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By drawing on the analysis of court records in Addis Ababa and the Amhara, Oromia and Tigray Regional States, this paper offers case studies on the conflicting encounter between the formal legal system and normative practices in the way judges deal with problems arising in traditional financial institutions known as “Eqqub” or “Iqub”. It is shown how, on a variety of topics — ranging from the legal capacity of Eqqub leaders to present members, through the legal validity of internal bylaws to the liability of guarantors — judges decide not only on the basis of the codified laws but also on the basis of traditional practices that are clearly at variance with the official norms. This leads to the hybrid co-existence of both official and unofficial norms that somehow works in practice but also leads to abuse and legal uncertainty for Eqqub members. Therefore, at the end of this paper the authors recommend the legislator to give more recognition to the seminal role played by “Eqqubs” in the economic development of Ethiopia while offering a more predictable framework judges can rely on when deciding Eqqub cases., Paper presented at the joint meeting of the three Sections held on 22 January 2020. Text received on 27 April 2020 and submitted to peer review. Final version, approved by the reviewers, received on 17 September 2020. Funding for the research was provided as part of the KU Leuven Global Minds Scholarship Programme.

The Dutch anti-revolutionary and Protestant thinker, historian, jurist, and politician Guillaume (Willem) Groen van Prinsterer (Voorburg, 21 August 1801 – The Hague, 19 May 1876) played an important role in the Netherlands after 1813, the period after the Batavian–French era. He came from an enlightened–conservative family from Holland. His father was a doctor and court physician and his mother was very wealthy. After finishing his studies at Leiden University, he graduated as a doctor of literature and law, and in 1823 became a lawyer in The Hague. He was a very gifted child who grew up to become a gentleman and mingled in high society, attending balls and parties. In 1827, he started working in Brussels and later became secretary to King William I (1829–1833). He married Betsy van der Hoop in 1828, a well-educated and pious woman. Groen van Prinsterer was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, the same church as the royal family of the House of Orange-Nassau.

Boëtius Epo is a jurist whose life reflects all areas of tension and all contrasts typical of the sixteenth century. Born in Friesland, in the Northern Netherlands, which were soon to struggle out of the grasp of the Spanish king, he was to find his ultimate destination in Douai, situated in the Southern Netherlands still under Spanish rule. In his young life attracted to the enticing approach of the awakening Reformation toward the primitive church, he nevertheless retraced his footsteps, recognizing the orthodox Catholicism in which he had been raised. More than that, he revealed himself as belonging to the considerably radical wing of the Counter-Reformation. In his scholarly attitude there was a certain ambiguity between, on the one hand, being inclined to adhere to a re–foundation (ressourcement) of the sources of canon law, especially the texts compiled in the Decretum Gratiani, and, on the other, still adhering to spurious texts, maybe because from an ideological viewpoint their content was dear to him.