Resolving marital disputes in Ethiopia’s plural legal order: jurisdiction, recognition and legal uncertainity

Abstract This article offers a foundational rethinking of marital dispute resolution in Ethiopia through a doctrinal, constitutional, and comparative lens. Tracing the legal evolution from the Civil Code’s compulsory arbitration model to the Revised Family Code’s pluralistic approach, this article examines how Ethiopia’s layered legal architecture, encompassing federal statutes, regional laws, religious courts, and customary forums, produces both opportunities and contradictions in the adjudication of marriage, divorce, and related disputes. At stake are fundamental questions of status, jurisdiction, and justice: who has the authority to determine whether a marriage is valid? Can religious or customary bodies resolve disputes with binding legal effect? What happens when marriages traverse jurisdictions or cross borders, especially considering Ethiopia’s global diaspora? Drawing on Ethiopian constitutional law, family codes, and private international law, the article identifies deep normative tensions between legal pluralism and procedural consistency, between party autonomy and public policy, and between national sovereignty and transnational legal expectations. The analysis exposes jurisdictional fragmentation, uncertain recognition of foreign and interregional marriages, and doctrinal ambiguities surrounding the role of arbitration and alternative dispute resolution in matters of personal status. Particular attention is given to the implications for women, children, and transnational families, whose rights and legal security often hinge on the clarity and coherence of adjudicatory frameworks. Ultimately, the article advocates for a principled harmonization of Ethiopia’s family laws, grounded in constitutional equality, informed by comparative best practices, and responsive to the lived realities of legal pluralism. In doing so, it offers a critique and a vision for a coherent, accessible, and just system of marital dispute resolution.