Illegal archaeological excavation crime in Jordanian law

ABSTRACT

This article examines the crime of archaeological excavation addressed in the article (26/a/1) of the Antiquities Law of (1988). Clarification of the pillars of such crime required the adoption of descriptive and analytical approach. It included reviewing relevant viewpoints of jurists and judicial jurisprudence. A Thorough analysis included the determination of material, moral elements of the crime and applied penalty. This crime acquires the description of a misdemeanor in crime classification system. Thus, illegal archaeological-excavation activity forms the material element of such misdemeanor. Moreover, illegal archaeological excavation must be carried out in an archaeological site. The moral element of this crime is represented by the general criminal intent. It means that the offender was aware that he is illegally excavating in an archaeological site. The Jordanian legislator required the existence of a special intention expressed in the offender’s aim to find antiquities or archaeological remains.

KEYWORDS:

• Archaeology protection
• archaeological excavations
• Jordanian law
• criminal law
• antiquities law

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hamzeh Abu Issa

Hamzeh Abu Issa Holds a PhD in Criminal Law from Amman Arab University in 2012 with excellent grade. He practices the legal profession - Lawyer, works as an associate professor in criminal law at the Faculty of Law - Applied Science Private University, and currently holds the position of the faculty dean, and he is a certified arbitrator in many scientific journals. He has many specialized and accredited legal literature in several universities, and he has several peer-reviewed research papers published in prestigious international journals. He won the researcher award for the most published researcher in SCOPUS database at the level of the law school.

Naji Alwerikat

Naji Alwerikat Holds a PhD in Criminal Law from Amman Arab University in 2012 with excellent grade. He works as an assistant professor in criminal law at Police Academy - Police Institute in Qatar.