The behavior of a jointed rock mass depends mainly on the geometrical and mechanical properties of joints. The failure mode of a rock mass and kinematics of rock blocks are governed by the orientation, spacing, and persistence of joints. The mechanical properties such as dilation angle, shear strength, maximum closure, strength of asperities and friction coeffiient play important roles on the stability and deformation of the rock mass. The normal and shear behaviour of a joint are coupled due to dilation, and the joint deformation depends also on the boundary conditions such as stiffness conditons. In this paper, the joint constitutive law including the dilatant behaviour of a joint is numerically modelled using the edge-to-edge contact logic in distinct element method. Also, presented is the method to quantify the input parameters used in the joint law. The results from uniaxial compression and direct shear tests using the numeical model of the single joint were compared to the analytic results from them. The boundary effect on the behaviour of a joint is verified by comparing the results of direct shear test under constant stress boundary condition with those under constant stiffness boundary condition. The numerical model developed is applied to a complex jointed rock mass to examine its performance and to evaluate the effect of joint dilation on tunnel stability.