Bigamous marriage has been outlawed under the Family and Criminal Codes of Ethiopia despite its wide practice in Ethiopia. This article examines the legality of judicial recognition of the effects of bigamous marriage by the Federal Supreme Court Cassation and its implications for the regulation of marriage. The article reviews the substance of the current family laws in light of selected decisions of Federal Supreme Court Cassation on bigamous marriage by juxtaposing principles of legal interpretation. The article argues that the recognition of outlawed bigamous marriage by the Federal Supreme Court Cassation, even for relief purposes, amounts to an act of judicial law-making. The Court’s reasoning based on the gap-filling role of the judiciary under the guise of the necessity to address problems of bigamous marriage as a ‘social reality’ deviates from the purpose of the current rules under the family law that were deliberately designed to regulate monogamous marriage.

尽管重婚在埃塞俄比亚广泛存在，但根据埃塞俄比亚的家庭和刑法典，重婚婚姻已被取缔。本文考察了联邦最高法院上诉法院对重婚婚姻影响的司法承认的合法性及其对婚姻监管的影响。本文根据联邦最高法院最高法院关于重婚婚姻的部分决定，通过并列法律解释原则，回顾了现行家庭法的实质内容。文章认为，联邦最高法院最高上诉法院承认非法重婚，即使是出于救济目的，也构成司法立法行为。