Joireman Awraja Courts, Ethiopia and Eritrea, 1947-1974 (ICPSR 37817)

Version Date: Jul 15, 2020

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Principal Investigator(s):
Sandra F. Joireman, University of Richmond

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37817.v1

Version V1

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Summary

This data set consists of archival records collected from three awraja courts in Ethiopia and Eritrea in order to better understand the country's tenure system as well as the position and intentions of the Ethiopian imperial government. The sub-provinces that were chosen were Tegulet and Bulga in Shoa, Sidama in Sidamo, and Hamasien in Eritrea. The court records were found in Debre Berhan, Yirgalem, and Asmara, respectively. The sites were chosen because they represent three distinct patterns of land tenure in the Horn of Africa, in areas that were all under the aegis of the Ethiopian state during the period of this study. Pre-revolutionary data were selected because with the revolution came the Nationalization of Lands Proclamation, which inter alia put a stop to land litigation. The Proclamation also prevented any new court cases over land from being instigated. The unit of observation is court records for individual cases. Demographic variables in this study include the race, ethnic group, and gender of individuals.

Citation

Joireman, Sandra F. Joireman Awraja Courts, Ethiopia and Eritrea, 1947-1974. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2020-07-15. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37817.v1

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Funding

Fulbright

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

Other

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

1947 -- 1974

Date of Collection

1993-09-01 -- 1994-05-31

Data Collection Notes

  1. In any given sub-province, information on all of the cases that were lodged in the specified year was collected; however, this does not necessarily mean a record of every case was acquired. In many instances records have disappeared. Additionally, it was not unusual to see two series of numbers existing for the same year. It is impractical to be specific about the exact number of cases that existed in a certain year because of these problems. It is also impossible to determine exactly what percentage of cases was observed, though an estimate is that we were about to gather one-third to one-half of all the court cases for any particular year in most of the sub-provinces.

  2. Qualitative Data: This zip file consists of the archival court records collected from three awarja courts in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The sub-provinces that were chosen were Tegulet and Bulga (TBA) in Shoa, Sidama (SA) in Sidamo, and Hamasien (HA) in Eritrea. The numbers in the titles of the documents denote the year (in the Ethiopian Calendar) the court cases began for that specific file. These dates reflect the dates marked on the records, in the Ethiopian Calendar, except for two files. The records of the Hamasien cases for the collection years 1941 and 1951 (Ethiopian Calendar) denote the Gregorian Calendar years-- 1948 and 1957, respectively-- rather than the Ethiopian Calendar years that are used in their file name.

  3. For the variables "COURTN" and "VAL" any cell with "99/99" or "9999", respectively, indicates missing data. There are also cells that are left completely blank for the variable "COURTN." It is unknown why those cells were left blank.

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Study Purpose

The purpose of this study is to better understand the country's tenure system as well as the position and intentions of the Ethiopian imperial government. Court records were used to analyze the primary issues that were being litigated during this time period. The investigator was specifically trying to observe evidence of land sales in order to demonstrate that land tenure was an area in which people were looking for institutional change.

Study Design

All Awraja court cases from the provinces of sub-provinces of Tegulet and Bulga, Sidama, and Hamasien from selected years. While the intention was to collect awraja court cases from the years 1947, 1957, 1967 and 1974 (according to the Gregorian calendar), these were not always available. Therefore, for each sub-province, the investigator selected one year out of each decade from 1940-1970 and collected all of the court cases available from that year. Moreover, the three sub-provinces selected utilized different land tenure systems, therefore allowing the investigator to compare the different systems across time.

Time Method

Cross-sectional

Universe

All Awraja court cases from the provinces of sub-provinces of Tegulet and Bulga, Sidama, and Hamasien from selected years. While the intention was to collect awraja court cases from the years 1947, 1957, 1967 and 1974 (according to the Gregorian calendar), these were not always available. Therefore, for each sub-province, the investigator selected one year out of each decade from 1940-1970 and collected all of the court cases available from that year.

Unit(s) of Observation

Other

Data Source

Administrative record

Data Type(s)

Description of Variables

Variables include geographic variables, relating to where the court case took place, as well as the nature of the dispute, and demographic variables about the plantiff and defendant, including race, ethnic group, and gender.

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Original Release Date

2020-07-15

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Notes