Authoritative Order, Legal Status and Constitutional Law

Abstract

Authoritative order is a title for some edicts of Islamic leadership in the Iranian legal framework. To observe the
national expedient and maintenance of general policies of system, supreme leader issues the Authoritative Orders.
Regarding the fundamentals of Islamic sovereignty, issuance of Authoritative Order is one of those authorities that
has been specified for the institution of Leadership in Iran. Hence, the important challenge is the determination of
Authoritative Order limits under the Iranian Constitutional law and whether it has been recognised in Constitution or
not and in case of recognition, what kinds of them are included. Through a descriptive method, current article tries
to meticulously scrutinize the legal originality of Authoritative Order under the Iranian constitutional law. This
research is based on the assumption, in which not only the Authoritative Order has been institutionalized in Iranian
Constitution, but also with regard to the Islamic nature of system, it is recognised as one of the sources of
Constitutional law. Accordingly and by resorting to the capabilities of Authoritative Orders, supreme leader is able
to legally overcome the possibly various crises and save system from the confrontation with impasses. This
peculiarity specifically distinguishes Iranian legal system from the other ones, including the liberal democratic
systems.