The Civil Code is considered one of the most prominent and important laws of a state, as it relates to every individual. It organizes people's transactions and a significant part of their life affairs and interests, both present and future. It is a private law that establishes and regulates rights. In this spirit, the Jordanian Civil Code was designed with Islamic jurisprudence (Fiqh) as its primary source for codification, a spring from which scholars have drawn, and in whose embrace knowledge has grown to reach the highest levels of precision and soundness achieved by legal systems.

The Jordanian Civil Code is the first civil code established in Arab countries based on the continuity of Islamic jurisprudence and its principles. Its texts were intended to be a starting point for the unified financial transactions law project for Arab states when the Committee for the Unification of Arab Legislations was formed within the legal department of the Arab League to draft the unified law.

While not the place to detail potential criticisms or shortcomings, the Jordanian Civil Code is not without its issues, such as indiscriminate borrowing, unfamiliar terminology, duality in provisions, occasional inconsistencies, and repetition of meaning with different wording. This necessitates review and scrutiny to refine it as much as possible. Nevertheless, this law remains a rich scientific legacy, embracing the provisions of Islamic Sharia and its jurisprudence, which interacts with practical life, people's interests, and needs. Its comprehensiveness and robustness are on par with, and even surpass, contemporary legal jurisprudence. The Explanatory Memoranda of the Jordanian Civil Code serve a guiding and interpretive role, helping to understand its texts, trace its legislative stages, and document its articles. They have become a guide for the judiciary in understanding the legislator's intent and a reference for judges.

The Explanatory Memoranda are the collection of works preceding the law's enactment, outlining the various stages the text went through during its drafting. They include interpretive notes, the motivating reasons attached to the draft law, the draft itself, amendments made before its issuance, as well as discussions and minutes from parliamentary sessions and committees. This helps in understanding the true intent of the legislator and the meanings of legal texts, making these memoranda a guiding reference for judges in their pursuit of justice.

Modern jurisprudence views these memoranda as a tool to help judges or interpreters identify the legislator's declared will within the legislation. Therefore, they do not hold inherent legal value and do not rise to the level of legislative texts.

The Jordanian judiciary has often been guided by these Explanatory Memoranda, taking their opinions into account in many rulings of the esteemed Court of Cassation, and has not significantly deviated from the concepts they explain.

As legislation must always adapt to reality and law, the Explanatory Memoranda, being a human creation, are not immune to criticism and require balance with modernity and technological progress. For instance, they sometimes contain material from the preparatory works of the Egyptian Civil Code for a provision, despite differences between the Jordanian and Egyptian laws. Some texts lack any commentary or explanation, merely referring to corresponding sources in other laws or Islamic jurisprudence. The memoranda also use many examples and terms from classical Islamic jurisprudence that may seem archaic in our technologically advanced era, suggesting a need for modernization.

In conclusion, the Explanatory Memoranda are a twin to the Jordanian Civil Code, linking its text to the great, ever-renewing heritage of Islamic jurisprudence. They serve as a cornerstone for modern legal scholarship and the judiciary in understanding the context of the law and the legislator's will.

ISBN: 9789957178727
Weight: 1.450 kg
Dimensions: 17x24 cm
Paper: White
Pages: 808
Year of Publication: 2015
Binding: Hardcover