The Fetha Negest ( gez, ፍትሐ ነገሥት, fətḥa nägäśt, Justice of the Kings) is a
theocratic
Theocracy is a form of government in which one or more deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries who manage the government's daily affairs.
Etymology
The word theocracy originates fr ...
legal code
A code of law, also called a law code or legal code, is a systematic collection of statutes. It is a type of legislation that purports to exhaustively cover a complete system of laws or a particular area of law as it existed at the time the cod ...
compiled around 1240 by the
Coptic
Coptic may refer to:
Afro-Asia
* Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya
* Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century
* Coptic alphabet ...
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
ian Christian writer
Abu'l-Fada'il ibn al-Assal in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
. It was later translated into
Ge'ez in Ethiopia in the 15th century and expanded upon with numerous local laws. Ibn al-Assal took his laws partly from apostolic writings, and partly from former law codes of the
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
rulers.
Textual history
The first part of Fetha Negest deals with mostly ecclesiastic affairs, outlining the structure of the Church hierarchy, sacraments, and such matters. It was compiled from the Bible, writings of early Church fathers including St.
Basil
Basil (, ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' , also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" refers to the variety also k ...
and St.
Hippolytus, and various canons adopted at the
Council of Nicaea, the
Council of Antioch
Beginning with three synods convened between 264 and 269 in the matter of Paul of Samosata, more than thirty councils were held in Antioch in ancient times. Most of these dealt with phases of the Arian and of the Christological controversies. For ...
, and others.
The second part, concerning issues pertaining to the laity, such as family law, debt, civil administration etc., also drew on these sources, but is attributed in large part to four books referred to as the ''Canons of the Emperors'' (Arabic ). Various scholars have identified these books as:
# The (also known as ), a Byzantine law code enacted by Emperor
Basil the Macedonian
Basil I, called the Macedonian ( el, Βασίλειος ὁ Μακεδών, ''Basíleios ō Makedṓn'', 811 – 29 August 886), was a Byzantine Emperor who reigned from 867 to 886. Born a lowly peasant in the theme of Macedonia, he rose in the ...
between 870 and 878;
# The Arabic version of a work commonly known as the ''
Syro-Roman Law Book
The Syro-Roman law book (or Syro-Roman code) is a compilation of secular legal texts from the eastern Roman Empire originally composed in Greek in the late 5th century, but surviving only in Syriac translation. As a work of Roman law, the original ...
'', originally written in Greek around 480;
# The Arabic version of the ''
Ecloga
Byzantine law was essentially a continuation of Roman law with increased Orthodox Christian and Hellenistic influence. Most sources define ''Byzantine law'' as the Roman legal traditions starting after the reign of Justinian I in the 6th century ...
'', another Byzantine law code published by Emperor
Leo III the Isaurian
Leo III the Isaurian ( gr, Λέων ὁ Ἴσαυρος, Leōn ho Isauros; la, Leo Isaurus; 685 – 18 June 741), also known as the Syrian, was Byzantine Emperor from 717 until his death in 741 and founder of the Isaurian dynasty. He put an e ...
and his son in 726;
# ''Precepts of the Old Testament'', a collection of the
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
laws with some Christian commentary.
Ibn al-Assal's work is heavily influenced by
Roman law
Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Ju ...
, the first three of these sources being themselves strongly influenced by the
Justinianic Code and earlier law codes. It was originally titled ''Collection of Canons'', but the Arabic version is more commonly known as ''The Nomocanon of Ibn al-Assal''. It was intended to be used by the Coptic Christians of Egypt, who regarded it as authoritative.
Later history
There are a few historical records claiming that this law code was translated into
Ge'ez and entered
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
around 1450 in the reign of
Zara Yaqob
Zara Yaqob ( Ge'ez: ዘርዐ ያዕቆብ; 1399 – 26 August 1468) was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty who ruled under the regnal name Kwestantinos I (Ge'ez: ቈስታንቲኖስ, "Constantine"). He is known for t ...
. Even so, its first recorded use in the function of a
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
(supreme law of the land) is with
Sarsa Dengel
Sarsa Dengel ( gez, ሠርጸ ድንግል ; 1550 – 4 October 1597), also known as Sarsa the Great, was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. His throne name was throne name Malak Sagad I (መለክ ሰገድ ).
Biograp ...
beginning in 1563.
This Ge'ez edition, ascribed to Petros Abda Sayd, is a loose translation of Ibn al-Assal's original, and even diverges significantly in a few places where Petros evidently had some difficulty with the Arabic. Scholars have stated that the first section (the Ecclesiastical law) was already in use in Ethiopia before this time as part of the ''Senodos'', and that the title ''Fetha Negest'', Laws of the Kings, referred to the second (lay) part, that was new to Ethiopia.
The Fetha Negest remained officially the supreme law in Ethiopia until 1931, when a
modern-style Constitution was first granted by Emperor
Haile Selassie I
Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia ('' ...
. A completely modernised penal code had already been introduced in 1930. Earlier, in 1921, shortly after becoming Regent, but before being crowned as Emperor, Haile Selassie I had directed that certain "cruel and unusual" punishments mandated in the ''Fetha'', such as amputation of hands for conviction of theft, be made to cease entirely. However punitive enslavement remained as a punishment for crimes such as murder, rape, and unpaid debts. Though Ethiopia's 1930 Penal Code replaced the criminal provisions of the Fetha Negest, the latter document provided the starting point for the code, along with several new penal codes.
Influence
The Fetha Negest has had a great influence on Ethiopia. It has been an educational resource for centuries and is still consulted in matters of law in the present era.
In 1960, when the government enacted the civil code of Ethiopia, it cited the Fetha Negest as an inspiration to the codification commission.
See also
*
Kebra Nagast
The Kebra Nagast, var. Kebra Negast ( gez, ክብረ ነገሥት, ), or The Glory of the Kings, is a 14th-century national epic from Ethiopia, written in Ge'ez by Nebure Id Ishaq of Axum, by the office of Abuna Abba Giyorgis and at the command ...
References
{{reflist
;Bibliography
'Fetha Nagast: The Law of the Kings'(English translation from Ge'ez by Abba Paulos Tzadua, and edited by Peter L. Strauss) Addis Ababa: Faculty of Law, Haile Sellassie I University, 1968.
* Ibn al-'Assal, al-Safi Abu al-Fada'il Majid. ''Fetha Nagast: The Law of the Kings'', 2nd edn. Translated by
Paulos Tzadua
Paulos Tzadua (25 August 1921–11 December 2003) was the first Ethiopian Cardinal. He served as Archbishop of Addis Abeba and was the head of the Ethiopian Catholic Church from 1977 to 1998.
Life
Paulos Tzadua was born on 25 August 1921 in A ...
; Edited by Paulos Tzadua, Peter L. Strauss, & Peter Sand. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2009.
Oriental Orthodoxy
Legal history of Ethiopia
Texts in Ge'ez
Medieval legal codes
13th century in Ethiopia
1240s in law
1240s books
1240
13th century in Egypt