Max Planck Foundation delivers the first in a series of workshops with the Court of Cassation in Amman
On 31 August-1 September 2016, the Max Planck Foundation, represented by the Head of Project, two Max Planck Research Fellows and Judge Adel Omar Sherif, Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt as an invited expert, delivered a workshop for the members of the Court of Cassation of Jordan.
The workshop addressed the topic “Constitutional Adjudication and Interactions between the Constitutional Court, Apex Courts and Ordinary Courts”. The main objective of the workshop was to provide an in-depth analysis of constitutional law from a comparative perspective in order to help judges to better understand the mandate of the Constitutional Court, in addition to the procedural and substantive aspects of applications that are based on claims of unconstitutionality, drawing on comparative constitutional court practice. The workshop aimed at sensitizing and building the capacity of the judges of the Court of Cassation to better perform their additional and newly acquired function as a preliminary reviewer of claims of unconstitutionality. The workshop was complemented with a presentation from a Senior Judge of the Court of Cassation, who examined the experience of the Court of Cassation in addressing constitutional issues in Jordan before and after the establishment of the Constitutional Court.
The workshop was inaugurated with an opening address by H.E. the Chief Justice, Mr. Hisham Tal, President of the Court of Cassation. The opening ceremony also saw the participation of judges from the Constitutional Court and the military courts. The workshop was attended by the majority of the judges of the Court of Cassation and by five judges of the military courts.
The workshop was one component of a larger project entitled ‘Strengthening the Constitutional System of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: Enhancing the Capacities of the Constitutional Court, the Court of Cassation and the Jordanian Bar Association’ that began on 1st April 2016 and will continue until the end of September 2017. The entire project is generously supported by the German Federal Foreign Office and the German Embassy in Jordan.