.
 3.3. Scheme of the Criminal Code

The Code is organized into three main parts.

Part I of the Criminal Code is entitled
―General Principles of Criminal Liability,
Part II Special Part and
Part III is Petty Code.
A. General Part.
o It sets different criminal principle without
which special part of criminal code could
not be applied.
o Its most technical part of the code
o The General Part has two Books, namely:
o Under BOOK I: Art.1-86 Crimes and its
commission
o criminal law and its scope Art 1-22,
o crime and its commission Art 23-47 and
o also conditio
o n for liability to punishment Art 48-86
o Issues such as
o The principle of legality, negligence, criminal
responsibility, participation, lawful acts,
justifiable and excusable acts, extenuating and
o Under BOOK II: ―The Criminal punishment and
its Application.87-237
o Sets calculation of sentences, kind of punishment ,
ordinary punishment applicable to adult, special
measures applicable to adults , penalty applicable
to young person, rules regarding determination , suspension,
discontinuance and extinction of penalty.
 2) Special part of Criminal Code:
o embodies Specific Crimes which are
organized under different titles
systematically.
o It is simply the catalogue of crime and its
respective punishment.
o It provide the crime with its detail elements
and the punishment range as well.
o Any act which is not stated in

this part as ‘crime’ could not be crime

 …..cnt
o This part of the Code includes four books. Each
Book is sub – divided into Titles, chapters,
sections, paragraphs and finally Articles.
o The Books of part II of the Code are follows.
o Book III (Arts.238-374) incorporates: Crimes
against the State or National or International
Interests.
o Book IV (Arts.375-537) deals with: Crimes against
Public Interest or the Community,
o Book V (Arts. 538-661) embodies: Crimes against
Individuals and the Family, and
o Book VI (Arts. 662-733) deals with: Crimes against
Property
 ….cnt

3) Code of petty offenses: 734-865

o Deal with offence of minor importance
o It has its own general part and special part
o General Part embodies the rules governing
liability to punishments and
o the Special Part deals with Petty Offences‖
under specific heads.
o Art. 778 and the following failure to receive
legal tender
Relationship between these three parts
of criminal code
Note: part I is the base for part II.
The General Part of the Criminal Code sets
out the general principles of liability which
are common to all serious crimes.
The Special Part describes the various acts
which are deemed to be criminal and lays
down the penalties applicable to them.
This means, a person who behaves in a manner
contrary to provisions of the Special Part is not
automatically punishable. He shall be
punishable only where his conduct is found
guilty in accordance with the general principles
of criminal liability laid down in the General
Part of the Code.
Any time special part to be applied it should be
substantiated with the general part principle.
Furthermore, even after the liability to
punishment is established, to impose the
punishment under the Special Part, reference
3.4. Classification of crimes under the criminal code

Generally, offences may be classified based

on two criteria:
1. Classification based on the ―Seriousness of
the Crimes. For example, English Law
classifies offences into treason, felony and
misdemeanors
2. Classification based on the ―Subject matter
of the Crime.
The Criminal Code of FDRE has not adopted
such a tripartite distinction but simply
classifies crimes into various titles on the basis
of content rather than on the scale of
Although an explicit distinction is not made between
crimes, the range of punishment implies the gravity of
crimes.
Crimes of very grave nature: are punishable with
rigorous imprisonment in Central Prisons for a period
of one to twenty five years (Art.108)
A crime of not very serious nature may subject to
special provisions that may face simple imprisonment
for a term of ten days to three years (Art. 106), subject
to Special provisions that may extend the period
beyond three years.
Petty offences on the other hand, are punishable with
fine or arrest for a relatively shorter period of one day
to three months (Art .747), subject to certain
aggravating exceptions (Art.767-769).
The three variations in the deprivation of
liberty , namely, rigorous imprisonment,
simple imprisonment and arrest apparently
denote a de facto classification into very
serious crimes, not very serious crimes, and
petty offences.
A petty offence‘ is an infringement of a
mandatory or prohibitory provision of a law
or regulation issued by a competent authority
or a minor offence which is not punishable
under the Criminal Law.
 …..cnt
4) Retribution: Retribution prevents future crime by removing
the desire for personal avengement (in the form of assault,
battery, and criminal homicide, for example) against the
defendant.
5) Restitution: Restitution prevents future crime by punishing
the defendant financially. Restitution is when the court orders the
criminal defendant to pay the victim for any harm and resembles a
civil litigation damages award.
 ….cnt

Note: these five purposes could be named

as 3RID purpose of punishments in
criminal laws.
R1 :stands for Retribution(criminal oriented)
R2 :stands for Rehabilitation(perpetrator
oriented)
R3: Restoration/restitution (victim oriented
i.e reinstatement to their former status)
I: stands for incapacitation/incarceration
D: Stands for deterrence( general for the
public and specific to the criminals as well)
 Specific Purpose of Ethiopian
criminal Law/ code Art 1
 Question for discussion: what is the contextual
difference between Object/objective and purpose under our
criminal code Art 1?
 In our context, objectives/function refers to a means to
achieve the end of criminal laws while purpose stands for
the end goal for the very existence of criminal laws.
 In our case the first para of art 1 is the purpose/end goal
while the second para is the objectives/means to achieve
the first para.
 Thus, our criminal code provide the purpose of the law,
and how the purpose could be possibly achieved.
 Question for discussion? Compare Art 1 of Cr.code
Amharic version vs Oromic version with English and what
is the difference on the word objective and purpose?
 …cnt
 Hint: Amharic version said Alama and Gib, and
equate first paragraph(which is end goal) to ‘Alama’
and equate second paragraph which is the means to
achieve the end with ‘Gib’. Oromic version said
Kaayyoo fi Galma, and equate first paragraph which
is the end goal with Kayyoo and the second
paragraph which is the means to the end with Galma.
Thus, english version seems logical than both, but as
per art 2(4) of procl.no 3/1995(federal negarit gazeta
establishement procl. Amharic version prevail which
lead us to absurdity.
 Any ways, all the stakeholder in the criminal justice
system should have this in mind while trying to give
meaning for the criminal laws.(while investigating,
charging, hearing evidence, sentencing,
 …cnt

 Question for discussion: Which general objectives (3RID) of

criminal law do you think is not incorporated under Ethiopian
criminal code? Why for? Hint :RETRIBUTION
 Thus, in our case the law impliedly seem to exclude the intent of
retribution because, 1st (Parag 8 of preface of criminal code
stated that; except in death penalty, criminal sentenced to life,
could be released on Parole before serving the whole terms Art 201
and 202 , plus, convicts could be released by probation without
pronouncement of sentences or without enforcement of the sentence
pronounced Art 191 and 192 ) this implied the fact that
criminal law has no place for mere revenge(retribution).
 It rather gave priority for ‘Reformative Justice only through
prevention of crime (i.e Death penalty lead permanent
incapacitation and so preventive though not reformative)’
than mere Punitive Justice.

 …cnt

 Retribution could be taken as an incidentally/subsidairly served

purpose of punishment in Ethiopian criminal code, because (1st) its
only applicable/imposed if and only if reformative justice could principally be achieved through that

(2nd), retributive mostly serve private interest of the victim

punishment .

while criminal law inclined to serve public interest as per Art 1

(phrase said ‘for public good’). following utilitarian theory.
 Therefore, to conclude it is logical and believable that the end
goal of criminal law; ensuring peace, order and security of the
state could better be achieved through
correction/reformation/positive mental change of the criminal
through treating them humanely, or through preferring others
measures than incarceration provided that they are not
dangerous for the society; than physically incapacitating through
imprisonment which will have economic implications as income
collected from citizens will forced to give service for prisoners
than for social service (public infrastructure).
 1.4. Criminal Law, Private law and Morality-Distinguished

 To identify these three areas of law we need to

know what the concept of wrong is.
 Any forbidden act from the perspective of societal
religion, norm, ethics, rules and values are
wrongs. Any society has its own values and norms.
 These wrongs could be (1st ) Moral wrongs, (2nd)
legal wrongs.
 Legal wrongs could be further divided in to
criminal wrongs (prohibited by criminal law and
coined with penal sanction) and civil
wrongs( which was regulated under private laws).
 ….cnt

 In moral wrongs, interference of law is not necessary.

 Society itself regulate through ostracizing, penance
and mass disapproval of wrong doers who acted
against their norm, values, religion and ethics.
 In legal wrongs(whether criminal or civil wrongs)
interference of the law is must but differently.
 That mean in criminal wrong the state itself is
prosecuting the criminals because its more of public
interest than private interest. Its all about keeping
the peace, security and order. Its all about the duty
of the states to protect its citizens and inhabitants,
from any danger.
Argument on the Relation between morality
and criminal laws

 Stephen , the Britain legal historian argued

that morality and criminal laws are strongly
related. He further stated,
“When a member of the society does a wrong involving
serious moral guilt, the moral sentiment of the society gets
offended so seriously that the whole society waits in all its
eagerness to see that the offender is punished severely".
RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE
Thus, according to the author the criminal law
proceeds upon the principle that “it is morally
right to hate criminals and it confirms and
justifies that sentiment by inflicting upon criminals
punishments which express it.”
 …..cnt

 But currently, this argument is not more

holding water and overruled by ‘’Gandhian
philosophy’’ of hate the crime/sin but not
criminal/sinner because criminals are not
born but made. Modern criminal law is
crafted in line with this arguments which
shows REFORMATIVE JUSTICE
 Society in which criminal is living is
responsible as well.
 Because, criminal are made by the society in
which they were living.
 ...cnt
 There is no flexibility in criminal wrongs except in
case of minor crimes.
 Victims are the public at large and/or the private
individual as well.
 The remedies are restriction of liberty, life or may be
fine based on the type and degree of commission.
 But incase of civil wrongs, though the legal
interference is must, it depends based on the
willingness of the party claimed to be affected by
wrong done.
 The remedy itself is monetary compensation most
of the time. Note: all moral wrong could not be
crimes, and all crimes could not be morally
wrong. But still there is some areas where both
criminal laws and moral rules are supporting each
 …cnt

B) The Fetha Negest (The Law of the Kings): Zara

yaicob consider the gap of the first written law and
forced to adopt fetha negest to fill the gaps. This
codification was better and include the following
concept of crime,
 Concept of intention and negligence
 Balancing fault and sanction
 Individualization of punishments
 Forgiveness and redemption of offender
 The sharing of guilt in fighting case.
 ….cnt

 The High Jacking of aircraft,

 Money laundering,
 Crimes related to corruption and drugs,
 Grave injuries and sufferings caused to women and children by
reason of harmful traditional practices.
C) To Adopt a Comprehensive Criminal Code:
D) Punishments for Certain Offences Increased: based on public
opinion taken during the draft.
E) Matters Concerning the Determination of Sentence Revised: A
provision (Art. 88/4) has been introduced requiring the Federal
Supreme Court to issue sentencing manual to ensure and control the
correctness and uniformity of sentencing.
 ….cnt

F) Purpose of Criminal Law and Objectives of

Punishment Redefined: keeping peace and security
given priority and retribution is almost not important
under this code.
Question for Discussion: which purpose of criminal code
is designed to be met by capital punishments ????
3.3. Scheme of the Criminal Code of FDRE,
2005
This code is incorporated almost all Criminal
law systematically, coherently and
comprehensively.
 …cnt

 Organized in to three parts, general part(general principle of

criminal liabilities) art 1-237 Book. I. Arts. 1-86 “Crimes
and the Criminal, Book. II (Arts. 87-237) is titled
“The Criminal punishment and its Application”.
special part art 238-733 Book III (Arts.238-374)
incorporates ‘Crimes against the State or National
or International Interests’, Book IV (Arts.375-537)
deals with ‘Crimes against Public Interest or the
Community’, Book V (Arts. 538-661) embodies
‘Crimes against Individuals and the Family’, and
‘Crimes against Property’ are found in Book VI
(Arts. 662-733) of the Code. .,
 …cnt

petty Offense Art 733 ff.

Petty offense could have two sub-parts which
were general and special
Note: The Criminal Code of FDRE, 2005,
on the whole, consists of three parts,
eight books, twenty eight Titles which
include 865 Articles arranged in
seventy two Chapters.
 …cnt

 Relation between General and Special Parts of the Code:

 General part provide the criminal principle out of which special part could not be
applied. Element of crimes, purpose of the punishments, etc
 Special part list detail crimes with its elements and respective punishments.
But that punishment is not automatic rather it should be tailor made based on the
principle provided under general part of criminal codes.
3. 4. Classification of Crimes under the Criminal Code: it could be based on the
Seriousness of the Crimes or based on the subject matter of the crime.
 Based on seriousness the example, of English Law classifies offences into
treason, felony(at least one years penalty) and misdemeanors(less than one
year).
 …cnt

 In Ethiopia we may not find such classification but impliedly ,the

three variations in the deprivation of liberty , namely, ‘rigorous
imprisonment’, ‘simple imprisonment’ and ‘arrest’ apparently
denote a de facto classification into ‘very serious crimes’, ‘not very
serious crimes, and ‘petty offences’.
 Based on the subject matter: On the Interests of the ‘State Arts. 237-

374. ’, Interests of the ‘Community’ Arts.378 – 537 , Interests of the

‘Individual’ Arts.538-733 and The Petty Offences: