Max Planck Foundation delivers the second in a series of workshops with the Constitutional Court of Jordan
Underscoring the solid cooperation between the Constitutional Court and the Max Planck Foundation, Managing Director and Research Fellows from the Foundation delivered the second in a series of workshops for the members of the Constitutional Court of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The workshop was complemented with a presentation from a senior member of the court who addressed the question of the fundamental rights and freedoms contained in the Jordanian constitution and the role of the Constitutional Court in ensuring the compliance of domestic law with international human rights treaties.
The workshop was designed and delivered to align with the Max Planck Foundation’s wider approach to provide support to the Constitutional Court and the Judicial Institute in Jordan. It is envisaged that this approach will help provide a detailed comparative analysis of the development, jurisdiction, roles, functions and practices of constitutional courts in other legal jurisdictions. The subjects covered during the workshop and the ensuing discussions will, in the long term, contribute to provide the court with a spectrum of the options available on how it can develop its jurisdiction and draw from an informed perspective of the successes and failures of other constitutional courts.
The workshop presentations focused on the importance and relevance of international law for constitutional courts, and were approached from a comparative legal perspective, using examples of regional and international constitutional court practice. This approach provided the members of the court with improved insight into the role that constitutional courts play in incorporating international law and ensuring its effectiveness within the domestic legal system, and offered the opportunity to analyse the relevance of various practices for the Jordanian legal system.
The workshop was inaugurated with an opening address by H.E. Mr. Taher Hikmat, President of the Constitutional Court and H.E. Ambassador Ralph Tarraf. It was attended by eleven members of the court, in addition to legal research staff.
The Foundation further offered the court the complete Max Planck Encyclopaedia of Public International Law in order to support the court’s legal library.
Enhanced cooperation between the Max Planck Foundation and the Constitutional Court will continue, with an additional forthcoming workshop, and further technical expertise on the role and functions of the Constitutional Court.