Abstract
This article presents the primary provisions of the proposed African Principles on the Law Applicable to International Commercial Contracts as a possible option in the further development of Ethiopian private international law of contract for consideration by the Ethiopian legislator and/or the Ethiopian courts. The proposed African Principles and the informal sources of Ethiopian private international law of contract are introduced and aspects of the contractual conflict of laws in Ethiopia and under the African Principles are compared, including choice of law (in particular, freedom of choice of law; partial and multiple choice of law; choice of a non-related legal system; and tacit choice of law), the law applicable in the absence of choice of law, and the substantive and formal validity of a contract. The article employs doctrinal and analytical methodology in respect of formal and informal legal standards, international instruments and academic literature to examine the various perspectives and arguments related to the relevant themes.