THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF JORDAN AND ITS RELATION TO ORDINARY COURTS

Abstract

The principle of the supremacy of the Constitution is universal adopted by most international constitutions, including the Jordanian constitution. The latter requires a certain legal mechanism to protect it which is conducted by overseeing the constitutionality of laws. Ordinary courts controlled the constitutionality of laws under Jordan’s 1952 Constitution, but they were only a no-action oversight. This was the case until the Constitutional Court was established on 6th October 2012 to oversee the constitutionality of the laws and regulations and to interpret the provisions of the Constitution. The relationship between ordinary courts and the control over the constitutionality of the laws has not been severed, as the Constitution and the Constitutional Court Law have maintained this relationship. The latter begins with the case court referring any plea of unconstitutionality to the Court of Cassation, which in turn refers it to the Constitutional Court if it deems that the plea is serious and fulfills its formal and objective conditions. Consequently, the ordinary judiciary (ordinary courts) remained the necessary link between the person who has an interest in the substantive case and the Constitutional Court, which does not accept any direct appeal except from official bodies exclusively specified by the constitution and the law, namely the Senate, Parliament and Council of Ministers. This calls for the adoption of a new mechanism that allows individuals to have direct access to the Constitutional Court in order to protect their constitutional rights.