Suspending the Debtor’s Imprisonment in Light of Corona Pandemic: A Study in the Light of the Provisions of Jordanian Legislation and Islamic Sharia

Abstract

Objectives: The research aims to reconsider the legality of the debtor's imprisonment between the Jordanian legislation and Islamic jurisprudence as a result of stopping the debtor's imprisonment and freezing his criminal prosecution under defense order no. (28/2021) in the event of a debt maturity or writing checks that are not offset by a balance, in order to control the epidemiological situation and take into account the economic conditions associated with COVID-19. Methods: The study adhered to both the descriptive and analytical approaches by reading the defense orders and the pertinent documents, analyzing them, and comparing the rules of positive law and Islamic Sharia. Results: The study found that the current guarantees relating to the seizure of the debtor's assets and barring him from traveling are ineffective at enforcing the creditor's rights, which highlights the need to create new guarantees that are more effective and find new ways to settle disputes between the parties to the debt. It also emphasizes the need to keep the detention procedure in place as an effective way of applying moral pressure to the debtor to repay the debt. Conclusions: The research recommended the need to exploit modern technology and techniques in (preventive protection) through credit disclosure of the status of customers before granting them the debt, and in (post-protection) by finding alternatives to imprisonment due to the inability to implement it currently, such as the application of the electronic bracelet system, which is followed by obligating the debtor to perform work under remote security monitoring.