Can you please explain how the opposition, as envisaged under article 358 and the following of the Civil Procedure Code, is applied?
As envisaged under Art. 358 of the Ethiopian Civil Procedure Code, a person who should or could have been made a party to a suit and whose interest has been affected by the judgment, is entitled to file for opposition against such judgment prior to its execution. The person filing for opposition shall be an indispensable party who could have had the same right to intervene had the judgment not been rendered.
The rationale behind this rule is to enable such a party to come in after judgment since he could have been made a party and his interest be affected by the judgment.
An opposition as stated under Art.359 of the civil procedure code shall be in a form of a petition which specifies the name and place of the court in which the petition is filed, the name and address of the petitioner, the name of the parties to the case in which the judgment opposed to was given, the name of the court which gave the judgment opposed to, the date of such judgment and the number of the suit in which it was given, the grounds for opposition and the nature of the relief sought. Additionally, the petition shall be accompanied by an affidavit of the truth of the facts therein alleged.
After an application for the opposition as per Art.360 has been presented to the court, the court shall fix a day for hearing the opposition and shall cause a copy of the petition to be served to both parties to the case in which the judgment opposed was given together with a summons to appear on such a fixed day. As a result, the opposition may have an effect of being confirmed, varied, or set aside of the judgment opposed depending on objections raised to the judgment including the introduction of new evidence by the person who filed for the opposition.