Max Planck Foundation Delivers Third Capacity Building Workshop for Members of the Constitutional Court of Jordan in Amman

Third and final workshop delivered, concluding the 2014–15 project for “Support to the Constitutional Court and Judicial Institute of Jordan”

On 14–16 December 2015, the Max Planck Foundation, represented by the Head of Project and two Research Fellows, delivered the third and final workshop for the Members of the Constitutional Court of Jordan as part of the final component of the project “Support to the Constitutional Court and the Judicial Institute of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan”. The workshop addressed the topic of the ‘Diverse Competences of Constitutional Courts’ and sought to provide a detailed understanding of the various functions that Constitutional Courts in other jurisdictions carry out alongside their core functions. The substantive content was presented from a comparative legal perspective, whilst examples were rooted in, and compared with, the mandated roles and functions of the Constitutional Court of Jordan. The workshop was aptly complemented with a presentation from a senior Member of the Constitutional Court who addressed the question of the Court’s role related to oversight of temporary laws, or laws passed in states of emergency.

The workshop, as with all other components of the overall programme, 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 and to provide a forum for an exchange of views on crucial issues from a technical legal perspective. The subjects covered during the workshop and the ensuing discussions will, in the long term, contribute to providing the court with a spectrum of the options available on further developing its competences and jurisdiction and draw on the experience of longer-established Constitutional Courts in other jurisdictions in the region and further afield.

The workshop was inaugurated with an opening address by H.E. Mr. Fahd al-Nsour Abu’l Ithm, Deputy-President of the Constitutional Court and H.E. Mr. Ralf Schröer, Deputy-Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Jordan. The workshop was attended by almost all Members of the Court, in addition to the General Secretary of the Court and Legal Advisors.

As part of the overall programme, the Head of Project at the Max Planck Foundation presented approximately 150+ essential legal texts and publications on international law, comparative constitutional law and international human rights law to the Deputy-Head of the Constitutional Court for the library of the Court, acknowledging explicitly the generous support of the German Federal Foreign Office in making such support possible.