English Abstract
Thesis Synopsis :
In this thesis, we have discussed the legal value of the Bahrain National Action Charter. In this study, we deal with an investigation of the legal value of the National Action Charter owing to its significance in the political and Constitutional life of the Kingdom of Bahrain and due to its Constitutional and legislative effects upon the Kingdom's political and Constitutional system.
We have divided the research into three chapters. In the Introduction, we have dealt with the nature of the National Action Charter, declaration of rights and national conventions through discussing their contents and mechanism of issuing them. In two sub-sections, we dealt with the nature of the National Action Charter and subsequently we discussed with the nature of the declaration of rights and national conventions.
In the First Chapter, we looked at the legal status of the National Action Charter in the State's legal hierarchy through two sub-sections. In the first, we dealt with the perspective of jurisprudence and the judiciary as regards the legal value of the declaration of rights and national conventions. In the second sub-section, we reviewed the position of jurisprudence and lawmakers as to the legal value of the Bahrain National Action Charter.
In the Second Chapter, we dealt with the relationship of the National Action Charter with the Constitution through three sub-sections. The first discusses the national of the 2002 Constitutional amendments. The second takes a look at the nature of the referendum about the National Action Charter. The third subsection discusses the manner whereby the 2002 Constitutional amendments were made.
At the end of the thesis, we reached several fundamental conclusions. The first conclusion reached was that determining the legal status of the Charter requires a closer and detailed investigation according to the stages that it has been through. The National Action Charter enjoyed a higher status than the Constitution during the period when the Constitution was in the process of amendment. This fact has been confirmed by the explanatory memorandum and cannot be overlooked. Regardless of the argument raised concerning whether or not the Constitution was amended according to the Charter, following the 2002 Constitutional amendments, the higher status enjoyed by the Charter came to an end. Therefore, the Constitution has been amended embracing the highest and most supreme rules in terms of form and substance and to be consistent with the Constitutional rules of the Charter. In such case, the provisions of the Charter have a Constitutional dimension that is reflected in the Constitution as an explanatory source of the Constitution. So they were included and underlined in the Constitution to dispense with the need to refer to them again in the Charter, hence they remain as explanatory provisions of their Constitutional counterparts. As for the Charter's rules that do not involve amendments to the Constitution such as the rules concerning foreign relations, inter-Gulf relations and other guidelines, they still have an equal force as the Constitution. This principle has been stressed by the Explanatory Memorandum.
