Knowledge-based systems play an important role in solving problems and supporting humanrndecision-making. The development of these systems begins with limited area of disciplines andrnthen extends to a large number of other fields such as finding molecular structure, locating oilrnand mineral sites, medical diagnosis, computer system component selection etc.rnThis research deals with the development of a KBS as an alternative approach for handling tortrnclaims under the Ethiopian law. An extensive review of the ruling contemporary theories aboutrnthe nature of law and legal reasoning is made during the development process so as to get anrninsight in the modeling of the expertise needed to tackle the problem. The required tacitrnknowledge is collected through semi-structured interviews with domain experts. Moreover, thernreview of statute books, case reports and journal articles are also analyzed to gather explicitrnknowledge in the domain area. CommonKADS and decision tree modeling techniques are usedrnin the modeling of expertise. Rule-Based Reasoning (RBR) approach is adopted to represent thernnecessary knowledge in the knowledge base of the system. The Knowledge base is developedrnusing SWI prolog which supports backward chaining to make inferences by reading therncomposed rules in the knowledge base.rnThe testing of the prototype system is done first by using artificial test data and then a sample ofrnthirteen previously decided test cases is taken in law of torts to make comparisons on therndecision made by the system and human experts. Similar decisions passed in situation when allrnsufficient conditions are given for the application and non-application of the rules. However, therndecision made by human experts differs in most cases. This is due to the fact that the decisionsrnare not only determined by written rules but also some extra-legal factors which have to do withrnpolitical, cultural, economic , and religious beliefs of the judges . It also influenced by thernpersonal and psychological characteristics of a judge.rnTherefore, the development of a KBS that incorporates predictive capacity to predict judicialrndecisions by taking precedents (or decided cases) and examining closely the personal attitudes ofrnthe presiding judges towards political, cultural, economic, religious, and social factors arerndemanding to make the system credible in the legal community.