High-Level Seminar with Judges from the Court of Cassation, Court of Appeal and Administrative Courts
Approximately 22 Judges from the Court of Cassation, the Courts of Appeal and the High Administrative Court attended the seminar. The delegation from the Max Planck Foundation presented on the system by which a challenge to the constitutionality of laws and regulations in Jordan can be admitted for consideration by the Constitutional Court. After briefly adumbrating the current system, in which a case challenging the constitutionality of laws and regulations must first be raised in a pending case and then must be referred by ordinary courts to the Court of Cassation, and then onto the Constitutional Court, Research Fellows from the Max Planck Foundation discussed the challenges that judges felt required further attention to help strengthen efficiency and access to constitutional justice.
The judges were thankful that they were provided technical expertise and training on the constitutional court system and the procedural and substantive requirements that a case must satisfy to be admitted for consideration by the Constitutional Court. Many judges reiterated that the seminar was essential in furthering their knowledge on the importance of their role in their respective Courts, as primary and secondary instances for a challenge of unconstitutionality of laws and regulations.
The seminar 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’.