THE CRIMINAL SANCTIONS OF COMMERCIAL DECEPTIONS IN ETHIOPIA: COULD IT CONTRIBUTE TO THE REDUCTION OF COMMERCIAL DISPUTES?

Abstract

It has been contended that criminalization of commercial wrongs would chill
economic activities due to the over-deterrence effect of criminal sanctions.
However, a growing amount of legal literature has emerged in this area and it has
indicated that deceptive commercial behaviors deserve criminal sanctions since
they involve the type of wrong that characterizes criminal blameworthiness under
the conventional criminal law. Particularly, criminal sanction in the form of
imprisonment is viewed as a more coercive threat to deceptive commercial
practice. Relying on the deterrence/rational choice theory and the empirical
evidences that support it, this article contends that reliance on criminal sanction
can effectively deter commercial deceptions compared to civil sanction provided
under the private law. Finally, it is concluded that the severity of criminal
sanctions designed to deter crimes of commercial deceptions under the Ethiopian
Criminal Law could potentially contribute to the reduction of commercial disputes.