Until 1918, the Kingdom of Jordan was part of the Ottoman Empire and its legal system consisted of Shari'a courts whose decisions were based on the four schools of Islamic law (called madhhab).
[1] Under the 1952 Constitution shari'a courts have exclusive jurisdiction over matters regarding the "personal status" of Muslims, including marriage, divorce, guardianship and inheritance.
[5] After amendments were passed to article 98 of the penal code in 2017, perpetrators of honour crimes can no longer receive lenient sentences.
However, a loophole still exists in article 340 that allows lenient sentences for the murder of a spouse found red-handedly committing adultery.
Article 19 of the Personal Status law allows women to place conditions on their marriage contracts, within certain limitations.
The Jordanian government has elected to adhere to the Maliki school in some matters, which has restricted women's marriage rights.
Hanafi law, which is the dominant influence in Jordan, does not require the consent of a male guardian for a woman to marry.
However, under the law applied in Jordan a woman can not marry without the permission of either a Shari'a judge or a male guardian.
Any female dependents under 40, who have not been previously married, are subject to lose their rights to financial maintenance if they "rebel" against their guardian.
Included within the Shari'a courts jurisdiction are waqf (religious endowments), family law, personal status issues, and petitions for diya (monetary damages for murder or physical injuries).