Forgery of Private Documents Under the Jordanian Penal Code
When a person discovers a forged signature attributed to them on a contract they never concluded, a debt instrument they never issued, or a financial acknowledgment they never signed, or when they find themselves accused of altering a private document, they enter a legal area where there is much confusion between what is a criminal offense requiring referral to the Public Prosecution and what is a civil contractual dispute. The reference that governs this field in Jordan is Jordanian Penal Code No. 16 of 1960 and its amendments, which devotes to forgery of private documents provisions that differ in penalty and in proof from the provisions on forgery of official documents. Because the distinction between "forgery of a private document" and "breach of a contract's performance" or "a dispute over the authenticity of a signature" determines the entire course of the matter, before the Public Prosecution or before the civil courts, the first characterization the lawyer settles on examining the document is the one that decides whether the file has two tracks or one, or whether it is closer to a civil case that does not call for setting the public prosecution in motion at all.
1. What Forgery of Private Documents Is
Forgery of private documents is an alteration of the truth in a non-official document with intent to cause harm, carried out by one of the methods specified by law, such that the alteration produces harm to others or is likely to produce it. A private document in itself is any written document issued between individuals in which no official authority intervenes to give it official status, such as contracts between parties, instruments, acknowledgments of debt, commercial correspondence, and financial documents between partners.
This criminal description is distinguished from similar crimes (such as fraud, breach of trust, or forgery of official documents) in that it centers on a specific material act: altering the truth in a document, whether by addition, deletion, distortion, placing a false signature or other forms. Among the first things the lawyer takes care to examine on receiving the file: is what actually happened an alteration of the truth in a document to which the description "private document" applies, or is it a dispute over the interpretation of a contract, or an objection to a genuine signature that its owner later disowns? Each of these characterizations opens a different path and requires different evidence.
2. The Difference Between Criminal Forgery and Similar Civil Disputes
Many parties make the mistake of filing a forgery complaint in situations that are in reality civil disputes, so the file is closed for lack of the criminal elements, and the civil right remains suspended after a loss of time and money that is hard to make up. The reverse also happens: civil complaints that should have been characterized from the outset as a criminal complaint, so as to use the tools of the Public Prosecution to move the file forward.
This distinction rests on points the lawyer examines before filing the complaint: is there a tangible material alteration of the truth in the document (an addition, a deletion, a false signature, a changed figure) that makes it different from its true content? Is the declared or inferred intent to harm another party? Does the description "private document" in its legal sense apply to the document? Each of these questions determines the answer to the larger question: is the file a criminal forgery file, a civil dispute, or both?
3. Distinguishing Official Documents from Private Documents
The distinction between official documents and private documents is essential to understanding forgery, because the law differentiates between the two types in penalty and in the rules of proof. It is a characterization point the lawyer settles after reading the document at issue, since an error in determining the nature of the document leads to an error in the criminal description, in the procedures and in the potential penalty.
| Aspect | Official documents | Private documents |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any document issued by a public official within the limits of their competence, or that acquires official status through certification by an official authority | Any document issued between individuals without an official authority intervening to give it official status |
| Examples | Police reports, land registry (tabu) contracts, birth certificates, court judgments, university degrees | Sale contracts between individuals, instruments between parties, acknowledgments of debt, invoices, commercial correspondence |
| Evidentiary force | Strong evidentiary force in itself, which can only be challenged through a forgery challenge | Evidentiary force conditional on proof that the document was issued by its owner |
| Penalty for forgery | Heavier under the Penal Code | Relatively lighter, with aggravation depending on the circumstances |
| Material element | An alteration in a document with official status | An alteration in a document between individuals |
| Proof procedures | Special rules of proof for challenging official documents | More general rules, with denial permitted |
Among the matters that deserve careful study: some documents start as private and then acquire official status through certification by a competent authority (such as the notary public), so the characterization of a forgery committed on them changes depending on the moment of the alteration. Identifying these details in the file is a technical point the lawyer settles by reading the document and the path it took between authorities. For a deeper understanding of the general framework of criminal forgery in Jordanian law and its types, see criminal forgery under the Jordanian Penal Code.
4. The Elements of the Crime of Forgery of Private Documents
Like any crime in the Jordanian Penal Code, the crime of forgery of private documents rests on two basic elements, to which is added the element of harm that makes the act legally complete:
The material element: This is the act of altering the truth in the private document, and it takes multiple forms that the lawyer examines when analyzing the facts: it may be fabricating a false document from scratch, adding clauses to a genuine document, deleting clauses from it, changing figures or dates, or placing a signature attributed to someone other than its owner. Each of these forms has its own technical evidence: fabrication of an entire document may be uncovered through handwriting expert examination or examination of the paper, while distortion requires comparison and study of the traces of alteration.
The mental element: This is general criminal intent (knowledge and will to commit the act) together with the intention to use the forged document for the purpose for which it was forged. Intent divides into two components: the perpetrator's knowledge that the document is forged, and their intention to harm others or to obtain an unlawful benefit. Among the defenses the lawyer usually raises for the accused: lack of knowledge of the forgery (belief that the document was genuine), absence of intent to harm, or the act occurring in circumstances that negate intent entirely.
The element of harm: Forgery of private documents, unlike some forms of forgery of official documents, requires actual or likely harm. Harm here is not necessarily purely material; it may be moral or non-pecuniary, affecting a reputation, a relationship or a legal position. Assessing whether the harm has occurred, is likely to a degree sufficient to establish the crime, or is absent in a way that defeats the element, is among the most delicate matters the lawyer examines when building the defense or the prosecution.
5. The Penalty for Forgery of Private Documents
The Jordanian Penal Code provides for penalties that vary in severity according to the nature of the document, the circumstances in which the act was committed and the use of the forged document. The most important question the lawyer examines when assessing the position is whether the facts warrant characterization as the simple form of forgery or the aggravated form because of the perpetrator's capacity, the nature of the document or the extent of the resulting harm.
Factors calling for aggravated characterization include: the act being committed by a person with a special capacity (a public official or an accredited professional), the act being committed on a document of considerable effect (such as a negotiable commercial instrument), or the forgery being combined with other crimes (fraud, breach of trust). Each of these forms requires different evidence and changes the course of the defense. Among the matters relating to sentencing policy: the possibility of applying mitigating or aggravating circumstances depending on the facts of each file, which are matters that cannot be examined without reading the entire file and understanding the context of the act.
6. Use of the Forged Document
Using a forged private document is a crime separate from the crime of forgery itself, and the law punishes it. This means that whoever forged the document has committed a first crime, and whoever used it (even if not the forger) has committed a second crime, and the two acts may be combined in one person who is then prosecuted for both together.
Among the technical points the lawyer examines: is the user's knowledge that the document was forged proven? What evidence of this knowledge is in the file? Was the forgery preceded by a relationship between the user and the forger that reveals collusion? Does committing both acts (forgery and use) require the penalties to be combined, or do two criminal descriptions merge into a single penalty under the rules on notional concurrence of offenses? Each of these questions opens a technical path that determines the fate of the file.
7. Proving Forgery of Private Documents
Proving forgery of private documents is among the most delicate questions of proof in criminal cases, because a private document does not enjoy the inherent evidentiary force that an official document enjoys, and so multiple means are used to prove it:
Handwriting and technical expert examination: The lawyer seeks the appointment of an accredited handwriting expert to examine the signature or writing at issue and compare it with genuine specimens. The handwriting expert studies the pressure of the writing, its angles, the sequence of the letters and the strokes of the signature, and issues a report that becomes the backbone of the technical file.
Technical examination of the document: The file may require examination of the document's paper and inks, and of whether parts were obscured or added later. This examination uses advanced technical methods carried out by specialized experts.
Presumptions and witnesses: The presumptions surrounding the issuance of the document and the circumstances in which it appeared may reveal the forgery, for example if the person to whom the signature is attributed was somewhere else at the time of the alleged signing, or if the document appeared at a suspicious time.
Admission and its equivalents: The lawyer may rely on an express admission by the accused or on implicit conduct that the court treats as an admission, under settled judicial standards.
Practical note: Because the Jordanian Penal Code and the judicial applications relating to forgery undergo amendments and developments from time to time, when building the file the lawyer relies on the latest version of the law as published on the Jordanian Legislation and Legal Information Database website, and on the latest relevant applications of the Court of Cassation, before characterizing the facts or assessing the chances, a point that should not be decided without consulting a specialist lawyer.
8. The Course of a Case of Forgery of Private Documents
A case of forgery of private documents passes through stages, in each of which part of the file's fate is decided:
The pre-complaint stage: This is the stage of initial consultation with the lawyer to assess whether the file calls for a criminal complaint, a civil lawsuit to annul the document, or both in parallel. Among the questions the lawyer settles here: is the available evidence sufficient to set a criminal file in motion, or does it need further preparation first?
The investigation stage: After the complaint is filed, the Public Prosecution conducts the investigation and issues the appropriate decision: either referring the file to the court or a decision not to prosecute. The lawyer's role here is to follow the investigation, submit memoranda, monitor the procedures, and ensure the available evidence is included and the client's right of proof is preserved.
The trial stage: Here the legal and technical debate over the elements is conducted, the handwriting expert reports are discussed, and testimony is presented. At this stage the lawyer turns the evidence gathered during the investigation into an organized pleading that engages with every detail of the file.
The appeals stage: The judgment issued may be challenged under the rules for challenging criminal judgments, and each stage of challenge has its own language and grounds. Challenges in forgery cases require precision in drafting the grounds of challenge relating to the elements, the expert examination or the characterization of the act.
Because combining the criminal action and the civil action is possible in many forgery files (since the injured party is entitled to claim compensation alongside the penalty), managing the two tracks together becomes a tactical question, in which the lawyer decides whether it is more suitable to combine them through the private right (the victim's personal claim) in the criminal action, or to file a separate civil lawsuit after the criminal case ends.
9. Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between forgery of official documents and forgery of private documents?
The difference is fundamental: official documents are issued by an official authority or acquire official status, they have strong evidentiary force in themselves, and the penalty for forging them is heavier. Private documents are issued between individuals, acquire their evidentiary force only once it is proven that they were issued by their owner, and the penalty for forging them is relatively lighter. The characterization of the document in each file is directly reflected in the course of the case and its penalty.
Is placing a false signature on a contract between two parties forgery of a private document?
Yes, provided the elements are present: the material act (placing the false signature), criminal intent (knowledge and intention), and harm (actual or likely). The absence of any of these elements turns the act from a crime of forgery into merely a civil dispute over the validity of the contract.
Can forgery be proven without resorting to a handwriting expert?
In theory, yes: the judge forms a conviction from the evidence as a whole, and in some cases may rely on presumptions, witnesses and admission. In practice, appointing a handwriting expert in most forgery files strengthens the position considerably, and the judge may order it on the judge's own initiative if the judge sees a need for it.
What is the difference between forgery and a claim that the contract is void for lack of consent?
Forgery presupposes a deliberate material act that alters the truth in a document, while lack of consent concerns the will of the signatory at the time of signing (duress, mistake, fraud). The two situations sometimes intersect, and then the lawyer's strategy is either to combine the two pleas or to choose the one more strongly supported by the available evidence.
Who bears the burden of proving forgery of private documents?
The burden of proof lies on the party alleging forgery, that is, the party challenging the document. That party must present sufficient evidence to convince the court that forgery occurred and of the person to whom it is attributed. The accused, in turn, raises defenses negating the elements, and may need only to establish doubt to break the court's certainty.
Does the penalty for the person who forged the document differ from the penalty for the person who used it?
Yes: forgery and use of a forged document are two separate crimes with their own elements, and each carries a penalty. The two acts may be combined in one person who is prosecuted for both, or they may be separate, so that only the forger or only the user is prosecuted, depending on the facts of the file.
Is the party harmed by forgery entitled to claim compensation alongside the criminal penalty?
Yes: the injured party is entitled to file a private-right claim in the criminal action to seek compensation for the material and moral damage resulting from the forgery. In certain cases it may be preferable to file a separate civil lawsuit after the criminal case ends, a tactical question the lawyer settles according to the nature of the damage and the strength of the evidence.
Legal Consultation
Cases of forgery of private documents are among the most delicate criminal cases in terms of proof and characterization: confusing the criminal offense of forgery with a civil dispute over the authenticity of the document deprives the injured party of the tools of the Public Prosecution, and burdens the accused with a characterization that may be harsher than the reality of the facts. The strategy differs according to the nature of the forged document, the role of the parties, the strength of the available handwriting expert report and whether harm is present, elements that a lawyer specializing in criminal cases settles after reading the entire file. For those seeking a professional assessment of the file and the most suitable procedural paths, the firm offers specialist legal consultation in criminal cases, drawing on a connected understanding of related topics such as criminal forgery under the Jordanian Penal Code and the crime of fraud under the Jordanian Penal Code. You can contact Alabwini Law Firm & Legal Consultancy to review the file and discuss the available options.
