AMMAN — The parliament’s vast majority voted April 8 against raising the minimum age of marriage in exceptional cases from 15 to 16 in a joint session of the upper and lower houses to end the dispute over the personal status bill. Under normal circumstances, the legal age for marriage in Jordan is 18.

In December 2018, the House of Deputies endorsed amendments to the personal status law that kept the exception for early marriage at the age of 15. The amendments were referred to the Senate for debate and vote.

On Dec. 27, the Senate adopted amendments proposed and backed by women and human rights groups that wanted to raise the minimum age of marriage in exceptional cases to 16.

Marriage under 18 is considered an exception by the personal status law, and special regulations issued by the Supreme Judge Department — which is in charge of the religious courts and its judges — controls the process of granting marriage permissions to “underaged” applicants. A committee of Sharia judges from the religious courts studies living conditions and education status of each applicant and accordingly decides to grant marriage permission or not. The decision greatly depends on the committee's estimation of whether the girl or the boy is ready for marriage.