Ethiopian Constitution signed July 16, 1931
On July 16, 1931, Emperor Haile Selassie signed the first Ethiopian Constitution.
Haile Selassie
Issued in 1931 the same year the Ethiopian Constitution was signed
Before 1931, the Ethiopian Empire had no formal written constitution. For centuries,
customary and religious laws served as the constitution of the ancient monarchy. The Fitha
Negest (Justice of Kings) was a volume that dealt with the function of the various parts of
society, including the monarch and religious authorities, and the traditions and rules that they
should adhere to. It was used as the source of authority in legal, ceremonial, religious,
Imperial court and customary matters. Following the coronation of Emperor Haile Selassie in
November of 1930, the new monarch set up a constitutional commission to draft the first
formal written constitution. The constitution was drafted by Bejirond Tekle Hawariyat Tekle
Mariam, a Russian educated intellectual of some considerable political sophistication. He was
greatly assisted by Blatangueta Hiruy Welde Selassie, a person of equal intellectuallity to
Bejirond Tekle Hawariyat, but the product of the traditional church schools of Ethiopia.
Blatangueta Hiruy had visited Japan, and had been greatly impressed by that Empire’s path
towards modernity and development while retaining it’s traditional values.
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