Criminal Code > TITLE IV CRIMES AGAINST 2

CHAPTER II CRIMES AGAINST THE FAMILY

Section I- CRIMES AGAINST THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE

Article 646- Fraud and Deceit in Marriage.

(1) Whoever intentionally, in contracting or in order to contract a marriage, conceals from his spouse a fact that would annul or invalidate the marriage on one of the grounds specified by law,

Is punishable with simple imprisonment not exceeding two years, or fine not exceeding five thousand Birr.

(2) Whoever procures a marriage by means of intentional misrepresentation, error, fraud or deceit in respect of his identity,

Is punishable, upon complaint, with simple imprisonment not exceeding one year, or fine not exceeding one thousand Birr.

Article 647- Solemnizing or Contracting an Unlawful Marriage.

(1) Whoever intentionally solemnizes a marriage forbidden by law,

is punishable with simple imprisonment not exceeding three years, or fine not exceeding five thousand Birr.

(2) Whoever contracts, permits or becomes a witness to a marriage forbidden by law,

is punishable under the provisions of sub-article (1) of this Article.

(3) Where the crime specified under sub-article (1) or (2) of this Article is committed negligently, the punishment shall be simple imprisonment not exceeding three months, or fine.

Article 648- Early Marriage.

Whoever concludes marriage with a minor apart from circumstances permitted by relevant Family Code is punishable with:

a) rigorous imprisonment not exceeding three years, where the age of the victim is thirteen years or above; or

b) rigorous imprisonment not exceeding seven years, where the age of the victim is below thirteen years.

Article 649- Where Solemnization or Conclusion of an Unlawful Marriage is not Punishable.

No proceedings may be instituted under Article 646 or 647, unless the marriage has been annulled.

Article 650- Bigamy.

(1) Whoever, being tied by the bond of a valid marriage, intentionally contracts another marriage before the first union has been dissolved or annulled,

Is punishable with simple imprisonment, or, in grave cases, and especially where the criminal has knowingly misled his partner in the second union as to his true state, with rigorous imprisonment not exceeding five years.

(2) Any unmarried person who marries another he knows to be tied by the bond of an existing marriage,

Is punishable with simple imprisonment.

(3) Limitation of criminal proceedings is suspended until such time as one of the two marriages shall have been dissolved or annulled.

Article 651- Exception.

The preceding Article shall not apply where bigamy is committed in conformity with religious or traditional practices recognized by law.

Article 652- Adultery.

(1) A spouse bound by a union recognized under civil law who commits adultery,

Is punishable, upon complaint by the injured spouse, with simple imprisonment or fine.

The same punishment shall apply to the partner who commits adultery with a person whom he knows to have a valid marriage.

Where the complainant has provoked the adultery, consented to it, condoned it or derived profit from it, no proceedings shall follow.

(2) The Court may mitigate the punishment (Art. 180) where, at the time at which the adultery was committed, the two spouses had already ceased to cohabit.

(3) Where the criminal installs a concubine in the conjugal home while not divorced or abandoned by his spouse, simple imprisonment shall be for not less than three months.

Article 653- Death of Complainant.

Where the injured party dies before lodging his complaint, the criminal shall not be subject to criminal liability.

Where criminal proceedings have been instituted upon complaint and where the criminal has been sentenced to imprisonment, the Court may, whether the victim has died or not, order the termination of the punishment of deprivation of liberty by a decision stating the reasons thereof, where the circumstances especially the convicted person’s liabilities as head of a family or as the person supporting it, justify such a course.

SECTION II- SEXUAL CRIMES BETWEEN RELATIVES

Article 654 Incest.

Performance of the sexual act, intentionally, between persons whose marriage is forbidden by the relevant law on the grounds of blood relationship,

Is punishable, according to the circumstances, and without prejudice to the deprivation of family rights of the criminal, with simple imprisonment for not less than three months, or with rigorous imprisonment not exceeding three years.

Article 655- Indecent Behavior between Relatives.

Acts corresponding to the sexual act or other indecent acts between persons related by blood,

Are punishable with simple imprisonment not exceeing six months.

Section III- CRIMES AGAINST COMPULSORY REGISTRATION AND FAMILY DUTIES

Article 656- Omission to Register the Birth of an Infant or to Report its Abandonment.

(1) Whoever fails to declare the birth of an infant, as prescribed by law, to the officer of civil status,

is punishable with a fine not exceeding five hundred Birr, or simple imprisonment not exceeding one month.

(2) Whoever, finding a newborn infant abandoned, fails to report it to the appropriate authority, is liable to the same punishment.

Article 657- False Registration, Supposition and Substitution of Infants.

(1) Whoever suppresses or falsifies a fact to be entered into the register of the civil status of another, especially by registering or causing to be registered a false declaration concerning the identity or birth of an infant,

is punishable with simple imprisonment.

(2) In cases entailing or likely to entail grave foreseeable consequences, especially in the case of registration by substituting one infant for another,

the punishment shall be rigorous imprisonment not exceeding five years.

Article 658- Failure to Maintain.

Whoever, without good cause:

a) refuses or omits to provide maintenance which he owes, by virtue of law, to entitled persons, even to a spouse who brought action for divorce, until such divorce is pronounced; or

b) fails to meet the financial obligations he has incurred, by virtue of law or formal undertaking, towards a woman whom he has made pregnant out of wedlock, or towards a person with whom he has lived in an irregular union,

is punishable, upon complaint, with fine, or with simple imprisonment not exceeding six months.

Article 659- Failure to Bring up.

(1) A parent or other person exercising the authority of guardian or tutor, who, for gain or in dereliction of his duty;

a) grossly neglects the children under his charge and abandons them without due care and attention or to moral or physical danger; or

b) entrusts a child for a long time to a person, an organization or an institution with whom or where he knows, or could have foreseen, that it will be reduced to physical or moral destitution, or will be physically or psychologically endangered,

is punishable with simple imprisonment or fine. In grave cases, the Court may in addition deprive the criminal of his family rights.

(2) Where the child has suffered injury, whether foreseen or calculated, whether by abuse of the right to administer chastisement or through ill-treatment, the relevant provision in this Code shall apply concurrently (Art. 63).