The Legal status of international treaties in the Jordanian constitution and judiciary: مكانة المعاهدات الدولية في الدستور والقضاء الأردني

This descriptive analytical legal study aimed to clarify the position of international treaties in the Jordanian constitution and judiciary by shedding light on the theoretical trends that determined the status of international treaties in comparative legislation, in addition to verifying the constitutionality of the Jordanian side's signature on some international treaties that occupied Jordanian public opinion. The study revealed that the difference of international law jurists in determining the legal status of international treaties in constitutions and positive laws resulted in three directions: the trend of the unity of the two laws, the trend of the Dual-law, and the trend of reconciling the two laws. The study also showed that the Jordanian constitution did not adopt an explicit provision for the legal status of treaties. International conventions, leaving room for jurisprudential and judicial jurisprudence that affirmed the supremacy of international treaties over domestic law. The study also found that the Jordanian legislator’s neglect of determining the legal status of treaties, and the double signature of them by the executive authority alone or in combination with the legislative authority in accordance with two conditions under Paragraph B of Article 33 of the Jordanian Constitution, has opened the door wide for controversy over any treaty to be signed by the Jordanian side, To demonstrate this, the study mentioned practical applications from international treaties signed by Jordan, namely: the Israeli Gas Supply Agreement, the Casino Agreement, and the CEDAW Agreement. In light of the results were reached, the study presented a set of recommendations that were such as issuing a law for international treaties to regulate international treaties in all the stages through which they pass, adding a constitutional text confirming the oversight role of the National Assembly over international treaties, provided that this constitutional text includes informing the National Assembly of any treaty or agreement that is concluded by Jordan.

Helping jurors to understand: Misconceptions about delay in making a complaint

In a sexual offence case, jurors may have misconceptions that inappropriately affect their evaluation of a complainant’s evidence, for example, where the complainant has not complained at the first reasonable opportunity to do so. In Victoria, a judge may assist jurors to understand why a complainant may not have complained earlier by providing examples that are not drawn from the evidence. The Victorian Court of Appeal has recently questioned the legislative authority to do this. This article answers the Court’s question. It also considers the Court’s obligations to address this misconception, having regard to a complainant’s interests, to ensure a fair trial.

Leveraging City-level Climate Change Law and Policy for the Protection of Children

While climate change is a global challenge, its impact is generally felt in local communities, particularly cities. The impact of climate change in urban settings is exacerbated by the built environment, high energy usage, air pollution and urbanisation, among other factors. Due to urbanisation, more children will be born and raised, or migrate to live in cities. Children in cities are vulnerable to the impact of climate change due to their physiology and developmental needs. City authorities are expected to utilise their constitutional and legislative powers in climate governance to protect children from the impact of climate change. The central inquiry of this article is to explore how city-level climate law and policy protects children in the context of climate change. Using Kenya and South Africa, as key examples, it illustrates that cities have constitutional powers and legislative authority to plan, implement and govern in certain climate-related functional areas and that could be leveraged to ensure the protection of children. The discussion of cities, children’s rights and climate change governance has global significance given the trends of urban growth in the present and coming decade.

Custom, Law, and Monarchy

Ancien régime France did not have a unified law. Legal relations of the people were governed by a disorganized amalgam of norms, including provincial and local customs (coutumes), elements of Roman law and canon law that together formed jus commune, royal edicts and ordinances, and judicial decisions, all coexisting with little apparent internal coherence. The multiplicity of laws and the fragmentation of jurisdiction were the defining features of the monarchical era. A key subject in European legal history is the metamorphosis of popular customs into customary law, which covered a broad spectrum of what we call today private law. This book sets forth the evolution of law in late medieval and early modern France, from the thirteenth through the end of the eighteenth century, with particular emphasis on the royal campaigns to record and reform customs in the sixteenth century. The codification of customs in the name of the king solidified the legislative authority of the crown, the essential element of the absolute monarchy. Achievements of French legal humanism brought French custom and Roman law together to lay the foundation for the French law. The Civil Code of 1804 was the culmination of these centuries of work. Juristic, political, and constitutional approaches to the early modern state allow an understanding of French history in a continuum.

Does Power Always Flow to the Executive? Interbranch Oscillations in Legislative Authority, 1976–2014

Is legislative power flowing to the executive branch over time? Beginning in the 1990s, comparativists began to investigate delegation to the executive under different executive formats. Hypothesized causes include collective action problems due to legislative fractionalization, the presence of a dominant pro-executive faction, preference congruence vis-à-vis the head of government, and challenges posed by economic crises. We test these four hypotheses on a data set containing 2,020 country-year observations of democracies and semi-democracies between 1976 and 2014. Using V-Dem data, we derive annualized measures of shifts in executive–legislative relationships. Contrary to stereotypes of executive dominance, relative gains by legislatures are no less frequent than gains by executives, and economic crises do not advantage political executives in consistent ways. Surprisingly, some of the factors expected to benefit executives seem to enhance assembly authority as well. Robust democracy maintains interbranch power relations in equilibrium, while lower levels of polyarchy are associated with greater ‘noise’ in the relationship.

A Brief Analysis about Anubhavamantapa & Parliament of India

The Parliament of India is the supreme legislative authority in the country and it is bicameral. It is divided into two houses – the Rajya Sabha, which is the Council of States, and the Lok Sabha, which is the House of the People. The Lok Sabha can be dissolved. In Rajya Sabha, 238 members are elected by the State and 12 members are nominated by the President for their contribution in the fields of art, literature, science and social services. The citizens of India directly elect the 543 members exercising the universal adult franchise. All the Indian citizens, who are aged 18 years and above, irrespective of their gender, caste, religion or race, are eligible to vote to elect their representatives to the Parliament. BASAVESHVARA established ANUBHAVA MANTAPA, a seat for intellectual discourses and provided equal opportunity to learn to all persons. It was a laboratory of Basaveshvara own preaching’s. He was the protagonist of equality and therefore the Anubhava Mantapa was open to all without distinctions of old and young, rich and poor, men and women, high and low, king and servants. It is a well-known fact that for centuries before Basaveshvara’s movement and also even during his period, there had been unimaginable wastage of talent because of the caste system. Basaveshvara pleaded for suitable opportunities to be provided for all the citizens for the fullest development of their personality. Learning had been the monopoly of a few privileged people only and a large section of the society was deprived of such a facility and it led to exploitation of the under-privileged by a few privileged ones. Basaveshvara revolted against such a system and proclaimed that knowledge is not the monopoly of a few people.

The Emergence of the Judiciary

In the massive rethinking that took place in the 1780s and 1790s nearly all parts of America’s governments were reformed and reconstituted, but the institution that was most transformed was the judiciary. In the colonial period judges had been largely seen as the much scorned and insignificant appendage of crown authority. In the several decades following the Declaration of Independence they had become an equal and independent part of the modern tripartite federal and state governments with the authority to declare void acts of the legislatures that violated the constitutions. This power, later called judicial review, developed slowly and haltingly, for it seemed to many to violate the legislative authority of the people. But changing ideas of representation helped to make sense of the transformation.