Discharge under Ethiopian Bankruptcy Law

Discharge is relieving the honest but unfortunate debtor from the weight of oppressive indebtedness. It permit debtor to start a fresh; free from some obligations & responsibilities consequent up on business misfortune. Discharge in effect fresh start is the leading goal of bankruptcy legislations of the world counting U.S. and U.K. Analyzing the current status of Ethiopian Commercial Code revealed the disregard of discharge and in effect fresh start due to the transplantation of the law from the civil law origin to which blameworthy and punitive character of debtor was the leading assumption. There is no clear and comprehensive concept on discharge and related aspects because the Commercial Code fails to incorporate explicitly core areas of discharge. There are also no sufficient literatures in Ethiopian discharge law. Owing to these facts, this study assesses the problems and suggests solutions. This study explores and shows the concept of discharge from the perspective of an individual trader based on text based analysis of the commercial code. It may serve as a significant literature on discharge and law reform proposals.