Raising the Capacity and Technical Knowledge of Judges of the Constitutional Courts of Jordan and Palestine, Judges of the Court of Cassation and Ordinary Courts in Jordan

In 2011 King Abdullah II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan emphasised the creation of a constitutional court as a step towards promoting the principle of the separation of powers and for realising the rights and liberties provided for in the Jordanian Constitution. Following the issuance of a royal decree, the Kingdom of Jordan took an important step by amending the Constitution to this effect and passing a law which would establish the Constitutional Court of Jordan. The Court was established in 2012 and began its work towards the end of 2012.

Between 2014 and 2015, the Max Planck Foundation successfully delivered a tranche of capacity building workshops for members of the Constitutional Court on the roles and functions of constitutional courts and the competences of the members of the Constitutional Court from a comparative legal perspective. Alongside this, the Foundation also delivered a series of capacity building workshops for over 70 judges of the Judicial Institute of Jordan, serving in the ordinary courts, to enhance their understanding of the roles and functions of the Constitutional Court in Jordan. Between 2016 and 2017, the Max Planck Foundation delivered intensive capacity building workshops for members of the Constitutional Court, judges of the Court of Cassation and ordinary courts, as well as for executive institutions to enhance the cooperation and inter-relationship between the various judicial and executive institutions in Jordan, mandated with the delivery of constitutional justice.

The engagement of the Max Planck Foundation from 2017 until 2019 will focus on providing technical expertise and increasing the familiarity of judges of the Constitutional Court on constitutional jurisprudence, the substantive and procedural interaction between the Constitutional Court and ordinary courts, and the application of international law by constitutional courts.

The second component in the current project aims to enhance the technical knowledge and capacity of judges of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Palestine and the judges of the Constitutional Court of Jordan on the roles, functions and competencies of modern constitutional courts and the types and effects of their decisions.

The third component specifically aims at training the judges of the Court of Cassation and ordinary courts on the standards to be met when hearing challenges against the constitutionality of laws. This includes an analysis of processes, rules and procedures that can be enhanced and applied to ensure fairness, ease and equality of access to constitutional justice. Particular emphasis will be given to raising the awareness of judges of the various requirements that must be met when considering the referral of cases to the Constitutional Court and the benchmarks and common standards that should be applied in such decisions.

Funding

German Foreign Office

Duration

15 October 2017 – 31 December 2019

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