Jordan

• The Constitution of 1952 (amended), the highest law
• The Civil Code (1976), based on the Egyptian model, the Penal Code and other codes
• Islamic law, applied by Sharia courts to Muslims in family matters
• Decisions of the Court of Cassation and the Constitutional Court

• The Court of Cassation at the top of the regular courts
• The Constitutional Court, which reviews laws, and the Higher Administrative Court for public-law disputes
• Courts of appeal and first-instance courts; Sharia courts and religious courts for other communities' personal status

A law degree, a period of traineeship, and registration with the Jordan Bar Association.

• Sharia courts and civil courts exist side by side.
• Other recognised Christian communities have their own church courts for personal status.
• The Civil Code is modelled on Egypt's, as in much of the Arab world.
• Tribal customary methods of dispute resolution still operate in some places.

Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Turkey

The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Jordan as: Civil law, Muslim, Customary. It names the systems in order of importance.

The map colours a country by the first-named system, and shows both civil-law and common-law countries as “mixed”. It is a simplification, and real systems are rarely pure.

Albania, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria.

• NYU GlobaLex: Overview of the Jordanian Legal System
• Judicial Council of Jordan

Sources last reviewed: October 2026.