Constitutions and Legislation IN 1914 - 1964

volume 1: 1914-1933

Constitutions and Legislation in Malta 1914 - 1964

volume 1: 1914-1933

Raymond Mangion Published by russell square publishing limited

Russell Square Publishing Limited was founded with the objective of furthering legal research and scholarship

© 2016 Russell Square Publishing Limited

Linguistic revision, editing, and mise en forme by Professor James J. Busuttil A.B. (Harv), J.D. (NYU), D.Phil. (Oxon) for and on behalf of Russell Square Publishing Limited

The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Russell Square Publishing Limited (maker) First published 2016 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of Russell Square Publishing Limited, or as expressly permitted by law. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to Russell Square Publishing Limited, at the address above British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data Available

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ISBN: 978-1-911301-01-1

The photo on the cover showing the Council Chamber in the Palace in , Malta, courtesy of Dr Anthony Abela Medici. To Joan

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR xi ABBREVIATIONS xiii TABLE OF LEGISLATION Malta xxix xxxvi TABLE OF CASES Malta xxxix united Kingdom xl LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xli

FOREWORD 3

PART I - PROLOGUE 11

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 11 1.1. SOURCES 11 1.2. AIM 13 1.3. METHOD 14

CHAPTER 2. THE BACKGROUND, 1814-1914 17 2.1. MALTA AND THE MALTESE, 1814 18 2.2. THE AUTOCRATIC PERIOD 25 2.3. THE COUNCIL OF 31 2.4. CONCLUSION 38

CHAPTER 3. REPRESENTATION 39 3.1. LIMITED SUFFRAGE 39 3.2. A REPRESENTATIVE 58 3.3. RELAPSE 68

vii PART II - THE FIRST SELF-GOVERNMENT, 1921-1933 77

CHAPTER 4. LACK OF REPRESENTATION 79 4.1. EMERGENCY 79 4.2. AUSTERITY V BENEVOLENCE 88

CHAPTER 5. THE DIARCHY 103 5.1. PARTY 112 5.2. DIFFICULTIES 119 5.3. INNOVATIONS 126 5.4. MILITARISM 134 5.5. DR 137

CHAPTER 6. INSTABILITY 147 6.1. RE-PROPOSALS 147 6.2. EMPLOYMENT AND TRADE-UNIONISM 154 6.3. A BUILDING BOOM 160 6.4. THE BORDERLINE 166

CHAPTER 7. THE COMPACT 201 7.1. POLITICO-RELIGIOUS CONFRONTATION 206 7.2. RE-ITALIANISATION 217

APPENDICES 227 APPENDIX A: GOVERNORS OF MALTA (1814-1964) 229 APPENDIX B: SECRETARIES OF STATE FOR (WAR AND) THE (1814-1964) 233 APPENDIX C: HEADS OF THE MINISTRY/ PRIME MINISTERS OF MALTA (1921-1964) 237 APPENDIX D: CHIEF SECRETARIES TO GOVERNMENT AND - GOVERNORS (1814-1964) 239

viii APPENDIX E: PRINCIPAL LEGAL OFFICERS OF THE GOVERNMENT (1814-1964) 241 APPENDIX F: LEGAL ADVISERS TO THE GOVERNOR (1921-1964) 243 APPENDIX G: PRESIDENTS OF THE COURT OF APPEAL AND CHIEF JUSTICES (1814-1964) 245 APPENDIX H: POLITICAL PARTIES AND GROUPS IN MALTA (1880-1964) 247 APPENDIX I: BRITISH PRIME MINISTERS (1914-1964) 249

BIBLIOGRAPHY 251

INDEX 283

ix

About the Author

Professor Raymond Mangion, Head of the Department of Legal History and Methodology at the of Malta, studied at the (MA History, LLD) and at the University of Oxford (DPhil). He has been lecturing in legal and legislative history at the Faculty of Laws, University of Malta, since 1993. His first book, Minutes of the Council of , 29 December 1835 to 13 August 1849, was published by Malta University Press in 2009. His volume in two Parts entitled Speakers’ Rulings in the - The Legislative Assembly, 1921-1924, was co-sponsored by the University of Malta and the Parliament of Malta in 2013, and chosen as Book of the Year by the Malta National Book Council. Photo credit: Domenic Aquilina Domenic credit: Photo

xi

ABBREVIATIONS

AA Archiepiscopal Archives AAG Archives of the Attorney Valletta Abbozzo Leggi di Organizzazione e Procedura Civile per L’Isola di Malta e Sue Dipendenze (Malta 1850) AC Appeal Cases ACJ Archives of the Courts of Justice ACZIntr (Dr) Alexander Cachia Zammit (Interview, 3.iii.2001) A&CE Architect and Civil Engineer AG Attorney General (File) AGA Albert Ganado Archives Aggs Aggs, WH, Chitty’s Statutes 1235- 1910/1925 ( 1912/1926) AHR Archives of the House of Representatives Valletta All ER All Law Reports AMA Archives of the Museum of Archeology Valletta Amery Report by LS Amery on the Financial and Economic Situation in Malta (London 1919) AM Archivium Melitense ANM L’Assemblea Nazionale di Malta, 25 Febbraio 1919-27 Maggio 1921, Processi Verbali e altri documenti dell’Assemblea Nazionale (Malta 1923) APM Associazione Politica Maltese App Appendix/Appendices APR Archives of the President of the

xiii constitutions and legislation in malta

Art(s) Article(s) ASM Archivio Storico di Malta

B Il-Berka/Il-Berqa BA Bachelor of Arts BEduc Bachelor of bk book/libro BM Il-Bandiera tal-Maltin c canon(s) C Correspondence/Circular CAR Chamber of Architects CAV Chamber of Advocates CBIntr Carmelo Bartolo (Interview, l.viii.1995) Cc Commercial Court CC Confidential Circular/Criminal Court CCA Court of Criminal Appeal CCAC Chamber of Commerce Archives Correspondence CCR Commercial Courier Cd/Cmd/Cmnd Command CD Circular Despatch CDIntr Consiglio D’Amato (Interview, 1.xi.2000) CEGIntr Carmelo Ellul Galea (Interview, 5.x.2000) Census Census of the Maltese Islands 1891/1948 (Malta 1892/1949) Cf compare CG Council of Government ch chapter/capitolo cl(s) column(s) Cl&F Clark and Fennelly, House of Lords Reports

xiv abbreviations

CO Colonial Office COA Court of Appeal Cobham Report by AJ Cobham on Malta in relation to future Air Routes (Malta 1928) Codex (1917) Codex Iuris Canonici (Roma 1917) Codice (1889) Codice Penale Italiano (1889) Col Colonial Number Collezione Collezione di Bandi COM(A) Magistrates’ Court (Appeal) COP Commissioner of Police Correspondence Correspondence with the Relative to Maltese Affairs (Cmd 3588) Cowp Cowper, King’s Bench Reports CP Constitutional Party CP Il Corriere Popolare CPH Chamber of Pharmacists CSL Chief Secretary’s Letters CWP Christian Workers Party

D Despatch DAP Democratic Action Party DCG Debates of the Council of Government DHC Hansard Reports, Parliamentary Debates of the House of Common (series 3/5) 1919-1933 (London 1830/1964) DHL Hansard Reports, Parliamentary Debates of the House of Lords (series 5) 1920/1935 Dhn Id-Dehen Dioc La Diocesi, Bollettino Ufficiale Ecclesiastico di Malta

xv constitutions and legislation in malta

Diritto Municipale Del Diritto Muncipale di Malta (1st edn, Malta 1784) DMC Daily Malta Chronicle/Malta Chronicle Doc document dos dossier DPhil Doctor of Dr Doctor edn(s) edition(s) ed(s) editor(s) Edin Edinburgh Educ Education Edw King Edward eg exempli gratia (i.e. for example) EMG L’Eco di Malta e ER English Reports et (al) and others et seq and the following pages

F Forward FHCC First Hall of the Civil Court FL First Legislature FOI Federation of Industries - 35 Years of Service to Industry and the Nation (Malta 1981) FRA Farrugia Randon Archives FS First Session

GCIntr (Dr) G Cassar (Interview, 10.xi.2000) Geo King George GG Governor General GGM Gazzetta del Governo di Malta

xvi abbreviations

GM Gazzetta di Malta GMR 1363 General Miscellaneous Reports 1814- 1964, 1363 Minutes of Evidence (1919) GN Government Notice GP Government Press/Gozitan Party GPO Government Printing Office GWU General Workers Union

H Il-Ħabib HA Award by Sir Edgar Harper, FS1, Arbitrator appointed to decide on certain financial questions at issue between the Imperial Government and the Government of Malta (Malta 1922) Hel Ħelsien HL House of Lords HM Head of the Ministry Holy See Holy See Exposition of the Malta Question with Documents (Vatican 1930) Hons Honours

I Instructions to the Governor (including those of Malta) 14th April 1921 (London 1921) i.e. id est (i.e. that is to say) IGWU Imperial Government Workers Union IH Il Ħmar IK Il-Kotra IMLI International Maritime Law Institute IP Il-Poplu

xvii constitutions and legislation in malta

JFA Journal of the Faculty of Arts JJCIntr (Prof) JJ Cremona (Interview, 24.viii.2000) JMS Journal of Maltese Studies JP

LA Legislative Assembly Leggi di Procedura Leggi di Organizzazzione e Procedura Civile per l’Isola di Malta e sue Dipendenze (Malta 1855) Leggi Prammaticali Leggi e Costituzioni Prammaticali, (Vilhena) Rinuovate, Riformate ed Ampliate Dal Serenissimo ed Eminentissimo Signor Fr D Antonio Manoel De Vilhena (Malta 1724) LGħ Leħen Għawdex LGO Lieutenant Governor’s Office (File) LHR Library of the House of Representatives Valletta Libr. Library LIH Leħen il-Ħaddiem LIS Leħen is-Sewwa LLD Doctor of Laws LP (1907) Letters Patent, Royal Instructions, Orders in Council and Ordinances relating to the of the Council of Government of Malta (Malta 1907) LPCG Letters Patent constituting the Council of Government (1939) in MGG 8534, 25.ii.1939, 244-257 and 263- 276

xviii abbreviations

LPG (1921) ‘Letters Patent constituting the Office of Governor and Commander in Chief of Malta 14th April 1921’ in MGG 6389, 4.v.1921, 352-366 LPG (1947) ‘Letters Patent constituting the Office of Governor and Commander in Chief of Malta 5th September 1947’ in MGG 9589, 10.ix.1947, 1080-1092 LPRG (1921) ‘Letters Patent providing for the constitution of the Responsible Government of Malta 14th April 1921’ in MGG 6389, 4.v.1921, 326-352 LPRG (1947) ‘Letters Patent providing for the constitution of the Responsible Government of Malta’ in MGG 9597, 23.ix.1947, 962-989 LPPapers (1889) Law, Letters Patent and other Papers in relation to the Constitution of the Council of Government of Malta (Malta 1889) LPPapers (1921) Papers relating to the New Constitution Letters Patent (London 1921) (Cmd 132) LSE London School of Economics and Political Science LT Law Times

M M Malta MA Master of Arts MAC Minutes of the Antiquities Committee MBMC Minutes of the Board of the Museum Committee MC Malta Constitution (1961/1964)

xix constitutions and legislation in malta

MCCIntr (Judge) M Caruana Curran (Interview, 22.iii.2001) MCG Original Minutes and Proceedings of the Council of Government MCH Mount Carmel Hospital MDV Mid-Day View MEduc Master of Education Melit Malta MH Melita Historica Memo TUC Memorandum by the Malta Trade Union Council to the Malta Royal Commission (London 1931) MF Medical File MFA Malta Football Association MGG Malta Government Gazette Mgr Monsignor M(I)C Malta Independence Conference (Cmnd 2121) MIG Maltese Imperial Government Min Minute MJ Ministry of Justice (File) ML Melitensia Library MLP Malta MLR Malta Law Reports MN Malta News MPH Ministry for Public Health MR Medical Registry Ms. Manuscript MSB Minutes of the Symmetry Board MT Malta (Għada) Tagħna MTF Malta Trade Fair - 1952 Official Guide (Malta 1952) MWP Malta Workers Party

xx abbreviations n number N Notice N In-Naħla NA Notarial Archives Valletta NAAFI Navy, Army and Air Force Institute(s) NARM National Archives Rabat Malta NARMCD National Archives Rabat Malta, (Confidential) Despatch NARMD National Archives Rabat Malta, Despatch NARMLGO National Archives Rabat Malta, Lieutenant-Governor’s Office (File) NARMSD National Archives Rabat Malta, (Secret) Despatch NBL New Bodleian Library 2nd second NFIntr Natal Falzon (Interview, 10.x.1996) NL National Library Valletta NLRRC National Library Valletta, Report of His Majesty’s Commissioners in the Affairs of Malta (1812) noe no(min)e/on behalf of Not Notary NZ In-Nazzjon

O l-Orizzont OPM Office of the Prime (File) Oxon Oxford p Part P Patria

xxi constitutions and legislation in malta

Pamphlets Collection of Electoral Propaganda Pamphlets (Malta 1922) Papers TUC Papers relating to the Bill entitled The Malta Trade Union Council (Constitution) Act 1925 (Malta, 1926) Para paragraph Part(s) Part(s) passim here and there Past Lett Pastoral Letter PC Privy Council PCP Progressive Constitutional Party PDLA Parliamentary Debates Legislative Assembly 1921-1930/1947-1962 PDN Partito Democratico Nazionale/ Partit Demokratiku Nazzjonali PDS Parliamentary Debates Senate 1921-1930/1932-1933 Petit Petition PHA Papers relating to the Harper Award (1922) PhD Doctor of Philosophy PJ Il-Partit ta’ Jones (newspaper) PL Papers Laid PLCG Papers Laid Council of Government PLLA Papers Laid Legislative Assembly PLS Papers Laid Senate PM Portafoglio Maltese PN Partito Nazionale/Partito Nazionalista PNM Partito Nazionalista Maltese PPMC Public Proceedings of Merchants Committees prn pro et nomine

xxii abbreviations

Procl Proclamation Procl Proclamations, Minutes and other Official Notices (Malta 1821) PROCOD Public Records Office, Colonial Office, Despatch Prof Professor Pr Progress Progetto Progetto di un Codice Penale dai DD Bonnici e Bonavita (1834) PRS Proportional Representation System PSCC Papers relating to the Select Committee on the Chamber of Commerce (1930) PSCEB Papers relating to the Select Committee on Expropriation (1933) PSCFR Papers relating to the Select Committee on Factories Regulation Act (1925) PSCMMC Papers relating to the Select Committee on Use of Machines for Manufacturing Cigarettes (1922- 1925)

QCL La Questione Costituzionale e Linguistica Dopo il Colpo di Stato del 2 novembre 1933 (Malta 1933)

RA Report on Arbitration (Malta 1946) RAF Royal Air Force RCME Royal Commission Minutes of Evidence (Malta 1932)

RCP Rules and Regulations for the Information and Guidance

xxiii constitutions and legislation in malta

of the Principal Officers and others in His Majesty’s Colonial Possessions (London 1837) RCPC Report of the Commercial Partnerships Law Reform Commission Accompanying A Draft Commercial Partnership Bill (Malta 1956) RCS (1843) Rule and Regulations for Her Majesty’s Colonial Service (London 1843) RCS (1908) Regulations for His Majesty’s Colonial Service (London 1908) RELSWD Report of the Emigration, Labour and Social Welfare Department (Malta 1957) RES Report on the Elementary Schools Rev Reverend RGE Report on General Elections (1955) RGSA Report of a Select Committee appointed to enquire into the operation of the law and practice affecting the manufacture of Gold and Silver Articles for sale (Valletta 1850) RIBA Royal Institute of British Architects RLL Report on Long Leases (Malta 1920) RLVC Report and other Papers relating to the Valletta Lay-Out Competition (Malta 1925) RMCC Report on the Malta Constitutional Commission 1960 (Cmnd 1261) RMRTC Report of the Malta Round Table Conference (London 1956) (Cmnd 9659)

RPF Report of Board appointed to enquire into the question of the pay and

xxiv abbreviations

conditions of service of the Police Force (Malta 1919) RRC Report of the Royal Commissioners (1812/1932) RSEA Regolamento della Società Economico Agraria del Gruppo di Malta (Malta 1844) RURSBS Report on the Utilisation of Red Earth from Building Sites (1934) RVD Report on the Conference held between the Visiting Delegation from the United Kingdom (Malta 1927) RWGD Report on the Working of Government Departments 1901/1964 (Malta 1902/1965) s Section S Senate S Is-Sebħ Sc Scientia SCA Statuto Della Camera Degli Avvocati Approvati nella Seduta del 18 Gennajo 1877 SCF Statuto della Camera Farmaceutica di Malta (Malta 1900) SD Secret Despatch Sec Secretariate SFU Statuto Fondamentale del Università (Malta 1838) sh shilling SJ Solicitors’ Journal or SL Second Legislature SMS Statuto della Società Operaja ed Industriale di Mutuo Soccorso

xxv constitutions and legislation in malta

(Tipografia del Popolo, Malta 1886) SO(s) Standing Orders(s) SOLA Standing Orders of the Legislative Assembly (Malta 1922) SOS Standing Orders of the Senate (Malta 1922) SPCC Statement of Policy on Constitutional Reform (London 1947) (Cmd 7014) SS Second Session SSM Statuto della Società Medica d’Incoraggiamento (Malta 1839) 1st first STV Single Transferable Vote SULM Statute of the University and Lyceum of Malta (Malta 1907) Suppl Supplement t title T The Teacher (of Malta) TB The Bullettin TD The Dawn TL Telegram TLJ The Law Journal (Malta) TMH The Malta Herald TN The Nation TR The Review Treas Treasury TST The Sunday Times (of Malta) TT The Torch TTb The Tablet TTL The Times (of London)

xxvi abbreviations

TTM The Times (of Malta) TUC Trade Union Council

UK United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland UKPC Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Reports UN United Nations Organisation UOM University of Malta (theses) UOX University of Oxford (theses) US United States of America v volume(s) v versus V Valletta V La Voce del Popolo Vict Vol 2 Constitutions and Legislation in Malta, Volume 2: 1933-1964 VLCO Valletta Lay-Out Competition - Correspondence with Assessors (Malta 1925) VM Voice of Malta

Will King William WO War Office

Xandira Xandira Oħra Ipprojbita (Malta 1962)

& and

xxvii

TABLE OF LEGISLATION (Volume 1)

malta

Proclamations (1814-1835)

Clandestine Marriage Law VII 1831 29 Constitution of the Courts of Justice Law (Proclamation) XV 1814 26 Criminal (Trial by Jury) Law VII 1829 29 Ecclesiastical Courts (Constitution and Jurisdiction) Law V 1828 29 Grain Monopoly (Abolition) Law XI 1818 27 Marriage Legacies Law VIII 1831 29 Mortmain Law XXIII 1823 28 Naturalisation Law IX 1817 27 Office of the Lord Law V 1815 27 Order of St Michael and St George (Creation of) Knighthood Law VI 1818 27 Police Force Establishment Law XXII 1814 26, 27, 33 Privy Council Appeal Law XXX 1822 27 Provident Bank for Savings Law VI 1833 30 Supreme Court of Justice Law XVI 1814 26

Ordinances (1835-1914)

(Consolidation of the) Civil Law of Persons 1873 51 (Consolidation of the) Civil Law of Things VII 1868 49 (Contract of) Donation Ordinance II 1865 46 (Contract of) Emphyteusis Ordinance II 1858 46 (Contract of) Lease of Urban and Rural Property Ordinance VII 1857 45 (Creation of the) Office of the Syndics Ordinance XI 1839 34 (Reduction of the Office of) Syndics Ordinance VII 1880 57 Abolition of (Office of) Syndics Ordinance III 1896 64 Acts of Civil Status Ordinance II 1862 46 Addolorata Cemetery Ordinance 1870 50

xxix constitutions and legislation in malta

Antiquities Protection Ordinance VI 1910 72, 121, 141, 160 Burials Ordinance II 1869 50 Census Ordinance VI 1891 61 Census Ordinance VII 1911 72, 73 Civil Code 1874 (Ordinance VII 1868/Ordinance I 1873) 5, 37, 39, 41, 42, 51, 62, 128, 129, 134, 161, 168 Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance XV 1913 74 Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure 1855 5, 29, 37, 41, 43, 74, 75, 98, 273 Code of Police Laws 1854 29, 32, 33, 40, 42, 47 Commercial Code 1857 Ordinance XIII 1857 29, 37, 41, 42, 44, 45, 75, 117, 148, 149, 161, 172 Contract (of Mutuum) Ordinance III 1861 46 Creation of the Gozo Ordinance VIII 1865 48 Criminal Code (Amendment) Ordinance VI 1899 66 Criminal Code (Amendment) Ordinance VIII 1909 72 Criminal Code (Amendment) Ordinance XI 1900 66 Criminal Code (Amendment) Ordinance XII 1913 74 Criminal Code (Amendment) Ordinance XVI 1888 60 Criminal Code 1854 5, 17, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 40, 42, 48, 49, 60, 66, 72, 74, 75, 81, 92, 135, 222 Customs Ordinance VII 1909 72 Disentailment Ordinance II 1868 49 Disentailment Ordinance IV 1864 48 Electric Telegraph Ordinance I 1904 70 Electric Telegraph Ordinance III 1859 47 Extradition () Ordinance I 1863 48 Food and Drugs (Adulteration) Ordinance XIV 1859 47 Food, Drugs and Drinking Water Ordinance III 1904 (Third Sanitary Ordinance) 70 Freedom of Speech (Council of Government) Ordinance VIII 1881 57, 142 Freedom of the Press Ordinance IV 1839 34, 50, 51, 57 Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Ordinance II 1856 44 Import Duties Ordinance VI 1840 34

xxx table of legislation

Infanticide (Abolition of Capital Punishment) Ordinance VII (1867) 49 Property Protection Ordinance XI 1899 66 Judicial Proceedings Ordinance I 1878 52 Land Encroachment Ordinance II 1881 55, 136 Lotteries Ordinance III 1885 58 Lotteries Ordinance VIII 1893 63 Medical and Kindred Profession Ordinance XVII 1901 (Second Sanitary Ordinance) 67 Notarial Profession and Archives (Amendment) Ordinance IX 1905 71 Notarial Profession and Archives Ordinance V 1855 44, 66 Office of the Crown Advocate Ordinance I 1839 ,33 34 Opium Ordinance XVI 1913 75 Organisation of the Public Health Department Ordinance XIV 1900 (First Sanitary Ordinance) 67 Pensions (Retirement) Ordinance II 1905 71 Police (Pension) Ordinance V 1888 60 Police Force Ordinance V 1881 57 Post Office Ordinance II 1884 58, 70, 71 Post Office Ordinance XIV 1904 70, 71 Prescription Ordinance III 1863 46 Press Ordinance XIV 1889 60, 209 Prevention of Diseases Ordinance VIII 1908 (Fourth Sanitary Ordinance) 71 Public Gardens (Hours of Closure) Ordinance VII 1905 71 Public Health Ordinance V 1858 47 Public Meetings and Assemblies Ordinance XI 1898 66 Stowaways Ordinance I 1888 59, 60 Venereal Diseases Ordinance IV 1861 47 Ventilation of Public Sewers Ordinance IV 1879 54 Vice-Admiralty Court (Transfer of Jurisdiction) Ordinance III 1892 63 Water Supply Ordinance X 1886 58 Wesleyan Church (Mortmain Exemption) Ordinance VII 1902 68

Ordinances (1914-1921)

7 and 8 Disturbances Ordinance XVIII 1919 91

xxxi constitutions and legislation in malta

Aerial Navigation Ordinance IX 1914 81 Architects Ordinance XIV 1919 90 Bugeja Conservatory Bequest Fund Ordinance IX 1918 87 Carbonisation of Charcoal Ordinance V 1916 82 Census Ordinance X 1920 105 Clearance Office Ordinance VI 1919 ,89 90 Defence of the Island Ordinance XX 1914 81 Designation of the Chief Officers of the Police Force Ordinance II 1918 87 Encouragement of New Industries Ordinance IX 1920 95, 96, 155, 158 Entertainment Duty Ordinance III 1918 84, 85 Excess Profits Duties Ordinance XXIV 1919 93, 94 Import Duties Ordinance III 1917 82 Import Duties Ordinance XI 1918 85 Import Duty Ordinance VI 1918 85 Jewellery Ordinance XII 1920 95 Juvenile Court Ordinance IX 1919 93 Lepers Ordinance XX 1919 93 Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Ordinance V 1921 97 Maltese Regimental Corps Ordinance VIII 1915 81 Official Secrets Ordinance VI 1914 81 Petroleum Ordinance VI 1921 97 Preferential Duties Ordinance XIV 1920 95 Reformatory Ordinance II 1921 97 Stamp Duty Ordinance VII 1918 85 Succession and Donation Duties Ordinance XVIII 1918 84, 85, 86, 90, 94 Trading with the Enemy Ordinance XIII 1914 81 White Slave Traffic (Suppression) Ordinance XIII 1918 ,75 87

Acts and Ordinances (1921-1933)

Aesthetic Buildings Act VI 1926 89, 161, 163, 164, 165, 221 Aircraft Photography (Prohibition) Ordinance IV 1923 136 Allowances of Members of the Legislature Act III 1922 140 Antiquities Ordinance (Amendment) Act IV 1923 141

xxxii table of legislation

Antiquities Protection Act XI 1925 148, 161 Census Ordinance XI 1930 214 Compulsory Attendance (Amendment) Act VIII 1927 171 Compulsory Attendance Act XXII 1924 152, 171 Constitution Letters Patent (Amendment) Act I 1929 207, 208, 213, 219 Criminal Code (Amendment) Act XXVIII 1933 222 Dangerous Drugs (External Trade) Ordinance I 1926 166, 168, 169 Dangerous Drugs Act XV 1926 168 Electoral Act XIV 1924 138, 143, 145, 208 Encouragement of New Industries (Amendment) Act X 1925 158 Excess Profits Duty (Adaptation) Act VI 1923 140 Expropriation Act III 1930 211, 212, 220 Factories Regulation Act XXI 1926 122, 123, 124, 138, 156, 169 Foreign Judgments Reciprocal Enforcement Act VII 1924 117, 138 143, 145 General Elections Suspension Ordinance I 1930 213 General Hospital (Amendment) Act XVIII 1929 208, 209, 213, 219 General Hospital (Amendment) Ordinance IV 1931 215 General Hospital (Constitution of) Fund Act XXVIII 1927 171, 204, 205 Hand-Made Cigarettes Protection Act XVIII 1927 172, 173 Imperial Forces (Military Training) Ordinance I 1927 168, 170, 173, 174, 203 Imperial Forces (Military Training) Ordinance II (1927) 174, 203 Import Duties Ordinance III 1931 215 Import Duties Ordinance V 1931 215 Lace Protection Act XXI 1927 172, 173 (Judicial Proceedings) Act XVI 1929 208, 210, 211, 213, 219 Maltese Language (Notarial Deeds) Act XVII 1929 208, 213, 219 Men-Of-War and Services Aircraft Wireless Telegraphy Ordinance IV 1925 162 Merchant Shipping Wireless Telegraphy (Amendment) Ordinance V 1923 140 Merchant Shipping Wireless Telegraphy Ordinance I 1923 97, 125, 134, 140 Ministry of Justice Constitution Act IX 1922 131

xxxiii constitutions and legislation in malta

Mortmain Exemption Act VII 1933 222 National Day Act XV 1922 132 Notarial Profession and Archives (Amendment) Act XXXVII 1933 223 Notarial Profession and Archives Act XI 1927 138, 160, 161, 171 Official Secrets Ordinance III 1923 136 Pensions Act XVI 1926 168 Portes Des Bombes (Embellishment) Act XX 1933 222 Post Office Act III 1924 143 Press (Amendment) Act XXIX 1929 209, 211, 213, 219 Prevention of Public Disturbances Ordinance V 1930 214 Privileges, Immunities and Powers of the Legislature Act XXIV 1924 152, 154, 205 Prohibition of Seditious Propaganda Ordinance XIX 1932 220 Public Lotto (Amendment) Act XXI 1922 133 Public Lotto Act XVII 1922 132, 133 Public Meetings (Prohibition) Ordinance XX 1931 216, 220 Public Registry Act XII 1927 124, 161, 162, 171 Reletting of Urban Property Act I 1925 124, 138, 145, 148, 15, 205 Reletting of Urban Property Act XXXII 1927 205 Reletting of Urban Property Ordinance XXI 1931 216 of Malta Declaration Act I 1922 122, 145, 222 Rent Regulation Act XXIII 1929 209, 211, 213, 219 Royal Commission Ordinance XI 1931 215, 216 Safeguard of Revenue Act V 1928 205, 206 Simultaneous Teaching of Italian and English Act IX 1923 (‘Pari Passu’ Act) 140, 142 Stowaways Act VIII 1923 140 Telephony (Undertaking) Act XII 1932 220 Trade and Traders Act XXX 1927 171 Trade Union Council Act XXII 1929 209, 211, 213, 219, 221 Trade Union Council (Constitution) Act 1925 156, 171, 207 Trade Unions Act IV 1933 221 Trade Unions Act XVII 1927 122, 171, 173 Trade Unions Act XXI 1929 209, 211, 213, 219 Trade Unions Registry Act III 1933 221 Traffic Regulation (Amendment) Ordinance XV 1931 216

xxxiv table of legislation

Traffic Regulation Ordinance X 1931 215 Treasury and Audit (Amendment) Act XVI 1927 171, 173 Treasury and Audit Act XII 1926 117, 120, 131, 138, 161, 167, 171 Trespass Ordinance II 1923 134 Validation of Acts (I/XXIX 1929) Ordinance II 1930 213 Valletta and Floriana Exploitation Fund Act I 1927 169, 170 Venereal Diseases Ordinance VIII 1930 214 Visibility of Traffic Ordinance XIX 1931 216 Weekly Rest (Bakers and Barbers) Act XL 1933 223 White Slave Traffic (Suppression) Ordinance VII 1930 214 Widows and Orphans’ Pension Act XIX 1927 116, 117, 122, 123, 124, 156, 157, 172, 173 Wireless Telegraphy Ordinance II 1922 126 Workmen’s Compensation Act VI 1929 117, 120, 122, 145, 148, 152, 174, 203, 208, 209, 213, 219 Workmen’s Dwellings Fund Act VI 1927 117, 151, 169, 170, 174

Ordinances (1933-1947)

Compulsory Education Ordinance II 1946 124, 138, 145 Trade-Unions and Trade Disputes Ordinance IV 1945 57 Treasury and Audit (Amendment) Ordinance XXXIV 1937 82

Acts and Ordinances (1947-1958)

Infanticide Act VI 1947 14, 15, 54, 79

xxxv constitutions and legislation in malta

united kingdom

Administration of Justice Act (1920) (10&11 Geo 5, ch81) 143 Arbitration Act (1880) (52&53 Vict, ch59) 168 Children’s Act (1908) (8 Edw 7, ch67) 74 Colonial Laws Validity Act (1865) (28&29 Vict, ch66) 49 Combination Repeal Act (1825) (6 Geo 4, ch29) 54 Criminal Law Amendment Act (1912) (2&3 Geo 5, ch20) 75 Dangerous Drugs Act (1925) (15&16 Geo 5, ch74) 159 Elementary Education Act (1880) (43 & 44 Vict, ch23) 53 Emancipation Act (1829) (10 Geo 4, ch7) 29 Employment of Women, Young Persons and Children’s Act (1919) (10&11 Geo 5, ch65) 123 Entail Property (Amendment) Act (1848) (11&12, Vict, ch36) 49 Excess Profits Act (1915) (5&6 Geo 5, ch89) 93 Factory and Workshop Act (1901) (1 Edw 7, ch22) 123 Finance (New Duties) Act (1916) (6&7 Geo 5, ch11) 85 Foreign Marriage Act (1892) (55&56 Vict, ch23) 63 Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (War Restriction) Act (1915) (5&6 Geo 5, ch97) 128 Juvenile Court (Metropolis) Act (1920) (10&11 Geo 5, ch33) 97 Land Clauses Consolidation Act (1845) (8 Vict, ch18) 54, 55 Maintenance Orders (Facilities for Enforcement) Act (1920) (10&11 Geo 5 ch33) 97 Malta Constitution Act (1932) (22&23 Geo 5, ch43) 219 Medical Act (1886) (49&50 Vict, ch 48) 67 Merchant Shipping Act (1854) (17&18 Vict, ch104) 191 Merchant Shipping (Convention)Act (1914) (4&5 Geo 5, ch50) 140 Military Manoeuvres Act (1897) (60&61 Vict, ch43) 167 Nationality and Status of Aliens Act (1914) (4&5 Geo 5, ch17) 105 Official Secrets Act (1889) (52 & 53 Vict, ch52) 66 Official Secrets Act (1911) (1&2 Geo 5, ch28) 81 Parliament Act (1911) (1&2 Geo 5, ch13) 207 Post Office Act (1908) (8 Edw 7, ch48) 143 Probation of First Offender (1887) (50&51 Vict, ch25) 66 Public General Act (1890(53&54 Vict, ch27) 63

xxxvi table of legislation

Renunciation Act (1778) (18 Geo 3, ch12) 65 Representation of the People Act (1918) (7&8 Geo 5, ch64) 143 Trade Union Act (1871) (34&35 Vict, ch31) 54 Trade Union Act (1913) (3&4 Geo 5, ch3o) 143 Vice-Admiralty Court Act (1863) (26 Vict, ch24) 49 Act (1931) (22 Geo 5, ch41) 218 Wireless Telegraphy Act (1904) (4 Edw 7, ch24) 125 Wireless Telegraphy Act (1906) (6 Edw 7, ch13) 162 Wireless Telegraphy Act (1919) (9&10 Geo 5, ch38) 97 Workmen’s Compensation Act (1906) (6 Edw 7, ch 58) 120

xxxvii

Table of Cases (Volume 1)

malta

Agius noe et v Parnis noe et al ACJVCOA 14.viii.1928 206, 207 Bugelli et v Mifsud noe ACJVCOA 12.x.1926 168 Buhagiar noe v Dandria ACJVFHCC 31.vi.1923 141 Busuttil v La Primaudaye ACJMCOA 28.v.1894 62 Colombos v Lee noe ACJVCC 14.ii.1933 41, 62 Curmi v Depiro ACJVCOA 22.ii.1936 28 D’Agata v Drago ACJMFHCC 16.vi.1884 51 Lowe v Micallef Lowe ACJMCOA 27.vi.1892 21, 62 Messina v Galea ACJMCC 5.i.1881 57 Micallef Goggi v Mifsud ACJVCOA 25.vi.1930 213 Polizia (Semini) v Agius ACJVCCA 6.iii.1936 167 Polizia v Carmelo Carabott et al ACJVCOA 8.xi.1933 220 Polizia v Caruana ACJVCOA 26.ii.1921 93 Polizia v Zammit Haber NARMLGO-1683/1919 74 Randon v Samuelson ACJMFCHH 7.vi.1946 44 R v Sultana CC (in Galea 1982) 6.v.1861 49 Saliba v Napier Maddocks ACJVFHCC3.x.1924 151 Società Cattolica San Giuseppe et al v Savona et al ACJVCOA 5.xii.1927 204 Toglia v Christian COM (in RCC 1912) 72 Valentini v Valentini ACJVCOA 19.x..1929 21 Valenzia v Arrigo ACJVCOA 18.iii.1929 208 Watson case ACJMCc 22.vi.1840 35 White noe v Strother Stewart noe ACJVCOA 7.iii.1934 11 Zammit v Scicluna ACJMCc 13.ii.1864 46

xxxix constitutions and legislation in malta

united kingdom

R v McNaughten [1843] 10 Cl&F 200; 36 8 ER 718 Strickland v Grima [1930] UK PC7, 208 [1930] AC 285 72 Strickland et al v Strickland [1908] UKPC 32, [1908] AC 551

xl LIST of Illustrations

Sir Adrian 177 Sir Antonio Micallef 178 Sir Vincenzo Frendo Azopardi 179 Sir Filippo Sceberras 180 Sir Michelangelo Refalo 181 Mr Joseph Howard 182 Sir Ugo Mifsud 183 Monsignor Ignazio Panzavecchia 184 Sir Gerald Strickland 185 Sir Augustus Bartolo 186 Dr 187 Sir Arturo Mercieca 188 Professor Carlo Mallia 189 Dr Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici 190 Dr Victor Frendo Azopardi 191 Monsignor Enrico Dandria 192 Dr Pier Giuseppe Frendo 193 Sir Philip Pullicino 194 Archbishop Sir Mauro Caruana 195 Dr Enrico Mizzi 196 Archbishop Sir Michael Gonzi 197 Sir 198

xli

Constitutions and Legislation in Malta 1914 - 1964

volume 1: 1914-1933

FOREWORD this monograph pieces together the story of constitutions, and legislation in Malta in the last 50 years (1914- 1964) of de jure British rule (1814-1964). It describes the influences in the making of Acts and Ordinances in this part of modern Malta: the Governor, the Armed Forces of the British Crown, the political parties and the Roman . The story opens with the outbreak of World War One, and closes with the achievement of Independence. It includes two self-, and three short but legislatively intensive periods of direct rule as a Crown . It is a chequered and rich narrative that has never been fully explored and written up. The monograph sets out to give a chronicle and account of legislation (enacted, failed or tardy) from first proposals through debate and dissent towards passage, amendment or repeal. It seeks in a clearly organised and informative manner to lay the essential foundation for more serious and deeper historico- legislative and constitutional-political studies of Malta under British rule particularly in the 20th century. It is a work that presents the raw material from which the reader can readily construct a more abstract, if facile, perspective, or else deduce arguments and claims. It does the spadework in recounting the tale of some 350 Acts and Ordinances selected out of a total of over 1,000 and, as such, is not the last word on the subject. It certainly reviews legislative measures that introduced innovations or reforms and that deal with important and controversial topics. No doubt, it is the first word on the subject-matter. It makes two fundamental propositions: that the legislative outcome of the second responsible self-government in Malta (1947-1958) was built on top of the legislative results of the first responsible self-government (1921-1930 and 1932-1933), and that the Roman Catholic Church and the military services were the two most important influences on legislative enactments. As for the rest, the text leaves room for scientific assessments of the Weberian type, as for instance, where charismatic leaders confront customary convictions and both grapple with a remote

 constitutions and legislation in malta but efficient administrative bureaucracy. It can be a window on legislative decisions that mirror changes that took place in the economic infrastructure, as the defence industry gave way to the tourist industry and beach-balls took the place of cannon-balls. Third, it can be the basis for a focus on the end of Empire or even the end of Faith. Fourth, it may be used to evaluate, by way of legislative actions, whether the Maltese had self-awareness that their country was already a State or would acquire such a status in the near future. It is meant to lay a platform on which various theories may be pondered once other archival materials are brought to light. Fifth, it is the basis for showing that the problems of Malta are still the same after 100 years and the political successes over that time period were relatively small. Finally, it lays a platform on which various theories may be built once other archival materials are brought to light. The book weaves together, of course, several strands within historico-legislative and constitutional-political contexts. First of all, it puts emphasis on the relations between Malta and Britain, which, by the Treaty of Paris in 1814, became its imperial sovereign exercised through the power, now autocratic, now shared, of the Governor and his Councils. The work, then, focuses, as an inevitable constituent, on the role of the Armed Forces of the Crown as occupiers of the sea-girt fortress-colony of great military leverage in the Mediterranean, poised as a territory at the cross-roads of , Asia and Africa, and cast as a nation into two world wars, the Suez invasion and the arrival of NATO forces. The story at bottom sufficiently evidences both the Catholic Church and the commercial class as well as the local aristocracy as wielders of great authority, with only the last diminishing over time. It demonstrates that local political parties, trade unions and the Maltese language grew in importance, and charismatic individuals played ever-increasing legislative and public roles in the course of the epoch under review: the Stricklands, Giorgio Borg Olivier, , Michael Gonzi and other less important but still influential dramatis personae. The monograph is divided into four Parts, which are in turn sub-divided into 14 Chapters. Apart from this Prologue, Part I

 foreword has two other chapters which give the background. Part I aims to provide a rapid overview of the vicissitudes of legislatures and legislation in the first 100 years of British rule in Malta, 1814-1914. It deals with an era during which, under Imperial expansionism, benevolent autocracy vied with austere representation: the British Governors were autocrats till 1835; John Austin and Cornewall- Lewis arrived as Royal Commissioners to be followed by others; then the Criminal or Penal and (substantive and procedural) Civil Codes were drafted, debated, enacted and promulgated, and so on and so forth. Governor Maitland, Sir Adrian Dingli (the Crown Advocate, de facto administrator), Sir Gerald Strickland (Chief Secretary to the Governor), the elected members under representative government, are on the inside: all leave deep marks on the growing body of legislation. The Roman Catholic Church looms large as a hugely important institution on the outside. As the faith of almost all Maltese, it wields great power in the law- making process. The Code-based continental system is tested against the common law system. The Maltese language is only for the peasants, Italian is the language of the others. These were some of the issues that marked the years 1814-1914. The vast legislative apparatus of Malta in the 50 years 1914-1964 is more easily understood against this backdrop. The next three Parts are the meat of the book: Part II concentrates on the first self-government, 1921-1933; Part III concerns the interval, 1933-1947, when Crown colony rule was re-instated; and Part IV reviews the second self-government, in 1947-1964. Part III also makes some reflections upon the major influences (factions and factors) at work both within and outside the relevant legislative process or machinery in Malta between 1914 and 1964, and touches upon the similarities and differences that could be tracked down between the two periods of responsible government with regard to the development and enactment of legislation in Malta. After World War One, the governance of Malta oscillated between, on the one hand, various types of direct rule by the Governor (with or without an Council), and, on the other hand, systems of power-sharing between a locally elected

 constitutions and legislation in malta legislature (bi- or unicameral), handling transferred matters, and a ‘Maltese Imperial Government’, dealing with a long list and the technique of reserved matters encompassing defence, security and external affairs. The dual situation bestowed by Britain in 1921 raised acute problems in the application to the numerous local employees of the Armed Forces of the growing legislation on taxation, pensions and employment law. Changes in labour relations and the post-1918 improvement of the lot of female workers came up against the fact that the , Royal Army and Royal Air Force, which were entrusted with ‘reserved matters’, employed the majority of manual and factory workers in the country. The principal players surfaced on the political and legislative scene in the aftermath of World War One with Britain’s disinclination to establish the Roman Catholic religion on the introduction of self-government and with the Crown’s failure to provide legislative clarification for the indigenous ‘language question’, that is, English versus Italian. Complex and cross- cutting conflicts arose at the political, cultural and religious levels during this period of relative autonomy. Other cross-sections and groups come to the fore when further issues arose that were solved by legislation, such as the attempts to reconcile the role of Malta in Britain’s defence strategies with the wish of the inhabitants to use their crystal radio sets or to take photographs of Malta from the air; and the need to stop long-term conflicts between the farmers and the manoeuvring military. Various entities are at the centre of conflicts at grassroots level over legislative enactments concerning antiquities versus artillery, and the exoneration from tax and planning laws of the Church, traditionally the main provider of charitable assistance to the needy, and so forth. The smaller political parties, in alliance or ‘compact’ with the larger political formations, were the groups that generally exert extensive and conclusive force on the progress and implementation of legislation before and during the first self- government. Indeed, the role of the British services in putting considerable pressure on the making of legislation of military

 foreword concern was also a highlight throughout the life of the initial semi-autonomous administration. Governors and military representatives, of course, frequently intervened to dictate legislation suiting the Empire during the remainder of the inter-war interval when, under the menace of an imminent world war and under cover of beneficence, Britain retracted self- government to re-impose Crown colony rule. Britain bestowed on the the George Cross Medal at the height of World War Two to honour their bravery, but denied it a share in Marshall Aid once the Empire restored self-government to Malta. British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden wanted to make Malta part of the United Kingdom, although his successor, , wanted it to be independent, regardless of the Suez Canal crisis that climaxed in 1956. Contemporaneously, the local Legislative Assembly gave its fiat and London followed suit with regard to legislative proposals, bills, disputes, debates and legislation varying from taxation, national insurance and assistance to education, housing and so on, while co-partnerships, alliances, defections and developments took place in the form of governance. The legislative system of Malta expanded and consolidated on the strength of the restored self-government (1947-1964). The terms of the second grant of relative autonomy were of course dictated by Britain as it gradually relinquished its grip over Malta as an international military base until it finally took the definite decision to grant independence. The major forces shaping legislation were the political parties with a majority in government or coalition, and once again from outside the law- making forum, the persistent influence of the local Church.

This book would not have seen the light of day had it not been for the provision of kind assistance and warm encouragement by many distinguished institutions and personalities to whom acknowledgement graciously given. First and foremost, the author is deeply grateful to the late Regius Professor Peter BH Birks, QC, DCL, FBA. Professor Birks was the person through whose help the author has been able to

 constitutions and legislation in malta polish and streamline this monograph in the ways needed for publication. The author feels privileged to have discussed and read with him the final versions and refinements of the text. The author would equally like to register for posterity sincere gratitude for the invaluable insights and advice conveyed to him by Professor John M Finnis LLB (Adel.), MA, DPhil (Oxon). The author has benefitted too from the inestimable comments offered to him on a number of occasions by the late Professor Bernard Rudden DCL, LLD, FBA, Reverend Professor Dr Alfred Buttigieg SJ, DPhil (Oxon), Professor Ian Refalo BA (Malta), LLD (Malta), DipIL (Cantab), Professor David LLD (Malta), DPhil (Oxon) as well as Professor Kevin Aquilina MA (DipSt)(Malta) LLM (IMLI), LLD (Malta), PhD (Lond)(LSE). The author is particularly grateful to Dr Mark A Sammut LLD, MJur, MA (Melit), LLM (Lond), who encouraged him from the beginning to publish this monograph and greatly assisted with the editing in preparation for publication. The author is also especially indebted toward Miss Ileana Curmi, BA (Malta), a history graduate, who voluntarily agreed to proof-read the book; his cousin Karlston D’Emanuele BSc (Hons) (IT), MSc (Computer Science)(Melit), his computer advisor; Mrs Paula Muscat (member of staff within the Faculty of Law, University of Malta) who always went out of her way to help the author to print out several draft copies of the book; and the community of Jesuits in Campion Hall, Oxford, for their practical and social support throughout the author’s stays with them while he was reading for his DPhil in the University of Oxford (1998-2002). Last but not least, the author wholeheartedly acknowledges the financial contribution of the University of Malta and the Foundation for International Studies (Malta) for the purpose of carrying out research in connection with the present publication. He also thanks the Library of the University for providing the texts of the Constitutions of 1921, 1947, 1961 and 1964. Needless to say, the author is responsible for any errors of commission or omission that appear in the final outcome of the book.

 foreword

The author wishes to express his eternal gratitude to his dear wife Joan and their dear daughter Bernardette for their affection, support and encouragement during the research and writing of this monograph.

Raymond Mangion March 2016



PART I PROLOGUE

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION the last detailed study on the history of Maltese legislation was produced by a Maltese judge, Dr Paolo Debono. It dealt with the first century of British rule. It was published in 1897 and has long been outdated. More recently, Professor Joseph , himself formerly a judge, published an outline on the development of Maltese constitutional law under British rule, without focusing on legislation. The massive modern on the political in the context of Anglo-Maltese relations makes only peripheral and isolated references to legislation lying at the centre of ideological issues. A reliable chronicle of the legislation is essential to a full understanding of the country’s modern history. However, there has been a seemingly insuperable obstacle. Even for a study of limited length, the state of the relevant archives, most of which are held in Malta, means that nothing can be done without painstaking and time-consuming research and reconstruction.

1.1. SOURCES

The Malta Parliament has enacted so far two National Archives Act, the first in 1990 to centralise the country’s administrative and legislative records, and the second in 2005 to institutionalise and give legislative status to the same records. It suffices to glance at the materials available in the Archives situated in Rabat in the south-east of Malta to recognise their abundance. Yet, the process of translocation of hundreds of voluminous files and registers from their former depositories in Valletta, the capital city in the northern section of the country, has been slow and is still going on. Besides, much of the material is badly in need

11 constitutions and legislation in malta of calendaring because the original indexes have either been destroyed or mislaid. Furthermore, a number of government departmental files of the post-1921 period that used to be kept in Ministerial portfolios in Valletta did not survive the ravages of World War Two. Numerous batches were then lost in the 1970s when government buildings were converted into offices for new State corporations. Unfortunately, collections of files obtainable in the National Archives from the period 1921-1950 do not comprise a full set of those of the Attorney General, whose records are of the utmost relevance to any story of legislatures and legislation. These files were gravely damaged when their repository in Valletta was flooded during a downpour in 1987. Luckily those for 1950-1962 have survived and are now accessible in the National Archives. It is thanks to the hundreds of Lieutenant Governor’s Office files, the first to be shelved in the Archives, that a recreation of the story of legislatures and legislation in Malta under British rule is possible. These files span a century between around 1850 and 1950. They are mines of handwritten and printed documents of various forms. They do not only contain debates, speeches, protests, appeals, editorials and press comments on legislatures and legislation. They contain originals or copies of despatches exchanged between Malta and the Colonial, War and Home Offices in London, on the subject-matter. However, more importantly, the Lieutenant Governor’s files are authentic records of minutes and summaries of legislative decisions taken by the Attorney General and the Governor’s Legal Adviser. They testify in manuscript form to the communications which these incumbents used to exchange on technical aspects of legislation with other State departments. In fact, they compensate for the perished data on law-making that was contained in the raw documents of the same legal draftsmen for 1921-1950. The Lieutenant Governor’s Office files encompass the full range of data on the story of legislatures and legislation in Malta under British rule. It would be a pity if the story were marginalised as a mere legacy of the past and not harnessed to help give more sense to the legal system of Malta today. Of course, it will never

12 introduction be possible in the future to have a more fully documented story ready for deep arguments and lengthy speculations unless all the facts are assembled and explained in a scholarly manner through the completion of research in the Archives. Court judgments, a valuable component of the story, are also not in desirable order. The archives of the courts of justice were until 1990 entirely located underneath the principal courts buildings in Valletta. They escaped destruction in the bombardments during World War Two thanks to their safe- keeping outside the capital city. In 1990, the judicial records covering the period 1814-1900 were moved to Mdina, the old capital of the country, and in 1998 the files for the period 1900- 1950, which are more massive, were stored in another building in Valletta called Il-Kamrata. The depository of the files for 1900-1950 is open by appointment. The closer a work on the history of legislation in Malta approaches the last 50 years of British rule, the stronger the feeling of helplessness where it comes to the consultation of court judgments relevant to the story. It is true that there does exist a collection of judicial decisions of Malta that was serialised for the public over the years. However, it is selective and spasmodic. Its publication has been resumed only recently. Consequently, coherence of references and footnoting of case-law can only be ensured on the basis of the records as found in the Valletta and Mdina archives. For instance, ACJV COA is used to indicate the Archives of the Courts of Justice in Valletta, and the Court of Appeal. The files that have been made available at the National Archives at Rabat, Malta, include those of the Office of the Prime Minister for 1947-1964. Once again there are conspicuous gaps.

1.2. AIM

Considering the difficulty of assembling a story when the surviving records are dispersed and not easily obtainable, and granted that it would be premature to ponder on theories about the substance of the story, the book tries to give an unbiased

13 constitutions and legislation in malta and reasonable account, by way of foundation. It limits itself to charting out in a coherent manner the raw material, making it ready for future elaborations and evaluations. It is sufficient to browse through a number of the files now at hand to realise that there are examples of legislation such as those on trade unionism, employment and language, which by themselves could make a book. This is especially so where long negotiations and tortuous issues involved powerful bodies such as the Armed Forces of the Crown and the local Roman Catholic Church. However, the book opts for the other alternative. It puts the story together and brings to the surface the whole narrative on the subject-matter. It aims to establish a foundation. This entails interweaving a story of over 350 Acts and Ordinances picked out of around 1,000 through an a posteriori evaluative exercise. This cannot but be a very arduous task. This book is not intended to be a speculative and explanatory work. It aims to provide a reliable legislative chronicle, for the benefit of those later scholars engaged in explanation and speculation.

1.3. METHOD

The over-350 statutes treated in this book were chosen mainly for two reasons. First, they introduce innovations or reforms that signal developments or improvements of the whole system of the law and the institutional set-up of Malta during the period. Secondly, while suggesting the historical and chronological leitmotif of legislation in Malta in 1914-1964, set within the broader context of 1814-1964, they represent in themselves a wide list of important topics in the general history of Malta. Prominent matters which recur are the role of the local Church in legislation, the codification of the legal system both civil and criminal, the tension between pro-Italian and anti- British feelings and the need to reconcile imperial defence strategies with the wish of the inhabitants for more autonomy. Other themes include the influence of outstanding personalities in law-making, the changing structure of the government, questions of language and the free trade issue.

14 introduction

The chronological approach is used in preference to the thematic. This approach can be cumbersome but it is true to the aim of providing a foundation on which future scholars will be able to build. It will also give greater help to the reader in following step by step the complex order of development of the legislatures and legislation over a rather long period of time. Concise titles and sub-titles are used, while each chapter and section opens with a short ‘predictive page’ or ‘paragraph’ to provide the reader with signposts of the journey along which he will be conducted throughout the book. The sub-titles correspond to sub-divisions. In the Introduction, the sub-divisions are according to changes in legislature. In the main Parts and body of the book, the sub- titles follow the principal themes of legislation under their respective sub-divisions. Of course, the arrangement of events according to dates and time-scales does have its own disadvantages. By chronologising into one whole story a large mass of statutes relating to diverse, complex and cross-cutting themes at a number of levels, there is always the inherent risk of distorting clarity. As a result of postponements, filibustering and other delays, more often than not single statutes progress in alternation over long distances broken up by intervals. Therefore, attention is meticulously paid so that the story is seamed together without digressions. Traces in the evolution of new legislation are given diligently. Finally, points of suspension in the course of development of single statutes, often separated by several pages in the book, are properly marked.

15

Chapter 2 THE BACKGROUND 1814-1914 this is the first of two chapters that make a chronological overview of constitutions, legislatures and legislation in the first 100 years of British rule in Malta, 1814-1914, when the layers are laid of what grows and consolidates in the last 50 years of that rule, 1914-1964. It covers the transitional period of gubernatorial and nominated legislatures, 1814- 1849. Apart from the opening section, it is divided on the strength of the changes in Constitutions and in the law- making bodies.

Between 1814-1849, Britain granted the Maltese two Constitutions under which the law-making systems were established. In 1814, the Crown’s representative in Malta, the Governor, was appointed in terms of ‘Constitutional’ Instructions under which he was given the discretion to set up an Advisory Council. However, a gubernatorial system of law-making was adopted. In 1835, a Council of Government was constituted, composed of nominated councillors. The principal matters that are covered by this chapter are: the condition of Malta in 1814, and the most important transitional reforms carried out by the British autocratic rulers (1814-1835) and nominated councillors of government (1835-1849). The reforms basically were institutional and administrative in nature and included the introduction of press freedom and the formulation of a new Criminal Code. This Chapter also points out the major influences at work in

 Legislation in this book means the statutes enacted by Governors, the Council of Government, Parliament and other legislative assemblies. Unless specifically indicated, ‘general legislation’ means a codified collection of statutes, while ‘special legislation’ means any non-codified statute whether it complements, abrogates, or derogates from ‘general legislation’. Therefore, the words legislation and statute carry the same meaning.  Cremona (1996) 9-97.

17 constitutions and legislation in malta and out of the legislature during the period 1814-1849. Among the local groups and persons that mostly exerted influence on law-making, the local Roman Catholic Church indubitably occupied first place.

2.1. MALTA AND THE MALTESE, 1814

Britain assumed constitutional and juridical over Malta under the Peace Treaty of Paris (1814). Britain had promised the Maltese, who became British subjects, to re- establish their ancient institutions according to a ‘Declaration of Rights’ (1802). Malta is an island situated in the centre of the , geographically positioned south of , between Southern Europe and North Africa. Consisting in an area of 246 square kilometres (95 square miles) out of a territory of 315.5 square kilometres (122 square miles), it is the largest of the Maltese archipelago or Maltese Islands. As a political and historical entity, ‘Malta’ comprises the island of Malta and the other inhabited islands of Għawdex (Gozo) and Kemmuna (Comino) as well as the islets of Kemmunett (Cominotto), Filfla (Filfla) and Il-Gżejjer ta’ San Pawl (St Paul’s Islands). Its people – il-Maltin (the Maltese) – include l-Għawdxin (the Gozitans) and the inhabitants of Comino. Malta has a flat geological stratigraphy and lacks natural resources. The island is hilly but not mountainous. It abounds in valleys but has no rivers. Being indented by peninsulas, it boasts capacious bays and harbours.

 See Mangion (2009).  Malta is 27.3 kilometres (17.5. miles) in length from north-west to south-east, and 14.5 kilometres (9 miles) in width from south- west to north-east. It has an area of about 246 square kilometres (95 square miles). Gozo is 14.5 kilometres (9 miles) long and 7.2 kilometres (4.5 miles) broad, while its area is about 67 square miles (26 square miles). Burgess 6; Ransley, 1-2, and Azopardi 19.  Unless specifically otherwise indicated, the use of the word ‘Malta’, ‘the island of Malta’ or ‘the islands of Malta’ include ‘Gozo and Comino’, whereas the word ‘Maltese’ or ‘Maltese people’ includes the ‘Gozitans’ or ‘Gozitan people’.

18 the background, 1814-1914

In 1814, Malta’s population totalled 100,000. The island was rather over-inhabited in the south and east where clusters of villages and their casals (or mediaeval hamlets) were concentrated, but was sparsely dwelt in the north and west. Before all things, Malta was a fortress. Impressive and vast chains of fortifications of Western European military architecture lined its two principal towns of Mdina and Valletta since the late 16th century. Surrounded by the Grand Harbour, flanked on one side by the Three Cities of Cottonera (Bormla/, Il- /Vittoriosa and L-Isla/) and adjoined by Il-Furjana (Floriana), its fortified Renaissance and early modern capital of Valletta dominated the south and east. Along with its suburb of Rabat, its walled Norman and mediaeval L-Imdina (Mdina) towered over the northwest area. At the turn of the 19th century, Malta’s countryside was extensively covered by fertile agricultural land. Water was available from home cisterns, or in outdoor fountains and aqueducts. Malta was so backward in infrastructure that its sewage system was based on cesspools. Indeed, it was more vulnerable to indigenous contagion such as undulant fever than piracy and other sea-borne violence coming from Barbary. The Maltese were ethnically mono-cultural. However, the education of the people of Valletta, Mdina and the cities was higher than that of the people of the villages, casals and countryside. The Maltese who lived in the rural areas were mostly peasants and they were generally unschooled and illiterate.10 They spoke an indigenous idiom – il-Malti (Maltese) – which their ancestors had derived from a symbiosis of Sicilian Arabic and Italian in the Late Middle Ages.11 Despite its thousand-year-long existence, the Maltese language lacked a standard orthography and grammar. The Maltese who resided in the urban areas belonged in the majority to the professional and middle classes, and constituted

 Depiro 82.  Hoare Colt 25.  Cassar (1964) 240-247.  Laferla (1976) 106. 10 Cornewall-Lewis 71. 11 Wettinger (1983) 13-15.

19 constitutions and legislation in malta in the main the learned and semi-learned strata of society. They spoke their mother tongue and would do so in verbal communications with their fellow countryside inhabitants. But they interacted amongst themselves and formalised their transactions in and Italian, the two languages of academic syllabi and curricula from the elementary up to the Università degli Studi or University of Literature (or Learning).12 Italian and Latin were the two languages recognised for official and written purposes by the Malta’s two previous long-time rulers, the Spanish (the Aragonese) (1282-1530) and the Order of St John, known as the Knights Hospitallers (1530-1798).13 Due to the fact that contrary to Italian and Latin, Maltese was not even considered a medium that lent itself to popular printing,14 the Knights Hospitallers’ resolution to impose a public press censorship concerned linguistically the people of gown and town rather than those of tillage and village.15 In 1814, the Maltese who had not attended school formed the portion of the population which continued to speak and cultivate the native speech. At the same time, they were not conversant with the languages of law, administration, commerce, instruction and culture. In 1814, Malta’s economy enjoyed general prosperity. Notwithstanding that its domestic industry was made up of subsistence farming, it depended upon external trade that had flourished under the Knights Hospitallers.16 Having a multipurpose character, cotton was the only local crop which was sold abroad. To supplement its supply of corn, oil and wine, the principal necessities of life, Malta referred to Sicily. Gozo reared and exported cattle and poultry. In the poor quarters of the villages and casals, goats were milked on the doorsteps of the houses, pigs scavenged while chickens were cooped on balconies and rooftops.

12 Fiorini (1996) 177. 13 Brincat (1989) 91-110. 14 Grima (1991), especially 15-24. 15 Aquilina 34. 16 Bowen-Jones 115-117.

20 the background, 1814-1914

The Maltese were regulated by a legal system which the majority of the population could not understand because legislation and the judicial records had traditionally been written down in Latin and Italian.17 In 1814, Maltese legislation consisted basically in the De Vilhena (1724) and De Rohan or Municipal Code (1784),18 and in an unsystematic corpus of edicts called Bandi.19 However, Malta’s legal system was broadly customary. The Continental Common Law, the ius commune, formed the basis of its public law, including constitutional and international law, and private law, or more specifically the criminal, civil and commercial laws. The Continental Common Law was a juristically and judicially modified version of the Roman Law of Justinian.20 The ius canonici, the other mediaeval (Canon or Roman Catholic Church) law, underlay its family law edifice, including the regulation of marriage as indissoluble and monogamous.21 Traditionally, the Maltese legal system recognised two subjects of law or rights and obligations, the physical person or human individual, and the juridical person or fictional body of physical persons. It allowed only males to administer the community of acquests, and to contract or testify to agreements, fostering a male-dominated society.22 Among other things, it rested on domicile and residence as territorial bases;23 distinguished absolute from de facto ownership; distinguished absolute perpetual from temporary emphyteusis, whether free or burdened; and recognised the holding of entailed property by succession down five designated generations of heirs. It also categorised fives modes of creating obligations, including contracts and torts.24

17 See NARMLGO-20137/1902. 18 The Leggi Prammaticali (Vilhena) and Diritto Municipale are in the NVL, UOM and private collections. 19 The Collezione is limited to 1784-1813. 20 George Cassar Desain v James Cassar Desain Viani et al [1947] UKPC 80. 21 ACJMCOA, Lowe v Micallef Lowe 27.vi.1892. 22 Bowen-Jones 177. 23 ACJVCOA, Valentini v Valentini 19.x.1923. 24 Debono, especially 228-233.

21 constitutions and legislation in malta

Conspicuously, the Maltese legal system was enforced by the use of a draconian penal structure, permitting torture in general, and tongue-slashing for blasphemy.25 Indeed, it was destined to change under British rule with the entry of Anglo-Saxon practices and dispositions,26 including legislation by Proclamations, Ordinances and Acts. Mdina was the official seat of the Consiglio Popolare (Legislative Council) and the original bearer of the white- hoisted, red-flied coat-of-arm – the Maltese flag.27 In 1814, the local persons and groups who could influence the law-making process were the Roman Catholic Church in Malta, the nobles, the mercantile community, the peasants and the lawyers (advocates, notaries and legal procurators). By virtue of their holdings and professions, they were considered very strong, and enjoyed a certain social status. The Roman Catholic Church,28 which had in Mdina its principal sanctuary dedicated to Malta’s Patron Saint, Saint Paul, also used Latin and Italian in documents and masses. It was the most powerful, vociferous and reactionary institution in moral and material terms.29 The Bishop, its spiritual and temporal leader, owed his appointment to a joint decision of the State and the Holy See under a hereditary privilege, which Emperor Charles V of Spain had reserved in granting Malta to the Knight Hospitallers.30 However, the local Church had increased its proprietary assets and political say under the Hospitallers,31 the Great Siege (8 September 1565) victors,32 whose chivalric and religious Order of St John was likewise spiritually and temporally subject to .33

25 Micallef (1843) x. 26 Ganado (1991) 254-261. 27 Ellul 26. 28 The ‘Roman Catholic Church’ in this book is taken to include the Cathedral Chapter, the College of Parochial Clergy and other ecclesiastical (secular and regular) members unless it is otherwise specifically indicated. 29 See NARM-PetitE1854/1857 in which a note refers to the Church in Malta as ‘first and dearest in temporal possessions’. 30 Galea (1952) 178-182. 31 Guillaumier 42-43. 32 Braudel 967-1234. 33 Vella (1974) 183.

22 the background, 1814-1914

In 1814, the Roman Catholic Church in Malta boasted of a system of 20 through which it was in direct and intimate contact with the peasants, primarily land tillers and door-to-door goat milkers, and with other domestic labourers and seasonal workers, including women; and the industrial wage-earners in general.34 priests received farmers for the settlement of land-attached pious burthens and for the registration of deaths, marriages and births.35 They allowed goldsmiths, barbers, bakers, calash-drivers and other artisans to organise guilds, the progenitors of later benefit societies, and models for political formations and band clubs as shop-windows of political partisanship and rivalry.36 The Catholic Church, which encouraged large families and contributed to a high fertility rate,37 also wielded massive social control at grassroots level because the Bishop’s Curia administered matrimonial legacies, charitable donations and the Poor Law in general.38 It normally admitted to the priesthood at least one member from each of the landed and noble families, and acquired with time one-third of real property in Malta.39 The local Church, ‘non-abolitionist’ in regard to the death penalty, remained a pressure force where it came to legislative enactments and official decisions affecting its interests.40 In 1814, Malta’s nobles and titled bearers of estates called titolati owned another one-third of the landed property. They were divided between the free owners and holders of property in entail, in fideicommissa, without market and economic value.41 As a class they made their voice heard in common when their ancient privileges were affected as when the French had shorn them of the right of precedence in public ceremonies.42

34 Anderson 151. 35 Cassar (1988/1) 102. 36 Ellul Galea (1982), especially 76-105. 37 Bugeja 80. 38 Bonnici (1975) 179-180. 39 NARMSD-Smyth/Knutsford 28.viii.1890. 40 Senior 236. 41 See NARMLGO-1887/1868. 42 Montalto and Giles Ash are the leading works on the nobles of Malta.

23 constitutions and legislation in malta

The local mercantile community, that used the French Creek in the Grand Harbour for marine activities, was divided into two vying committees of Maltese and British traders43 with their own independent Banco Anglo-Maltese (1809) and Banco di Malta (1812).44 However, the community provided a united front whenever trade interests, ranging from consular to currency matters, were at stake. The Bar was made up of practising lawyers or advocates, equivalent to the English ‘barristers’ in profession, and legal procurators or curiali. The latter, similar to ‘solicitors’ in England, were academically and professionally compatible with the separate group of notaries, the public officers directly involved in the perfection of legal deeds and transactions.45 Although a few judges acted as legal consultants, the judiciary decisively filled in legislative lacunae without influencing the legislator.46 In 1814, the medical doctors were a small and dispersed coterie. The land-surveyors or periti agrimensori, the forerunners of modern periti or architects, learned and practised their art ‘bix-xiber’, by experience. They could be 12 under the De Vilhena Code (1724).47 Sea pilots or ‘master mariners’ took vessels in and out of the Grand Harbour according to a self-created capacity and unwritten practice that secured them in job and payment.48 Teachers and students, including alumni of medicine, had a limited curriculum of studies at the University of Literature or, more simply, the University; others like the land-surveyors did not have even basic courses within the highest .49 The Maltese intelligentsia had one or two rarae aves, notably the marginalised pro-Maltese linguist and philosopher Mikiel Anton Vassalli.50 Accordingly, the University as an institution contributed very little to the country’s political life.51

43 Mitrovich (1836) 34. 44 Miege 191-194. 45 Ellul Galea (1996) 36-37. 46 See M, 15.xi.1915. 47 Leggi Prammaticali Vilhena 120. 48 Zahra (1993) 239-240. 49 Badger 182. 50 Friggieri (1993) 37-67. 51 Vella (1969) 64-66.

24 the background, 1814-1914

The Armed Forces of the Crown, the newcomers in Malta, were set to generate State wealth and expand the .52 However, the presence of the British Mediterranean garrison and fleet in the country and its harbours meant many other things varying from the increase of mixed marriages involving servicemen, to the rise of divisions between the military authorities and the local inhabitants.53 In 1814, groups and persons in Malta were free to petition for or against official decisions, namely the proclamations of statutes and the notification of minutes (or notices).54 Yet, they received official announcements only as faits accomplis from the Government Gazette, the first and sole newspaper during stringent press censorship under British rule.55

2.2. THE AUTOCRATIC PERIOD

The period 1814-1835 is politically autocratic but legislatively one of transitional reforms where the traditional continental system is tested against the new Anglo-Saxon system. Sir Thomas Maitland (1814-1824), the Marquess of Hastings (1824-1826) and Sir Frederick Ponsonby (1826-1836), ex-Armed Force Generals, were appointed British Governors in the dual capacity of civil and military administrators.

These autocratic Governors undertook to restructure and re-organise Malta’s institutions on the Anglo-Saxon model, without administrative and political hindrance, including the legislative system. They derived absolute powers from the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies at the Colonial Office, London. They were subject only to imperial policies, including religious tolerance,56 based on the paternalistic albeit beneficent

52 Walsh 41. 53 Bugeja 80. 54 Blaquiere 322-324. 55 Grima (1991) 59-60. 56 Evans 181.

25 constitutions and legislation in malta or humanitarian principle;57 and to imperial enactments, particularly Parliament’s Acts applied to colonies by the issues of Order-in-Council.58 Sir Thomas Maitland, the first autocratic ruler in the eyes of the Maltese,59 without consultation implemented a number of reforms in the existing government systems of budgeting, auditing and taxation based on grain imports.60 He appointed no legal or technical advisers, and ignored ‘public opinion’ (or rather the individual or collective opinion of organised groups).61 He set aside a nobles’ petition to restore the Consiglio Popolare,62 and a Royal Commissioners’ suggestion to establish an Advisory Council.63 He applied the Colonial Regulations64 to the civil service and sought to anglicise government departments through patronage,65 starting with his own Public or Chief Secretary (later the Lieutenant-Governor) and staff.66 He published his statutes by a simple Proclamation or Minute and also in English.67 However, under the spirit of English , Sir Thomas made important legislative reforms in the legal system of Malta even though he completely set aside codification.68 He reconstituted the courts of justice consisting in the Criminal, Civil and Commercial Courts, laid down the principle that judges were to be paid as long as they honoured their duties, quamdiu se

57 Wight 41-53. 58 Knaplund 284-307. 59 Cornewall-Lewis 69. 60 See Bartolo (1973) on British fiscal policy in 1813-1822. 61 Boyce 214-228 re this definition of ‘public opinion’. 62 Mitrovich (1836) 20-23. 63 Cremona (1996) 29-30. 64 The RCP were printed in 1837. 65 Dixon 111. 66 Lord 24. 67 Harding (1980) 132-136. 68 NARMD-Bathurst/Maitland 28.vii.1813.

26 the background, 1814-1914 bene gesserint (Proclamation XV 1814); and established a Court of Appeal as a Supreme Court of Justice under the presidency of a judge (Proclamation XVI 1814). He re-organised the Police Corps as an ordinary government department69 (Proclamation XXII 1814) and introduced the right of appeal to the Privy Council70 (Proclamation XXX 1822). Sir Thomas also entrusted country districts to the paid supervision of nobles, precisely those in possession of anti- commercial entailed properties, giving them the traditional English title of Lords Lieutenant71 (Proclamation V 1815). He abolished the mediaeval Università dei Grani or grain monopoly and liberalised the home-grown system of indirect taxation and currency72 (Proclamation XI 1818). He legalised the change of , ‘naturalisation’, by way of ad hoc enactments, to enable foreigners to become Maltese and British subjects (Proclamation IX 1817); and set up the Order of St Michael and St George to confer its Knighthood (KCMG), with the title Sir, on distinguished Maltese such as judges73 (Proclamation VI 1818).74 Sir Thomas excluded from his reforms the public health, including quarantine and maritime matters,75 the post office,76 the University,77 and the community of merchants.78 Indeed, the first Governor was sensitive to the spiritual and temporal powers of the Roman Catholic Church in Malta.79 He

69 Attard (1994) 14-18. 70 Borg (1925) 2. 71 Zammit (1994) 8-11. 72 Dalli 25-28. 73 Abela (1988) 9-16. 74 See the collection of Proclamations regarding legislation of 1814/1818. 75 Cassar (1964) 468. 76 Ganado (1986) 10-36. 77 Price 1-8. 78 CCAPPMC, 24/28.i.1822. 79 Bezzina (1988) 51-52.

27 constitutions and legislation in malta exploited cordial ties between London and Rome to implement his agenda where it affected the local ecclesiastical authority.80 In 1822, Sir Thomas abolished the ‘anti-economic’ mortmain system, enjoining on all Churches of Christian denomination the obligation to sell off bequests of immovables within one year of acquisition under pain of forfeiture (Proclamation XXIII).81 Legislatively, he recognised the local Church as a legal person subject to rights and obligations.82 However, he was politically interpreted83 as attempting to debilitate the local Church84 with a view to the potential infiltration of English in Malta.85 He passed the mortmain law after conferring the nobles the remuneratory offices of Lords Lieutenant to make them preserve their properties, assisting entailed holders among them to preserve their estates quietly.86 In fact, he left them without their ‘ancient privileges’, a good cause for future complaint.87 In 1814-1824, Sir Thomas strengthened the British Armed Forces on Malta by decreeing that they could seize all ‘military properties’, comprising the historical fortifications and other buildings that could be converted into quarters for their families.88 He permitted them to arrogate to themselves permissive trespass, that is the right to conduct field artillery manoeuvres upon estates of Maltese peasants subject to the payment of damages through the Fortress Compensation Officer.89 In 1824-1835, the other ‘autocratic’ Governors, the Marquess of Hastings and Sir Frederick Ponsonby, followed more or

80 Harlow 129. 81 Scicluna 18-24. 82 ACJVCOA, Curmi v Depiro 12.ii.1936. 83 See Graham on this form of interpretation. 84 Lee (1963) 6-9. 85 Ciappara (1992) 43. 86 See 21, 23, 27, 28, 48, 50 on entails. 87 NARMD-Van Straubenzee/Earl Carnarvon 14.xi.1876. 88 Laferla (1910) 50. 89 NARMLGO-156/1927.

28 the background, 1814-1914 less the practices of their predecessor. They also introduced important legislative reforms independently of the local groups and persons. On Colonial Office instructions, the Marquess of Hastings designated laws as ‘enactments’ and established a process of legislative consultation with both his staff, including the Chief Secretary Sir Frederick Hankey (1824-1837), and technical experts. He subjected measures to London’s approval.90 Sir Frederick Ponsonby delegated legislative duties to the noted British lawyer and first President of the (Malta) Court of Appeal, Sir John Stoddart,91 and to the distinguished English judge Sir John Richardson, who had retired to Malta.92 Sir Frederick also exploited then good Anglo-Vatican relations93 which matured with the UK Catholic Religion Emancipation Act.94 He rendered himself immune from judicial prosecution in all temporal matters but also exclusively exempted the local Bishop from criminal liability (Proclamation V 1828).95 While vaguely speaking of the ‘favourable’ response of ‘public opinion’ to legislation,96 Sir Frederick relied on Sir John Stoddart and introduced non-appealable trial by jury in the Criminal Court. He established that a common juror had to be between 21-60 years of age and had to know English or Italian97 (Proclamation VII 1829).98 Indeed, he did not touch the domestic Tridentine matrimonial law and rather recognised canonical control over clandestine (Roman Catholic) marriages (Proclamation VII 1831) and Church- administered nuptial legacies (Proclamation VIII 1831).99

90 NARMD-Bathurst/Hastings 2.iii.1826. 91 Stoddart 4. 92 Ganado (1995) 55-56. 93 Ponsonby 12. 94 10 Geo 4, ch7. 95 NARMD-Murray/Ponsonby 27.x.1828. 96 NARMD-Ponsonby/Stanley 5.vi.1833. 97 Cremona (1990) 86-107. 98 NARMD-Murray/Ponsonby 20.vii.1830. 99 NARMD-Goderich/Ponsonby 30.xi.1831.

29 constitutions and legislation in malta

In 1831, Sir Frederick was the first Governor to constitute a commission of British and Maltese experts, a commission to prepare a substantive, penal and procedural Criminal Code with a Police Code as a branch; a substantive Civil, and a procedural Civil and Commercial Code; and a substantive Commercial Code.100 He wished to see combined the local private law with the Anglo-Saxon system, but failed miserably, because the commission agreed only on the retention of Italian as the language of legislation with English as a translation. The Maltese judges Claudio Vincenzo Bonnici and Ignazio Gavino Bonavita, locally trained in Continental Law tradition, preferred the ius commune and Code De Rohan divisions of criminal offences, namely ‘crime’ and ‘contravention’, while Sir John Stoddart wanted the English law classification of ‘treason’, ‘felony’ and ‘misdemeanour’.101 In 1833, therefore, Sir Frederick re-appointed the commission to draft the Codes,102 but this time he preferred ‘the ability of judge Bonavita’.103 In 1833, indeed, jointly with the new bishop Monsignor Francesco Saverio Caruana, he also established a provident savings fund to generalise the operation of banks and bankers (Proclamation VI 1833),104 and set the basis for a future monetary system, at first with army and naval serviceman and large businessmen, including hoteliers as regular patrons.105 He consulted the spiritual leader, a 1798 hero and pro-British prelate, after claiming the right to appoint him.106 Sir Frederick took these last measures coincidental with two events of national and public importance. In Italy, Vassalli published a third Maltese language grammar, a step for the future standardisation of his native language.107 In London, noted Maltese ‘politicians’ Camillo Sceberras108 and Giorgio

100 MGG 1075, 7.ix.1831. 101 Debono 436. 102 MGG 1244, 19.xi.1834. 103 NARMD-Glenelg/Bouverie 1.xii.1836. 104 NARMD-Stanley/Ponsonby 10.ii.1834. 105 See Consiglio on the development of banking in Malta. 106 Farrugia Randon (1996) 1-52. 107 Cachia 16-17. 108 Farrugia Randon (1991) 82-107.

30 the background, 1814-1914

Mitrovich109 found the support of influential liberal British traders and commoners in England to cause London to introduce press freedom and revise the constitutional status of Malta.110

2.3. THE COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENT

The period 1835-1849 sees the emergence and operation of the Council of Government. It is an entirely nominated Council that spends its life discussing the statutory introduction of press freedom and the formation of a Criminal Code. In the period, outstanding legal luminaries also come forward to participate in the formulation of this important legislation: the British Royal Commissioner Professor John Austin, fresh from his failed tenure of the chair of jurisprudence at the University of London but destined for posthumous fame as a legal philosopher, the Scottish Sheriff Mr Andrew Jameson and the Maltese lawyer Dr Antonio Micallef.

On 1 April 1835, London established the first Council of Government. There were four official members: the Land Forces Senior Commander, the Chief Secretary to Government, the Bishop and the President of the Court of Appeal. With these sat three unofficial ones: a noble, a Maltese merchant and a British trader.111 London excluded the Governor from the Council. However, it re-vested him with the power to decide administrative, executive and civil service matters.112 It also empowered him to initiate bills and promulgate enactments, ‘Ordinances’, subject to the Chief Justice’s legal advice, Council deliberation and the ultimate ‘disallowance’ of the monarch.113 Among the official members, London included the delegate of the Church, the body traditionally considered the most powerful. Conversely, it

109 Ellul Galea (1985) 120-121. 110 NARMD-Glenelg/Cardew 21.x.1835. 111 Lee (1972) 31-35. 112 MGG 1270, 6.v.1835. 113 Cremona (1996) 45-73.

31 constitutions and legislation in malta excluded the weaker groups, including the medical practitioners, now more organised as a Società Medica.114 It did grant the strong bodies a voting power within the legislative process. However, it subjected them to its last say through the figure of the Governor. In 1836, the Ponsonby Commission submitted two draft Codes. The first was a mixed Code consisting in a substantive and penal Criminal Code, and a Police Code. The other was a procedural Criminal Code, which provided for an inferior Magistrates’ Court and a superior Criminal Court.115 To establish principles and classifications, the Commission consulted modernius commune codifications, primarily the local Code De Rohan (1784) and the Code for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Sicily and Naples, also known as the Neapolitan Code (1819). To formulate provisions in a generic style, it followed the Code Napoléon (Napoleonic Code Civil or the Code of the French 1804/1810). The Commission gave discretion to the courts to discuss a posteriori116 controversial juridical concepts such as the element of taking in theft,117 the most common crime.118 Noteworthily, the Commission did not expressly provide for jurisdiction119 and consulted English Law regarding ‘treason’.120 It retained the local taxonomy of offences between ‘crimes’ and ‘contraventions’, ‘grievous’ and ‘slight bodily harm’, and ‘simple’ and ‘aggravated theft’. It distinguished ‘wilful’ (or ‘voluntary’) homicide from ‘excusable (wilful)’ homicide or from where the perpetrator committed the homicide under ‘first transport of sudden passion or mental excitement’. Amongst the most heinous crimes against the person, it included ‘praeterintended’ grievous bodily harm followed by death, an offence where the ‘active subject’ or offender did not intend the result due to the circumstances surrounding the

114 Savona-Ventura 36. 115 MGG 1335, 21.vii.1836. 116 Jameson (1844) 8-9. 117 Schembri (1947) 36-46. 118 Galea Medati 6. 119 See 35. Jurisdiction was included in a revised edition in 1842. 120 Jameson (1844) iii.

32 the background, 1814-1914 event.121 The Commission limited the death penalty to ‘wilful’ homicide, grievous bodily harm followed by death within 40 days and infanticide.122 On the other hand, in the list of general defences it included insanity but not intoxication. Tellingly, drunkenness had increased with the presence of the British services and the multiplication of wine and grog-shops.123 The Ponsonby Commission categorised the local Church as ‘dominant’ because it inflicted higher penalties in crimes against Roman Catholicism than against other creeds. It re- incorporated Proclamation XXII (1814) in the ‘Police Code’ sections but added a section to empower the Head of the Corps to regulate buildings. Finally, the Commission not only dealt with the internal disposition of houses, streets, the countryside and land transport, but also sea-going vessels, and the taking and selling of fish and other marine products.124 Sir Frederick Ponsonby published the two draft Codes as one Criminal Code, the ‘Bonavita Code’, because the public needed months to familiarise with them.125 In 1836, London sent a new Governor, Sir (1836-1843), and also Royal Commissioners John Austin and George Cornewall-Lewis to enquire into the affairs of Malta, including the function of Malta’s legal system.126 The last two were disciples of , the father of Individual Liberalism in legislation.127 Without interrupting popular demands for the introduction of the elective principle, Sir Henry Bouverie quickly followed the suggestions of Austin and Cornewall-Lewis in favour of statutory reforms within the Establishment.128 He introduced teaching through Maltese in State elementary schools, in the Lyceum, which now included a new institute of land surveyors, and in

121 Progetto 57-60 and 67-73. 122 See 32, 49. The penalty with regard to infanticide was humanised in 1867. 123 NARMD-Ponsonby/Glenelg 2.x.1836. 124 MGG 1335, 27.vii.1836. 125 NARMLGO-3558/1853. 126 MGG 1348, 26.x.1836. 127 Dicey 174-178. 128 Cremona (1996) 84-91.

33 constitutions and legislation in malta the University. Besides, he instructed the educationalist Canon Fortunato Panzavecchia to enforce such reforms. He retained Italian as the language of legislation.129 Austin and Cornewall-Lewis, who successfully recommended Sir Henry Bouverie to divest the Chief Justice of Council membership and transfer the technical drafting of bills to a new official, a Crown Advocate (Ordinance I 1839), left their mark on the measure to introduce press freedom.130 They braved themselves to carry out with success such a measure, a laborious and time-consuming but also much controversial and dangerous piece.131 The local Church considered press freedom an open door to the infiltration of Anglican writings into Malta.132 The Royal Commissioners assigned libel trials of journalistic abuse to judges sitting in the Magistrates’ Court in preference to juries but specifically provided protection for the local Roman Catholic Church against libel.133 In fact, they made it possible for the local ecclesiastical authority to institute successfully a libel action against a certain James Richardson (unrelated to Sir John)134 for calling Catholicism ‘most detestable’.135 The Bishop won the case six days after the promulgation of the Press Ordinance (Ordinance IV 1839).136 In 1839, Sir Henry re-submitted the draft substantive, penal and procedural Criminal Code to the, now knighted, judge Sir Ignazio Gavino Bonavita for further revision.137 Simultaneously, he devolved powers from Lords Lieutenant to Police Counsels or Syndics without consulting the interested parties, the economically powerless entailed nobles (Ordinance XI 1839).138 He regularised import duties

129 RRC (1838), Part II, 42-43. 130 NARMD-Cardew/Glenelg 1.iv.1836. 131 NARMD-Glenelg/Cardew 12.i.1836. 132 Bonnici (1957) 105-121. 133 NARMD-Bouverie/Glenelg 18.xi.1838. 134 Ganado (1995) 55-56. 135 PM, 18.v.1839. 136 NARMD-Russell/Bouverie 1.v.1840. 137 NARMD-Bouverie/Russell 13.xi.1839. 138 NARMD-Russell/Bouverie 17.xi.1839.

34 the background, 1814-1914 collection in agreement with Malta’s divided merchants139 (Ordinance VI 1840).140 To legalise annual estimates, Sir Henry adopted the Colonial Regulations method of subjecting financial appropriations to the scrutiny of the Council and the Auditor General, and to official promulgation of the State by virtue of a Minute.141 On parallel lines, the Maltese (Commercial) Court of Appeal continued to follow continental law, reiterating that where Maltese private law was deficient, the Continental ius commune should apply.142 In 1842, Sir Ignazio Gavino Bonavita returned the 1836 draft substantive, penal and procedural Criminal Code, in which he included new preliminary provisions dealing with jurisdiction. He established that a criminal offence had to be committed in Malta, its waters, and on Malta-registered sea vessels operating beyond pre-established maritime boundaries. Therefore, he used territoriality, or more technically the ratio loci criminis patrati principle, as a basis of jurisdiction.143 Sir Henry, instead of presenting the Code in Council, consulted two other individual experts: the Scottish Sheriff Mr Andrew Jameson, an experienced jurist, and the newly- appointed Maltese young and intelligent Crown Advocate, Dr Antonio Micallef.144 Sheriff Jameson refined substantive and penal parts of the Code to harmonise them with recent English law145 subject to the progressive jurisprudence of the time and Benthamite humanitarianism146 advocating the infliction of humane punishments.147 He restricted capital punishment to ‘treason’ and ‘murder’.148 He added the abolition of torture in

139 Vassallo (1998) 45. 140 NARMD-Russell/Bouverie 16.vii.1840. 141 NARMCSL, 8.xi.1841. 142 ACJMCc, Watson case 22.vi.1840. 143 NARMD-Bouverie/Stanley 1.v.1842. 144 NARMD-Stanley/Bouverie 27.x.1842. 145 4&5 Will 6, ch26, 1 Geo 6, ch57. 146 Potter 31 passim on Benthamite humanitarianism’s influence on English law. 147 LHRMCG 227-452. 148 NARMLGO-8236/1854.

35 constitutions and legislation in malta general, and altered the notion of ‘excusable wilful homicide’ to include ‘provocation’ where the actor, doctrinally ‘the active subject’, acted ‘under the first transport of sudden passion or mental excitement’.149 Sheriff Jameson touched very slightly the procedural part of the Code, although he successfully recommended the introduction of trial by jury in press offences.150 In relation to insanity, he ignored the ‘M’Naghten Rules’, the then recent result of M’Naghten’s Case, the groundbreaking House of Lords decision on the plea of insanity.151 He disagreed with the qualification of the local Church as ‘dominant’, but did not suggest amendments lest the country’s ecclesiastical forces retaliate.152 He did not grant the accused the right to give evidence in his own case, nor did he establish any right of appeal against decisions of both the inferior Magistrates’ and the superior Criminal Courts.153 In 1843-1847, the Council devoted all its meetings and deliberations to the draft Criminal Code. However, Governor Sir Patrick Stuart (1843-1847) was forced to re-postpone the relevant enactment because the Council refused to amend the section of ‘Crimes Against the Religious Sentiment’.154 The Anglican Bishop engaged in a heated argument with the local Catholic Archbishop, landing the matter before the House of Commons.155 During his governorship, Sir Patrick also tried to pass, but withdrew, a bill to regulate the administration of pious foundations because of strong reaction from the local Church.156 In 1848, important political developments unfolded which led London to give more attention to Malta. First, the British Admiralty opened a dockyard in Malta to build armed steamers, and strengthen the British navy’s sea power.157 It established a

149 Jameson (1844) cxxiv-cxxv. 150 Ganado (1991) 256. 151 R v McNaughten (M’Naghten’s Case) [1843] 10 Cl&F 200; 8 ER 718. 152 Jameson (1844) xlviii-li. 153 NARMLGO-3561/1853. 154 NARMLGO-3558/1853. 155 DHC, 15.viii.1853. 156 Bonnici (1975) 234-235. 157 Bartlett 245-246.

36 the background, 1814-1914 large national enterprise with prospects for a stable economy albeit dependent on the military sector. There was a correlated increase in harbour-related jobs and enterprises for a Maltese workforce that would include English employees.158 Secondly, the Risorgimento, Garibaldi’s fight for the unification of Italy, induced many Italian cultured literati159 to seek refuge in Malta where they strengthened the intellectual life, in particular literature and the press in Italian or Italianised Maltese.160 In 1848, the Earl Grey, the new Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, took the first steps to introduce limited suffrage in Malta. First, he sent to Malta a civilian Roman Catholic Governor, Sir Richard More O’Ferrall (1847-1851),161 to try and solve the religious issues which had held up the enactment of the entire Criminal Code.162 Sir Richard followed, like his predecessors, a policy of consultation with those around him, beginning with his Chief Secretary Sir Henry Lushington (1847-1853).163 Besides settling the Oath Question regarding Council membership,164 without legislative sanction he permitted the legislature to enact ad hoc Ordinances in order to exempt churches, convents and other ecclesiastical entities from the mortmain law for philanthropic and charitable needs.165 According to Maltese case law, he allowed in practice a system of Ordinances the enactment of which gave recognition to the legal personality of their subjects – ecclesiastical bodies.166 Sir Richard took other important initiatives. He legalised annual estimates by appropriate legislation according to Colonial Regulations.167 He amalgamated the local British and

158 Ballard 134. 159 Fiorentini gives a list of over 350 exiles who came over to Malta in 1848-1849. 160 Friggieri (1979) 50-63. 161 Grey 294. 162 Lee (1972) 111. 163 Abela (1997) 55-60. 164 Bezzina (1988) 54. 165 NARMLGO-285/1932. 166 See ACJVCOA, Curmi v Depiro 12.ii.1936. 167 The RCS were reprinted in 1843.

37 constitutions and legislation in malta

Maltese merchants to found the Malta Chamber of Commerce, the first experiment in institutional representation.168 Moreover, he appointed an expert Commission under the chairmanship of judge Bonavita to draft a substantive Commercial Code and a procedural Civil Code subject to the opinions of Dr Micallef and Sheriff Jameson.169

2.4. CONCLUSION

Notwithstanding that the years 1814-1849 were a period of autocratic rule with a Council of Government composed of nominated councillors, they marked three important milestones in Malta’s legal system. Statutes were passed to carry out institutional and administrative reforms. By virtue of legislation, press censorship was lifted and newspapers were allowed to express ‘public opinion’ in favour of the introduction of limited suffrage. The principal Codes of law were also projected. In addition to these milestones, the period also demonstrated that, despite the enactment of measures to abolish mortmain and ecclesiastical immunities, the local Roman Catholic Church was a powerful influence on law-making.

168 Vassallo (1998) 46-48. 169 MGG 1649, 18.ix.1848.

38 Chapter 3 REPRESENTATION the chapter is the second of two that make the general background survey of legislatures and legislation in 1814-1914. This chapter covers the period of the elected and representative legislatures, 1849-1914, when two local mandarins bureaucratically shaped legislation. Again, it is divided according to changes in the fundamental law-making system: limited suffrage in 1849 and a representative legislature in 1887 until its abolition and return of official majority rule in 1903. The main themes are: the progress in codifying large areas of law, particularly the substantive Civil Code (1849-1887), the subsequent set-backs in legal reforms (1887-1903), and the enactment of important statutes under re- instated official majority rule (1903-1914). This Chapter 3, the third and last of Part I, confirms that the local Church was the main influence in Malta to be reckoned with in and outside the law-making body in 1814-1914. But in this period, it encountered rivals for the first time, for there arose the first political formations in Malta.

3.1. LIMITED SUFFRAGE

The period 1849-1887 introduces the first germ of representative government when an elected minority participates directly in law-making. Governors also increase consultation with vested interests.170 It is a period when the codification of Malta’s legal system is implemented. The Crown Advocate Sir Adrian Dingli is the first person to dictate the enactment of legislation in a de facto Governor- like fashion while preparing the substantive Civil Code.

On 11 May 1849, London established in Malta by new Letters Patent a mixed Council of 17 members. The previous five Maltese and four British nominees were now given official status. The rest

170 Bertram 167-168.

39 constitutions and legislation in malta were to be elected on the basis of a limited suffrage.171 London re-empowered the Governor to make legislation subject to the deliberations of the Council, and to the issue and effects of royal disallowance or an Order-in-Council.172 Governor Sir Richard More O’Ferrall forthwith enfranchised approximately 3,800 male citizens out of a population which numbered 123,500 (roughly three per cent), according to the first official census published by Notice.173 He gave these people the right to vote because they qualified as jurors under the 1829 jury system.174 Sir Richard automatically excluded British servicemen and their families, whether they carried out purely military activities, or clerical work in the running of establishments employing Maltese.175 But he equally did not qualify workers in the Maltese Dockyard to vote, nor the rural inhabitants from whom came forward most of the emigrants and stowaways looking for employment in nearby Southern Europe and North Africa.176 He disqualified prisoners whose penitentiary he rebuilt at Raħal Ġdid prior to a much-needed hospital.177 As soon as the Council was elected, Sir Richard resumed the codifications that had been under preparation or pending enactment. He detached the ‘Police Code’ from the rest of the substantive, penal and procedural Criminal Code.178 More interestingly, Sir Richard asked Sheriff Jameson to revise the first draft codification of the 1848 Commission:179 a Code of Civil Procedure, including the regulation of commercial cases.180 Among other things, Jameson agreed to provisions on the reciprocal enforcement of foreign judgments in writ-of-summons actions.181 He also successfully recommended that three judges

171 MGG 1665, 23.vi.1849. 172 Cremona (1950) 98-114. 173 Giglio (1853) 1-2. 174 See 29. 175 See pp 57 & 58. The franchise was first extended in 1883. 176 Price 29-35. 177 Attard (2000) 27-52. 178 NARMLGO-3561/1853. 179 NARMD-More O’Ferrall/Grey, 9.v.1850. 180 The first draft Code is in the Abbozzo, 1-96. 181 Leggi di Procedura, Art.748.

40 representation and two consuls sit on the Court of Appeal, notwithstanding that the Chamber of Commerce vigorously objected.182 Until the necessary revisions to the procedural Civil Code were made, the new Governor Sir William Reid (1851-1858) established himself by way of important initiatives. With the firm Fox Henderson of Liverpool, he made a contract of emphyteusis for 99 years, in English law a long lease with an expiry date, to introduce gas service for better road lighting.183 He strengthened the local system of sea pilots given that the had led to a boom of naval commerce in Malta.184 Above all things, he promoted Maltese lace and local industries in the United Kingdom.185 In 1853, the 1848 Commission submitted its second project of codification, a draft substantive Commercial Code in four divisions: commerce in general, maritime trade, bankruptcy and jurisdiction.186 The Commission, aided by Dr Micallef, combined local with French law principles, ignoring the English customary law that had taken root in many parts of the Empire.187 In line with the continental Ius Commune, it left the Commercial Court with the competence to decide on trade cases, including questions of limits of competition, ‘concorrenza sleale’, in the use of trade-marks and other commercial transactions.188 It also recognised the Chamber of Commerce as a business regulator with extensive rights, including the appointment of government consuls.189 The Colonial Office in London, now acting as a body separate from the War Office, ordered Sir William Reid to re-formulate the second part of the proposed Commercial Code.190 It specifically directed that the recent English Merchant Shipping

182 Jameson (1850) 20-21. 183 Bezzina (1962) 20-21. 184 See Grima’s book (1979) on the Crimean War. 185 Abela (1994) 119-128. 186 MGG 1791, 30.xii.1853. 187 Debono 311. 188 See ACJVCc, Colombos v Lee noe 14.ii.1933. 189 NARMD-Van Straubenzee/Lord Carnarvon 14.xi.1876. 190 See NARMD-Labourchere/Reid 10.ii.1857.

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Act had to form the basis of Malta’s maritime law.191 This meant that the Commercial Code would not be promulgated before 1856 or 1857. On the same occasion, it also declared that only local legislation could apply British enactments not expressly extended to Malta.192 With the exception of the substantive Civil Code, the codifications were drafted. What remained was to settle issues or amendments concerning them. On 30 January 1854,193 Sir William concurred with London to promulgate, by Order-in- Council, the substantive, penal and procedural Criminal Code, and the Code of Police Laws.194 However, the Governor promulgated the first Code, including the parts relating to the inferior and superior courts, after omitting the controversial draft title of religious crimes.195 In the second Code he provided for the regulation of physical buildings, including their internal dispositions, the high-walled public streets, as well as land and sea transport.196 In 1854, Sir William elevated Dr Micallef to the judiciary, creating a vacancy in the office of Crown Advocate to which he appointed Dr Adrian Dingli.197 Educated in Malta and at Oxford, Dr Dingli brilliantly combined his erudition and understanding of the continental and Anglo-Saxon laws.198 He showed no predilection for his native language, which Canon Dr Paolo Pullicino, a worthy successor to Canon Panzavecchia, further promoted.199 However, he opposed ‘forced anglicisation’ in small countries like Malta as impracticable.200 During a quarter of a century of Crown Advocateship (1854- 1880), Dr Dingli authored around 200 pieces of legislation: 24 statutes on persons and things, which he codified into the

191 17&18 Vict, ch104. 192 NARMLGO-3931/1853. 193 MGG 1800, 10.iii.1854. 194 NARMLGO-3558/1853. 195 Senior 252. 196 NARMLGO-6330/1854. 197 MGG 1795, 27.i.1854. 198 Mercieca (1955) 164-184. 199 Galea (1991) 3-5. 200 Keenan 116.

42 representation substantive civil law (the general civil law), and the rest a huge body of single enactments on special themes, which he did not codify (special laws).201 Dr Dingli worked with Governors who came to Malta at the ends of their working lives. Their tenures were invariably short. These Governors became over-dependent on Dr Dingli’s counsels.202 He deployed influence as a ‘real Governor’.203 Certainly, he moved with the liberal spirit and took stock of expert advice regarding the creation and enactment of legislation. He prevailed over the official majority in Council and public officers or servants, beginning with the Chief Secretary Sir Victor Houlton (1855- 1883).204 Dr Dingli had his way sooner or later vis-à-vis interested outside bodies, exceptionally subject to the spiritually and temporally mighty local Church.205 Dr Dingli feared the local ecclesiastical authority, and so legislatively he would take ‘every care’ to manage its influence. He did so by leaving untouched the Curia’s pecuniary savings, safeguarding the Church’s charity-givings and pious institutions, and exempting religious entities from financial obligations.206 Owing to his unquestionable influence over all Governors, he was the frequent target of the elected minority, the press and public opinion in their criticism of government measures.207 On 1 August 1855, Sir William Reid promulgated the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure.208 Reconstituting a court of first instance known as ‘First Hall of the Civil Court’ with the additional power to take cognisance of commercial cases, and a Court of Appeal with similar competence, the Code was modelled once again on the Ius Commune-based continental Napoleonic Code Civil and Neapolitan Code.209

201 NARMLGO-6955/1869. 202 Abela (1997) 1-16. 203 N, 5.xii.1908. 204 DCG, 22.xi.1876. 205 Zammit (1884) 20. 206 NARMLGO-1720/1865. 207 Pirotta (1996) 287. 208 MGG 1838, 7.v.1855. 209 NARMLGO-6047/1854.

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In the preparation of the substantive Civil Law, in principle and systematically Dr Dingli worked with the same codifications in mind but he also took account of the latest judicial interpretations and juristic commentaries abroad, as well as the influence of liberalism on legislation.210 He revealed his intention to do so when in preparation for the long legislative programme he revised the law relating to notarial offices and archives for the purpose of promoting individual professionalism (Ordinance V 1855).211 At the same time that the Crown Advocate re-allowed notaries to use the languages ‘known’ to them, Italian and Latin,212 in consonance with the prevailing paternalistic mentality of Church and society, he re-disqualified women from witnessing deeds.213 Perhaps, women were still deemed incapable of contracting obligations since they mainly performed domestic service, spun cotton or tilled lands in subsistence farms.214 Legislatively, Dr Dingli did not provide for principles or regimes that were absent in the sources, the continental law codifications. For example, he did not provide a title on unjustified enrichment.215 To fill in such gaps, he assigned the task to the local competent courts216 unless, very sporadically, he applied his wide knowledge of English and colonial legislation or consulted advisers subject to his final decision.217 By way of illustration, in line with English law on the suggestion of a British expert, WH Thornton, he bound the old but sizeable group of goldsmiths and silversmiths to submit specimens of their work to a government consul for checks (Ordinance II 1856).218 In 1857, Dr Dingli steered through the Council Ordinance XIII to implement the Commercial Code, which incorporated the

210 Dingli in his Annotazioni gives details where he follows court decisions and authors. 211 NARMLGO-7880/1855. 212 NARMLGO-7877/1855. 213 NARMLGO-8500/1855. 214 Camilleri (1999) 2-5. 215 Busuttil (1952) 121-131. 216 ACJMFHCC, Randon v Samuelson 7.vi.1846. 217 NARMLGO-9256/1956. 218 NARMLGO-11596/1857.

44 representation

English Merchant Shipping Act provisions for ship registration.219 He thus brought the first comprehensive treatment of trade to fruition just as London was set to facilitate transboundary commerce by introducing cabled telegraphy to the whole Empire, including Malta.220 In the same year, Dr Dingli also successfully embarked on the first in a series of statutory interventions in the general civil law of ‘things’. This was Ordinance VII to regulate leases as short-term contracts renewable at the discretion of the landlord (or lessor) subject to the right of preference in favour of the outgoing tenant (or lessee) according to the traditional Ius Commune.221 Dr Dingli framed and led Ordinance VII to enactment at a time when the effective influence of the local Church came to the fore. In order to control the influence of the local Church, Dr Dingli did not merely take several legislative steps, either directly by ‘taking care’ of its wealth and munificence, or indirectly by protecting peasants, the right-hand men of priests. He took political and bureaucratic actions in London and Rome.222 He persuaded the Colonial Office to amend the Constitution to disqualify the local Church from Council membership223 and ensure that the ecclesiastical delegate might not check his proposals.224 More impressively, over the next decade, through the clandestine and indefatigable lobbying of a Gozitan priest in Rome, Pietro Pace, he coordinated with London the unprecedented legislative creation in 1865 of Gozo as an independent diocese with its own spiritual leader.225 The appointment of a Bishop for Gozo directly subject to the Holy See and the re-designation of Malta’s spiritual leader as an Archbishop was equivalent to a splitting up of ecclesiastical powers.226

219 NARMLGO-11856/1856. 220 Bonello (1993/2) 17-18. 221 NARMLGO-11859/1857. 222 NARM-PetitE8484/1857. 223 NARM-PetitM11669/1857. 224 NARMLGO-10687/1857. 225 NARMLGO-2552/1865. 226 Bezzina (1988) 60-61.

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Dr Dingli retained as part of the general civil law of things the contract of tenure called ‘perpetual emphyteusis’ because in local circumstances extensive duration had the potential to improve tenements to the benefit of farmers227 (Ordinance II 1858).228 He fixed a maximum permissible interest rate in relation to loans (Ordinance III 1861) because the Church, contrary to the liberal trend in England, ‘strongly condemned’ usury.229 Furthermore, he introduced State registration of the acts of civil status (births, marriages and deaths), but allowed parish priests to cultivate the pre-Tridentine practice of certifying rites of passage lest they reacted negatively (Ordinance II 1862).230 Dr Dingli in accord with persistent judicial opinion,231 re- grounded the civil law institution of ownership on the Roman law principle dominus soli, coeli et infernorum (ownership up to heaven and down under the earth) subject to ‘dispossessions … for public utility’ (encroachment or expropriation) and praedial easements.232 He extended acquisitive and extinctive prescription of property to 40, from 30, years in the case of Church as well as government estates (Ordinance III 1863).233 He made it an annual policy to bring forward mortmain exemption laws in favour of Roman Catholic entities. He was less magnanimous with Protestant Societies at the time when non-Roman Catholic groups renewed attempts to percolate into Malta.234 His legislative sanction of the Free was a exception.235 Finally, Dr Dingli recognised the distinct legal personality of the Church for the purpose of donations (Ordinance II 1865).236

227 Giacinto 29. 228 NARMLGO-13136/1858. 229 NARMLGO-7962/1861. 230 NARMLGO-8791/1862. 231 ACJMCc, Zammit v Scicluna 13.ii.1864. 232 See Vol 2 21. Expropriation was legalised by an ad hoc statute in 1935. For the application of the dominus soli principle to ad hoc statutes, see 98 and Vol 2 31. 233 NARMLGO-10944/1863. 234 NARMLGO-285/1932. 235 NARMLGO-11386/1864. 236 NARMLGO-1609/1865.

46 representation

In 1858-1865, a period once again politico-constitutionally troublesome albeit rich in public works, Dr Dingli drafted around 60 legislative pieces altogether, including several special and technical examples. Fortified with the conferment of the KCMG in 1860,237 Sir Adrian was not resisted by the then Governors Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant (1858-1864) and Sir Henry Storks (1864-1867).238 The former was long preoccupied by the building of an Opera House, the Theatre Royal, and the private undertaking of a few hotels in Valletta.239 In 1858-1860, Sir Adrian carried out wide-ranging medical, sanitary and quarantine reforms in the wake of a cholera outbreak. He scheduled the construction of a hospital and a large central cemetery.240 He opened an area of the law by way of enactments based on state intervention, ‘collectivist’ or ‘socialist’ according to Dicey.241 This area of the law was to develop into vital sectors: education, industry construction/infrastructure, and telecommunications.242 First, he passed Ordinance V (1858) to regulate general public health under the Code of Police Laws (1854),243 and Ordinance III (1859) to protect overland and submarine electric telegraph cables.244 Then, he controlled the adulteration of food (Ordinance XIV 1859),245 and subjected venereal and infectious diseases to medical treatment (Ordinance IV 1861).246 He consulted the now more academically and socially organised doctors247 while he found inspiration in English law.248 In 1863-1865, Sir Adrian drafted less but still very important legislation, which reflected social upheavals in an epoch

237 NARMD-Duke of Newcastle/Le Marchant 30.iv.1860. 238 Abela (1997) 9-10. 239 Micallef (1901) 18. 240 Cassar (1964) 201. 241 Dicey 262-264. 242 Mifsud (1973) 287. 243 NARMLGO-361/1858. 244 NARMLGO-2803/1859. 245 NARMLGO-2953/1859. 246 NARMLGO-6570/1861. 247 NARMLGO-1949/1859. 248 22&23 Vict, ch84.

47 constitutions and legislation in malta of demographic fluctuations.249 With his army, Giuseppe Garibaldi betook himself to Malta where he revived the local nationalistic aspirations for representative government.250 Four elected lawyers in Council pressured London into establishing constitutionally that money votes should be imposed only in very special circumstances.251 Unfortunately, the leader of the Unification of Italy and his troops were not alone in the list of arrivals in Malta. Many criminals streamed into Malta from nearly Sicily.252 Sir Adrian Dingli took statutory measures to establish the reciprocal extradition of criminals between Malta and Italy, a legislative prototype in Europe (Ordinance I 1863).253 He had to conclude a treaty with Italy before creating the relevant Ordinance practically ex nihilo as a supplement to the Criminal Code.254 The vicissitudes of the time also included different fortunes which befell some of the frontline groups and persons in Malta: the Chamber of Commerce clashed with the Admiralty over the French Creek,255 lawyers founded the Chamber of Advocates (CAV)256 while nobles rose to welcome the compulsory abolition of future entails but also to reclaim lost titles and privileges.257 Indeed, Sir Adrian abolished future entails (Ordinance IV 1864),258 but also planned to allow the local nobles to break existing fideicommissa.259 In 1865, Sir Adrian adopted the law (Ordinance VIII) that created Gozo as a separate diocese following lengthy Anglo- Vatican negotiations, from 1857 to 1865, in which he had been

249 Webster 10. 250 See Barbaro on Garibaldi in Malta in this period. 251 NARMD-Cardwell/Storks 19.ix.1864. 252 Laferla (1976) 219. 253 NARMD-Duke of Newcastle/Le Marchant 5.ix.1862. 254 NARMLGO-10086/1862. 255 Vassallo (1998) 58. 256 See SCA, the new CAV Statute of 1861. 257 NARMD-Van Straubenzee/Lord Carnarvon 14.xi.1876. 258 NARMLGO-13387/1864. 259 See 21, 23, 27, 28, 49, 50 on entailed property.

48 representation personally involved.260 In effect, he laid this milestone261 in his legislative career in the context of two momentous overseas developments. Under the ‘serious threat’ of an imminent unification of Italy, the Holy See re-established cordial Anglo- Vatican relations.262 The British Parliament extended to the Empire two important enactments, namely the Vice-Admiralty Court Act (1863)263 and the Colonial Laws Validity Act (1865).264 The latter statute defined a representative legislature as being half-elected and half-official, and required that colonial legislation could not be repugnant to an imperial enactment.265 In 1867, Sir Adrian drafted Ordinance VII (1867) to abolish capital punishment of women who committed infanticide when they gave birth to children out of wedlock.266 In doing so, he enacted a measure that reflected a trend among the local juries to consider infanticide either ‘excusable wilful homicide’, or ‘death that follows from grievous bodily harm’.267 Since he limited his amendments to the penal section of the Criminal Code (1854), he left the accused without the right to depose in his own case and to appeal from both the inferior and superior criminal courts.268 Moreover, in line with an English statute,269 he fashioned the last general civil law ‘of things’ to establish the voluntary abolition of existing entails (Ordinance II 1868),270 consolidating the first part of his civil law codification (Ordinance VII 1868).271 He re-attracted the support of the resurgent and high- spirited nobles,272 whose selling off of their disentailed estates

260 See 45. 261 NARMLGO-1739/1865. 262 Bezzina (1985) 177-326. 263 26 Vict, ch24. 264 28&29 Vict, ch66. 265 NARMCD-Cardwell/Storks 26.vii.1865. 266 NARMLGO-937/1867. 267 R v Sultana (CC, 6.v.1861) in Galea (1982) 162-163. 268 See 60, 67 when appeal is granted in certain cases in 1889, and on a general scale in 1900. 269 11&12 Vict, ch36. 270 NARMLGO-2858/1868. 271 NARMLGO-6955/1868. 272 NARMD-Van Straubenzee/Lord Carnarvon 14.xi.1876.

49 constitutions and legislation in malta caused a series of developments.273 Common tenement houses, popularly called ‘kerrejjiet’, mushroomed in the port towns like Marsa, , Gżira and Ħamrun beyond Floriana.274 The ever- increasing Dockyard workers and their families were supplied with much-needed accommodation.275 Sir Adrian agreed with the Church to prohibit intramural interments in the harbour zone (Ordinance II 1869),276 providing cheap graves in a new central burial ground at Raħal Ġdid, the Addolorata Cemetery (Ordinance II 1870).277 The legislative and building developments that revolved around disentailment coincided more or less with two momentous events for Malta in the context of the Empire: the Unification of Italy (1868) and the opening of the Suez Canal (1869). First, Britain decided definitely for expansionism of imperial interference in colonial matters, primarily through the tightening of control over geo-militarily strategic outposts like Malta.278 Secondly, British merchants attached greater utility to Malta’s ship-repairing docks and its coaling and victualling yards en route to India.279 In the third place, the local armed services set themselves to improve infrastructure where their bases were stationed.280 Last but not least, the local mercantile community benefitted,281 driving the sea pilots or master marines to organise themselves into a Società dei Piloti and to meet better and more efficiently the flourishing of sea vessels in Maltese ports.282 In 1868, Sir Adrian was at the zenith of his career as Crown Advocate and de facto Governor. However, it was clear that he would enter his declining years once he had undertaken and finished with the general civil law ‘of persons’, the second and remaining part of his civil law codification. In fact, he was

273 NARMLGO-1887/1868. 274 Mahoney (1996) 273. 275 Borg (1996) 69-72. 276 NARMLGO-2821/1869. 277 NARMLGO-8868/1870. 278 Frendo (1979) 6. 279 Rowsell (1878) 262. 280 Blouet 166. 281 Vassallo (1998) 58. 282 Ellul Galea (1996) 40.

50 representation not given heed by London when he opposed the holding of a ‘referendum’, an extraordinary test of popular voting for a direct and definitive decision, at the end of which the local electors demanded the issue of Letters Patent to re-admit a Church delegate in Council.283 In 1870-1873, Sir Adrian drafted the statutes relating to the general civil law ‘of persons’, amalgamated the resultant enactments (Ordinance I 1873),284 and thus completed his civil law codification (‘Civil Code’ 1874).285 He started with the family law principle that ‘the wife is bound to follow her husband’s home’, and proceeded with the ‘community of acquests’ between spouses on the basis of the Code De Rohan.286 He also bound a natural mother to register with a notary her consent for adoption, and collocated under one title the rites de passage, and adoption.287 Sir Adrian used the ius commune jurisdictional concept of domicile that did not require the spouses’ animus manendi, the ‘intention to stay’ in English Law, but merely their residence or factum; and so followed the local Civil Court trend.288 In 1875, Sir Adrian was held responsible for the government’s ‘distasteful measures’ of several years, especially among budding politicians like the elected member Sigismondo Savona, a young British-educated and staunch anglophile.289 He found allegiance with regard to legislative enactments only from the nobles.290 Through his intervention with the Colonial Office, they re-acquired their ‘ancient rights and privileges’, and as an Association started negotiations for royal recognition of their titles.291 Two years later, Sir Adrian ignored a report by the Court of Appeal judges, including Sir Antonio Micallef, in favour of

283 MGG 2424, 4.ii.1870. 284 Debono 294. 285 MGG 2587, 22.i.1874. 286 Diritto Municipale bk3 ch1 Arts.27-28. 287 NARMLGO-3217/1873. 288 ACJMFHCC, D’Agata v Drago 16.vi.1884. 289 Frendo (1979) 17-22. 290 NARMD-Van Straubenzee/Lord Carnarvon 14.xi.1876. 291 See 57.

51 constitutions and legislation in malta amendments to the Press Law (Ordinance IV 1839) to render more stringent the enforcement of protection of the judiciary against defamation.292 Notwithstanding that at the time the Maltese press assumed a tendency to libel, he only dispelled doubts arising in the execution of certain proceedings (Ordinance I 1878).293 In 1878, Sir Adrian was appointed by London as the head of a mission in Cyprus after Britain acquired the eastern Mediterranean island from and made a strategic gain. On his return, he was appointed President (or Chief Justice) of the Judiciary, being thus insulated from the office of Crown Advocate that had bureaucratically made him the most influential figure.294 In fact, during his absence three Royal Commissioners were sent by London to Malta to enquire into the entire economico- financial, judicio-administrative and educational sectors, and propose institutional reforms in the context of the Empire’s tightened hold over Malta.295 Sir Penrose G Julyan,296 Sir Patrick J Keenan297 and Francis W Rowsell298 arrived in Malta at the dawn of a very complicated fin de siecle era. It was an important moment when British imperialism, including forced Anglicisation, and liberalism crept in and out of domestic politics and international relations, while and laissez faire grew in and out of legislation.299 In the regulation of public affairs, the three Commissioners basically demanded greater State interference, whether by policy or legislation in roads, housing, schools, languages, but also revenue-raising taxes.300 They promoted gubernatorial activism, which in the long run caused collectivism to thrive in Maltese legislation. By the use of the English counterpart for advances in the field, the alreadylonga

292 Ferrari 262. 293 NARMLGO-289/1878. 294 NARMD-Van Straubenzee/Earl of Carnarvon 21.ii.1877. 295 Frendo (1979) 8. 296 Julyan concentrated on the civil establishments. 297 Keenan focused on education. 298 Rowsell (1879) dealt with taxation and finance. 299 Pirotta (1996) 253-298 for a detailed overview of the commissioners’ mission in Malta in 1879. 300 Cf Taylor 59 on the contemporary UK case.

52 representation manus of London under imperial expansionism was lengthened, complimenting rather than contradicting military intrusion. Rowsell recommended the introduction of direct taxation together with the repeal of the grain tax laws and the improve- ment of the banking system, which still lacked legislative regu- lation.301 Reform of the system of government expenditure by way of retrenchment was the idea behind his suggestions.302 Sir Patrick, who admitted that no proclamation could exterminate Maltese, emphasised the importance of teaching English as part of a government scheme introducing compulsory elementary education.303 On the lines of a brand-new, typically ‘collectivist’, English enactment,304 he aimed at accelerating the anglicisation drive.305 Sir Penrose asked for the removal of Sir Adrian because he opposed anglicisation.306 For the purpose of economising, he recommended that the old offices of syndics be slowly but pro- gressively absorbed into the system of the Magistrates’ courts.307 The trio wanted changes in the State regime of revenue returns in such ways that would help in the installation of modern water and drainage conduits. Certainly, they went by the contemporary signs of economic prosperity in the Mediterranean, in which Malta shared, adequately enough to enhance its infrastructure and environment: roads, accommodations,308 shops, internal transport networks and services.309 Above all, the era of technological communication with all the potentialities to transform Malta’s geophysical surface and legal edifice was heralded. An Eastern Electric Company engineer, Edward Rosenbusch, chose the Theatre Royal to test telephony and station-generated, ‘dynamic’, electricity and sealed a 50 year contract with the Malta Telephone Company.310

301 Rowsell 19. 302 Bartolo (1973) 35-95. 303 Keenan passim, especially 5-10 and 26-29. 304 43&44 Vict, ch23. 305 Frendo (1979) 9. 306 Pirotta (1996) 287. 307 Julyan 38-40. 308 Casolani (1880) 35-55. 309 Grech (1976) 32 passim. 310 Bezzina (1962) 22.

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Unfortunately, the elected members and the powerful landed groups of the Church, nobles and farmers opposed the construction of drainage. Rather than opposing forced encroachment (or expropriation) on their estates, for which the Fortress Compensation Officer used to pay them good monies, they argued that sewage conversion was injurious to health.311 On 2 July 1879, the elected members protested by organising the first-ever political mass meeting.312 However, the Council of Government, or more accurately the official members, heeded the solitary appeals of individual professionals. Notably, on the recommendation of Dr Nicola Zammit, a qualified medical doctor and amateur perit (land surveyor or architect) who pioneered a new Camera Medica,313 the Council legislated upon the ventilation of existing public sewers (Ordinance IV 1879).314 Dr Zammit was the person who extensively though without success wrote against the idea that ‘the worker was simply like a machine’.315 The regulation of labour was inconceivable even though the country cried out for employment and trade-union legislation316 on the lines of the English Combination Repeal Act (1825)317 and the English Trade Union Act (1871).318 At the time, the Dockyard employees, the largest Maltese workforce, were still too committed to their Admiraly employer to clamour for statutory reforms.319 On their part, the Armed Forces of the Crown converged with the plans for sanitary reforms because they blamed the existing primitive sewage system for the high incidence of undulant fever in camps and barracks, and favoured a drainage conversion and other new infrastructural projects that accommodated them.320 Indeed, they induced the Council to implement the English Land

311 Cachia Zammit 1-13. 312 De Cesare 45-104. 313 Cassar (1999) 38-39. 314 NARMLGO-3118/1879. 315 Zammit (1888) 254. 316 Ellul Galea (1993) 12. 317 6 Geo 4, ch129. 318 34&35 Vict, ch31. 319 McLellan 213-214. 320 Cassar (1964) 241-242.

54 representation

Clauses Consolidation Act (1845)321 to confer on the Governor the right to encroach on land, to expropriate it without ownership transfer ‘for public (or rather military) utility’ (Ordinance II 1881).322 In effect, the army and navy used Ordinance II (1881) to lay down a railway for travelling to and from their bases and facilities,323 including makeshift fields for playing football, the biggest entertainment discovery of the century.324 Landowners and tenant farmers, who for many years tolerated paid military trespass without legislative sanction,325 protested in vain.326 The 1879 Royal Commissioners signalled the inception of drastic politico-constitutional and socio-economic development in Malta, and the near-future radical transformation of long- established institutions in the colony-cum-fortress: education, language, culture and law. The Commissioners brought into being the forces that were destined to influence, in and outside the Council, future policy and legislation: political parties with supporters debating ideologies not only in the old albeit profuse grog-shops and cafes,327 but in the philharmonic band clubs, the emergent successors of religious confraternities and modern venues of imperial and monarchical loyalties.328 In fact, two political parties with their own newspapers came forward329 immediately after London issued Letters Patent dated 28 June 1880 to constitute an Executive Council to advise the Governor.330 Dr , a locally trained lawyer, newly elected member and consort to a distinguished Italian lady named De

321 8 Vict, ch18. 322 NARMLGO-8388/1881. 323 Rigby, especially 8-13. 324 Baldacchino (1999) ix-xi. 325 See NARMLGO-156/1927. 326 NARMLGO-8388/1881. 327 Frendo (1979) 123-125. 328 Frendo (1977/2) 11. 329 Frendo (1979) 40-53. 330 MGG 2908, 30.vi.1880.

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Luna,331 founded the Partito Nazionale (PN).332 For the purpose of cultivating the Italianate culture, he advocated a system of instruction based on the simultaneous teaching of Italian and English through the medium of Maltese (‘pari passu’).333 The staunch Italophile Dr Mizzi, who opposed the Royal Commissioners’ proposals, believed that Italianate culture was the best vehicle for achieving nationhood and identity.334 Dr Mizzi utilised the Corriere Mercantile Maltese in his campaign for representative government, preferring 8 September (the Otto Settembre dating from 1565) over 10 February, St Paul’s feast, as the national day.335 Dr Mizzi, a staunch supporter of the La Valette Philharmonic Band in charge of the external celebration of St Paul’s feast, was soon labelled anti-reformist because of his pro-Italian orientation.336 Sigismondo Savona, who was appointed Director of Education, created the reformist party,337 using the newspaper Public Opinion to advertise English as a useful tool for employment.338 Nearly half the working population over-depended for subsistence on merchant and naval activities in the Admiralty-run Dockyard.339 Savona championed anglicisation through a free-choice (or impari passu) policy in education, once again with Maltese as a teaching instrument, but he supported the constitutional status quo. Briefly, Dr Mizzi and Savona implanted an issue, which was to dominate Maltese party politics and socio-cultural life over the next 50 years: the trilingual language question of Italian v English with Maltese as a weapon.340 The local Church and the Chamber of Advocates identified themselves with the PN for linguistic and cultural reasons.341

331 Schiavone (1997) 416. 332 Anon (1972) 1-6. 333 Frendo’s MA thesis (1973) on the language question is unpublished. 334 Hull 32-34. 335 Faurè 322. 336 Ciarlò 48-54. 337 Schiavone (1997) 496. 338 See also Frendo (1977/1) on the evolution of political parties. 339 DCG, 23.1.1878. 340 See also Hull 37-39 et seq. 341 DMC, 7.i.1902.

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The legal profession that continued to track the genesis of the Maltese general civil law back to the Ius Commune was too conservative not to back the PN.342 The Chamber of Commerce tended to be anglophile unless London touched the traditional indirect taxation system, while the nobles, now by the Queen re-decorated with their lost titles,343 initially militated for representative government but then sympathised with the cultural reformists.344 Like his predecessor Sir Adrian Dingli, the new Crown Advocate Dr Giuseppe Carbone (1880-1895) participated in important legislative developments that occurred during his tenure of office. However, he was to exert less influence, and to author fewer statutes than his forerunner. From his appointment, the whole legislative process was completely conditioned by the new environment of party politics. Worse still for him, in the second half of his tenure, law-making decisions on financial matters depended technically on the whims of the elected members. Hardly had he become Crown Advocate that he framed important institutional legislation that concerned the central administration. He hastened to draft amendments to the Press Ordinance (1839)345 and to reduce the number of syndics (Ordinance VII 1880).346 Moreover, he immediately embarked on measures to re-organise the enlistment and discipline of the Police that still recruited as civil servants only males according to a paternalistic mentality (Ordinance V 1881); and to regulate freedom of speech in the legislature (Ordinance VIII 1881).347 On 2 March 1883, the Secretary of State for the Colonies Lord Derby by Letters Patent established male plural voting on the

342 ACJMCc, Messina v Galea 5.i.1881. 343 NARMD-Earl of Kimberley/Borton 16.viii.1882. 344 Frendo (1979) 123. 345 See 34. 346 Zammit (1994) 17. 347 NARMLGO-9834/1881.

57 constitutions and legislation in malta principle of ownership.348 He also instructed the new Governor Sir John (1884-1887) and Chief Secretary Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson (1883-1889), to consider that in divisions on money bills concerning purely local interests, the will of the elected members should prevail.349 However, the anti-reformist PN deputies wanted representative government at all costs, so they sought to bring the legislature into disrepute by boycotts, en masse resignations and the so-called ‘elezioni ridicole’ (‘foolish elections’) in which they presented disreputable or ridiculous candidates.350 Throughout the short period 1884-1887, the Council of Government was depleted many a time, the legislative process was often jammed, and consequently, the constitution stood on the precipice all the time. Apart from Ordinance II (1884) to recast the post office,351 and Ordinance III (1885) to allow Church institutions to hold lotteries for charitable purposes,352 the elected members approved only Ordinance X (1886) to install a water distribution system – Oswald Chadwick’s.353 As a consequence, London determined to grant Malta a ‘representative legislature’ within the scheme of the Colonial Laws Validity Act (1865).354

3.2. A REPRESENTATIVE LEGISLATURE

The short period 1887-1903 has a mixed, even turbulent character. Constitutionally, the country makes a quantum leap in that it attains its first ‘representative’ legislature. However, the legislative record is not good. The elected members command majority and so controld the financial bills. On the contrary, Gerald Strickland, like Sir Adrian Dingli but in the role of Chief Secretary to the

348 MGG 2987, 19.iii.1883. 349 NARMD-Derby/Borton 8.iii.1883. 350 Strickland (1886) iii-iv. 351 NARMLGO-1792A/1884. 352 NARMLGO-2897/1885. 353 NARMLGO-7953/1886. 354 See 49.

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Government, dictates policy and legislation. The period is dominated by clashes between the two sides. The resulting political confusion, compounded by legal ingenuity, not infrequently brings the law-making process to a halt.

On 12 December 1887, London by Letters Patent constituted a Council of Government of 20 members. Four were appointed by the Governor who gave them a fixed allowance, another six held a seat ex-officio, whereas the remaining ten members were elected according to the 1883 electoral system.355 The Executive Council was reconstituted and included three members whom the Governor nominated from among the elected representatives. In this Council, the Governor was entitled to nominate three elected members.356 The Governor was re-empowered to pass Ordinances subject to the consent of the Council. London retained the ultimate power to disallow.357 The elected members present in Council were expressly endowed with the power to determine all votes of public monies. In the absence of the others, even a single member could reject a money measure in any clash with the official members (or the Governor and Crown Advocate).358 The new constitutional arrangements were in large measure due to the fact London appreciated that Malta was of paramount strategic value at a moment when imperial expansionism was menaced by an Anglo-French war. The elevation of the country’s constitutional status was a means of gaining tighter control over it.359 At first, the elected members, mostly from the Partito Nazionale, consented to bills provoked by particular incidents or circumstances outside the political arena, auguring an era of legislative activity. Among other statutes, they consented to Ordinance I (1888) to control stowaways, especially to the Middle East via the Suez Canal (1869). Stowaways had increased repatriation expenditure

355 See 57. 356 MGG 3229, 22.xii.1887. 357 See also LPPapers (1889) 113-132. 358 Cremona (1997) 17-20. 359 Lee (1972) 247-269.

59 constitutions and legislation in malta in excess of occasional revenue bequests (for example the Vincenzo Bugeja Fund).360 The elected members also agreed to Ordinance V (1888) to give a pension to policemen after 30 years of service in the Corps.361 Regardless of a recent case in which a magistrate, Dr Gugliermo Rapinet, was convicted of violent indecent assault without being allowed to enter the witness box, the elected members also agreed to the enactment of Ordinance XVI (1888) to amend the Criminal Code (1854) to entitle an accused to appeal from a judgment of the inferior Magistrates’ Court,362 but not to testify in his own case.363 In 1889, however, the elected members were provoked by a new Press Bill and began to be more obstructive. Acting on a report of the Court of Appeal judges of 1877, Dr Carbone proposed to remove libel cases from the cognisance of juries and subject them to a competent judge sitting in the inferior Magistrates’ Court.364 At the same time he proposed to implement a recommendation of an expert Commission to control press abuse by compelling editors to deposit £100 under pain of forfeiture. The enactment, Ordinance XIV (1889),365 excluded editors in place like the Bartolo family of the Daily Malta Chronicle.366 The elected members under representative government showed themselves reluctant to approve measures to finance legislative schemes for major construction and infrastructural works in a hitherto-underdeveloped country.367 Consequently, they kept employment confined to the Admiralty-run Dockyard. They thwarted the development of trade-union legislation which would have encourages workers to affiliate their first benefit society, the Società Operaia Cattolica (Senglea), with British

360 NARMLGO-2356/1885. 361 NARMLGO-15172/1888. 362 Mangion 39-43. 363 Bonello (1993/1) 50-51. 364 See 52. 365 NARMLGO-3351/1889. 366 Calleja (1999) 64-65. 367 See Chircop (1997) on underdevelopment in Malta in 1880-1914.

60 representation trade unions.368 The elected members’ opposition was, at least in part, responsible for the beginning of a very turbulent legislative period. In 1889, London directly nominated the first Maltese Chief Secretary to the Government: Count Gerald Strickland (1889- 1902).369 Il-Konti, born in Malta to a Maltese noblewoman and an English aristocratic father, had a passion for but also, from his student days in Cambridge, for politics. At first, he adhered to the Partito Nazionale. But, in the context of imperial expansionism, he soon turned from a political to a cultural reformist. He became a frontline militant against Dr Mizzi’s system of instruction based on the simultaneous teaching of Italian and English through the medium of Maltese - the ‘pari passu’.370 He supported the British Minister Plenipotentiary ex- Governor Simmons, and Cardinal Mariano Rampolla in the canonical validation of mixed marriages between Protestants and Roman Catholics.371 His rise to political and legislative power was accelerated when the British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury involved him in the succession of the anglophile Don Pietro Pace to the Archbishopric of Malta.372 Strickland from the outset wished to be appointed the Governor of a British colony. Like Sir Adrian, he wrote despatches signed by those who were his official masters,373 and tried to bring to nought the legitimate influence of the elected members.374 In 1891, with the consent of the elected members, Strickland successfully carried through a census of the Maltese population: 165,037 (Ordinance VI 1891).375 The Maltese were still mentally male-dominant regarding industrial employment, but in numerical fluctuation due to constant emigration, often

368 See SMS on the foundation of the società. 369 MGG 3357, 2.xi.1889. 370 Frendo (1979) 47-50 and 63-70. 371 Fenech (1999) 135-145. 372 See also Borg (1900) on the 1892 matrimonial question in Malta. 373 See NARMD-Smyth/Ripon 21.xii.1892. 374 Frendo (1979) 90. 375 NARMLGO-5447/1891.

61 constitutions and legislation in malta illegal.376 Strickland immediately crossed swords with the elected members, with the result that they were locked in mutual combat throughout the remainder of his incumbency.377 Strickland gave priority to taxation as the best means of financing public works, including drainage and other infrastructural extensions. Since the advent of the Royal Commissioners in 1879, sanitary reforms were perceived as demanding higher priority following developments in the medical field. The locally stationed Surgeon-Major Dr David Bruce discovered the undulant fever microbe. This required further research on its source and pattern of behaviour.378 In 1891, Strickland was forced to withdraw a number of money bills because the elected members resigned en masse.379 London reacted with Letters Patent providing that a negative vote was needed for the elected members to block a money bill in the Council of Government; and that the Executive Council should hold its meetings without elected members.380 In 1891-1903, in defiance of Strickland, the elected members resorted frequently to negative voting decisions to keep the Council in crisis, keeping out of touch even with important developments of the highest judicial tribunals of the country. In one particular case, the Court of Appeal under President Sir Adrian Dingli held that in the case of a lacuna in Maltese public law, the principles of English public law should apply.381 In another, the same Court determined that the Civil Code (1874), in its title on torts (or delicts) endowed the Maltese State with a juridical personality of two characters:382 its acts ‘iure gestionis’ done in its ‘ordinary’ capacity were subject to civil liability at law, while its acts ‘iure imperii’ done in its ‘political’ capacity were immune.383

376 Census (1892). 377 Frendo (1979) 63-67. 378 Cassar (1964) 241. 379 NARMD-Smyth/Knutsford 27.viii.1891. 380 MGG 3484, 28.ix.1891. 381 ACJMCOA, Lowe v Micallef Lowe 27.vi.1892. 382 Gulia 1-21. 383 ACJMCOA, Busuttil v La Primaudaye 28.v.1894.

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In 1891-1903, the elected members did approve a number of measures. For example, they did not object to uncontroversial imperial enactments.384 One of these was Ordinance III of 1892 to transfer the jurisdiction of the Admiralty Court to the Commercial Court.385 Mortmain-exemption laws were also passed.386 At that time, Church-run philanthropic institutions proliferated, including the Conservatorio Vincenzo Bugeja and the Adelaide Cini Institute.387 Understandably, the elected members concurred with the enactment of one or two statutes of a certain social and popular appeal such as Ordinance VIII (1893) to allow philharmonic societies to hold private lotteries within their premises, and collect funds for providing free tuition in music.388 In the towns and villages of Malta, band clubs were lawful and useful venues for politicians seeking to mix with the middle and working classes at grassroots level.389 In 1896, the elected members rejected legislation designed to give effect to a British Foreign Marriage Act390 and to a judgment of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council extending the Simmons-Rampolla protocol on mixed marriages to the Empire subject to the issue of an Order-in-Council.391 The clergy stirred agitation in and outside the Council of Government.392 Political parties, including a new formation by Savona, the Partito Popolare, held religio et patria demonstrations across Malta in support of their spiritual leaders.393 The matter was allowed to drop lest public peace would be endangered.394 In 1896-1903, the elected members hardened their stance in favour of the negative voting procedure regarding the enactment

384 53&54 Vict, ch27. 385 NARMLGO-10021/1892. 386 NARMLGO-285/1932. 387 See N.Z.MD and Dimech Debono on the founders and institutes of Bugeja and Cini. 388 NARMLGO-15570/1893. 389 Frendo (1979) 123-124. 390 55&56 Vict, ch23. 391 MGG 3809, 6.iii.1896. 392 Bonnici (1975) 251-255. 393 NARMLGO-9967/1896. 394 Bezzina (1988) 56.

63 constitutions and legislation in malta of legislation while in London the Colonial and War Offices took several steps for the benefit of the British services in the colonies.395 In 1896, a Defence Regulations Order-in-Council was issued to entrench the right to permissive land trespass.396 Steps were taken to study undulant fever, later scientifically named ‘brucellosis’, because, despite drainage improvements, the garrison in places like Malta still suffered alarmingly from the disease.397 In 1896, the elected members even blocked a bill to grant a compassionate allowance to dependents of deceased civil servants.398 Without question, the Pontiff’s Recent Encyclical Rerum Novarum advocating workers’ rights did not touch them.399 Time and again, they obstructed useful measures and agreed only to the enactment of bills that suited them politically such as Ordinance III of 1896 to abolish the gradually phased out office of syndics,400 and centralise administrative powers.401 In 1896-1903, therefore, Strickland, now knighted,402 was driven to taking a series of progressive measures without resorting to legislation.403 In other cases he relied on Letters Patent or Order-In-Council to alter the legislative machinery, pass money bills, and implement the anglicisation-cum-de- Italianisation process.404 Bringing the socialist to the surface while hiding the imperialist, he was backed by Governors Sir Arthur Fremantle (1894-1899) and Lord Grenfell (1899-1904) who took the backseat. Sir Gerald Strickland inaugurated the State supply of electricity, allowed the private installation of telephone lines,405 and invited an agent of Guglielmo Marconi to make a public

395 NARMD-Grenfell/Chamberlain 2.vii.1901. 396 MGG 3864, 19.ix.1896. 397 Cassar (1964) 241-242. 398 NARMLGO-574/1921. 399 Agius 27-37. 400 See 27, 34, 53, 57. 401 NARMLGO-17083/1897. 402 Smith (1986) 186. 403 Blouet 160. 404 Frendo (1979) 98. 405 NARMD-Fremantle/Chamberlain 17.x.1896.

64 representation testing of the greatest scientific discovery of the time, wireless telegraphy.406 He had the full support and cooperation of the new Secretary of State for the Colonies, Sir Joseph Chamberlain, a staunch imperialist, who had been against the grant of representative government to Malta.407 Sir Gerald got Letters Patent to disqualify priests from Council membership,408 and an Order-in-Council to permit the use of English, but not Maltese, in legal proceedings.409 In fact, Sir Gerald also received the rubber-stamp for the issue of two Orders-in-Council410 to raise public loans and to double duties on spirits and liquors with the object of carrying out further public works in relation to drainage, school-building, a hospital, a lunatic asylum and a breakwater, and provide more employment opportunities.411 In the absence of the elected members, Sir Gerald intimated his willingness to resort to the use of force if not obeyed. In 1898, he imposed Ordinance XI to regulate public meetings and assemblies.412 He did not bother to re-kindle the language question, nor was he perturbed by the protests of staunchly pro-Italian groups like the Chamber of Advocates,413 and a band of Gozitan law students of great political promise such as Enrico Mizzi (son of Dr Fortunato)414 and Arturo Mercieca.415 He completely disregarded the retired Savona, who not only alleged that the English Renunciation Act (1778)416 excluded taxation from Britain’s right to legislate for Malta under the Colonial Laws Validity Act (1865),417 but formed an alliance between his Partito Popolare and the Partito Nazionale to oppose

406 DMC, 19.ix.1898. 407 Frendo (1979) 97. 408 MGG 4083, 31.xii.1898. 409 MGG 4108, 22.iii.1899. 410 MGG 4147, 29.vii.1899. 411 Micallef (1901) 18. 412 NARMD-Chamberlain/Fremantle 13.vi.1898. 413 NARMPetit-9098/1898. 414 See 55, 56. 415 IP, 16.vi.1931. 416 18 Geo 3, ch12. 417 See 49.

65 constitutions and legislation in malta any fiscal measure of social benefit.418 Incidentally, Sir Gerald ignored an elected member’s appeal for an expert commission to suggest amendments to the notarial system, Ordinance V (1855).419 Instead, he instructed Crown Advocate Dr Alfredo Naudi (1895-1905)420 to order the government notary to start in practice the drawing up of deeds in English.421 In 1899-1900, Sir Gerald found agreement in Council or else outside it from interested groups with regard to legislation that did not involve money voting. The successful measures included important London-dictated laws. The first was Ordinance VI (1899) to incorporate the terms of the English Official Secrets Act (1889)422 into the continentally-based Criminal Code (1854) at the height of an Anglo-Boer war.423 Next came Ordinance XI (1899) to establish a state intervention system to safeguard industrial and intellectual property in line with an international convention that excluded monopoly grants as a mode of protection of new industries.424 Ordinance XI (1899) was piloted through at a time when groups and individuals around the world were claiming protection for a spate of formidable scientific discoveries. Perhaps, an Ordinance to grant monopolies to new industries was more needed in Malta. Locally, in the trading sector, an increase was registered of private commercial enterprises vying with well-established industries such as hand-made lace and cigarettes.425 Another significant statute was Ordinance XI (1900).426 By virtue of this statute, again an addition to the Criminal Code, the ‘first offender’s benefit’ concept was incorporated inline with the English Probation of First Offenders Act (1887).427 The

418 See Anon (1895) on the cause leading to the formation of the Partito Popolare. 419 See 44. 420 Abela (1988) 142-143. 421 NARMLGO-134/1905. 422 52&53 Vict, c52. 423 NARMLGO-4602/1899. 424 NARMLGOCD-Chamberlain/Grenfell 31.viii.1899. 425 MacMillan 314-377. 426 NARMLGO-8976/1900. 427 50&51 Vict, ch25.

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Magistrates’ Court was given the discretion to release a person who was never previously a convict and who committed a crime attracting less than two years imprisonment.428 In addition, a general right of appeal from the Magistrates’ Courts was introduced on the suggestion of judge Paolo Debono.429 In 1900-1901, Sir Gerald embarked on general reforms to public health. The time was evidently opportune, because the medical society was re-organised430 and the Chamber of Pharmacists (CPH) was founded.431 Ordinance XIV (1900) (First Sanitary Ordinance)432 was enacted to re-systematise the Department of Public Health and kindred systems under the Chief Government Medical Officer (CGMO).433 Ordinance XVII (1901) (Second Sanitary Ordinance) ensued to restructure the medical profession, including dentists and nurses, and to empower a Medical Board to decide on the issue of warrants to practise according to the criteria434 of the English Medical Act (1886).435 In 1902, the elected members opposed the education votes and returned to the tactic of resignation en masse, adding further problems to the administration and the legislative process.436 Maltese Dockyard workers staged unprecedented strikes when the press appealed for better conditions in labour.437 Through the medium of , a native, ex-convict, revolutionary socialist Emmanuele (or Manwel) Dimech438 sought to promote trade unionism, Maltese as a national language, and .439 This programme of collectivist social reform would take some 50 years to get legislative sanction.440 Sir Gerald,

428 Harding (1948) 138-139. 429 Calleja (1996) 95. 430 Cassar (1964) 468-469. 431 See SCF for the date of foundation. 432 The word ‘Sanitary’ was then used instead of ‘Public Health’. 433 NARMD-Chamberlain/Grenfell, 20.viii.1900. 434 NARMLGO-7286/1900. 435 49&50 Vict, ch48. 436 DCG, 30.iii.1903. 437 Ellul Galea (1993) 228-229. 438 Frendo (1970) was the first to write on Dimech. 439 BM, 29.iii.1903. 440 See Vol 2 12, 13, 50, 51, 53, 54.

67 constitutions and legislation in malta meanwhile, exploited the elected members’ absence from the Council to exempt the British Presbyterians and Wesleyans from mortmain (Ordinance VII 1902).441 Although in 1902, Sir Gerald was effectively the mightiest politician and legislator in Malta, the next year he accepted the Governorship of the Leeward Islands,442 thus, satisfying his life-long dream of becoming a representative of the Crown in a British colony.443 He was about to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies Sir Joseph Chamberlain to issue an Order- in-Council to introduce English in the elementary schools in pursuit of the free-choice policy, when London decided instead to make concessions to Italian in the light of better Anglo-Italian relations in the Mediterranean.444 In fact, the Secretary of State modified the Court Language Order of 1898 for that purpose.445 Sir Joseph Chamberlain transferred Sir Gerald to the Leeward Islands to ensure that blame for any constitutional retrogression would be imputed entirely to the elected members.446 In 1903, the ten elected members rejected supplies for education447 and twice resigned en masse.448 Under that provocation, Sir Joseph Chamberlain returned the constitutional position to the pre- 1887 era.449

3.3. RELAPSE

This section concerns the last phase in the first century of British rule in Malta. In contrast to 1887-1903, the years 1903 to 1914 are constitutionally and politically retrogressive, but legislatively productive. The local Church and Armed Forces of the Crown remain the leading powers. Royal

441 NARMLGO-21285/1902. 442 Smith (1986) 216. 443 See 61 on Strickland. 444 Laferla (1977) 157. 445 See 64, 65. 446 Frendo (1979) 131. 447 DCG 17.vi.1903. 448 Laferla (1977) 164-165. 449 Frendo (1979) 131.

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Commissioners arrive towards the close of the period but their influence on the statute-making process is not immediate.

On 30 June 1903, London by Letters Patent re-instituted the Council of Government of 21 members, including nine official and eight elected.450 It set up a three-year Council with the elected members chosen by the 1887 method of franchise within three months from the date of dissolution.451 It disqualified the clergy from elected membership452 and removed the Executive Council.453 The elected members, all belonging to the Partito Nazionale, immediately resumed the strategy of continuous systematic abstentionism or resignations en bloc.454 In the first year of the legislature, they led Lord Grenfell to call six elections.455 However, the legislature was less unstable in comparison to the general situation of the country. Economic prosperity was fragile.456 There was a rise in unemployment due to the completion of the breakwater and infrastructure consisting in the laying of the modern electric tram and motorbus lines and the extension of the railway to Rabat.457 Crimes against public order, prostitution and juvenile delinquency were on the increase.458 New Protestant societies, including the Scottish Ministry of John MacNeill,459 re-appeared to proselytise, while local priests came out with new modalities for teaching religion which elicited some scepticism even from the local Church.460 In 1904-1907, the elected members attended the Council sittings regularly. It was Governor Sir Charles (Mansfield) Clarke

450 MGG 4603, 22.vi.1903. 451 See 57, 58. 452 Cremona (1997) 21-22. 453 The Constitution is also in LP (1907) 37-77. 454 See Anon (1916) on abstentionism. 455 Schiavone (1992) 39. 456 Sant 21. 457 NARMLGO-2081/1913. 458 NARMLGO-2201/1916. 459 Frendo (1979) 134-135. 460 See 73.

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(1904-1907)461 who failed to take adequate steps or else resorted to simpler instruments of implementation, especially where the re-organisation of government departments was needed. He agreed to a few other rather benevolent enactments, which an imperialist ruler or Crown representatives would generally pass in a colony losing representation. The Governor introduced electric telegraphy and placed the country’s legal structure in a position to take advantage of recent scientific and technological advances despite the fact that the relevant measure was initially meant to provide service for the government, military authorities and businessmen (Ordinance I of 1904).462 He also updated the obsolescent system of protective regulation of food, including marine and ichthyic products, and drugs, on the basis of English law (Ordinance III of 1904, the Third Sanitary Ordinance).463 It was by Legal Notice that he set up an Antiquities Board and a National Museum for Archaeology to systematise excavations and conservation of prehistoric remains surfacing during infrastructural works.464 On the health front, he failed to take immediate precautions to ban doorstep selling of milk.465 In 1904, Dr (later Sir) Temi Zammit,466 whom he appointed Chairman of the National Museum of Archaeology, co-discovered that goats were the transmitters of brucellosis.467 But farmers regarded the Maltese scientist’s findings as an excuse for destroying Malta’s goat herds.468 Sir Charles failed to take advantage of new Colonial Regulations to overhaul and better shape the disordered legislative system governing the Treasury.469 However, he assented to a Postal Ordinance, Ordinance XIV (1904) without replacing Ordinance

461 MGG 4828, 1.vii.1905. 462 NARMD-Lyttleton/Clarke, 20.vi.1904. 463 38&39 Vict, ch55. 464 RWGD 1905-1906, E1. 465 NARMLGO-745/1904. 466 Schiavone (1997) 586-587. 467 Cassar (1964) 243. 468 RRC (1912) (Cd 6280) 329. 469 The RCS (1908) replaced those of 1843.

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II (1884)470 and a farrago of subsidiary rules that had accumulated over the years.471 In 1905, the Governor conferred upon himself the discretion to grant a retirement pension to certain public officers, including University academics, provided that they reached 65 (Ordinance II of 1905). This had been a matter previously governed by the Colonial Regulations.472 No benefits were given to potential beneficiaries who died under 65, even accidentally. Contrary to the advice of SG Warner, Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, widows and orphans were also excluded from the scheme.473 Sir Charles also vested himself with the power to close public gardens for the use of private individuals or associations such as band clubs organising lucrative entertainments (Ordinance VII of 1905).474 He legalised the recent practice introduced by the Notary to Government of drawing up deeds in English475 (Ordinance IX 1905),476 while paying no attention to Carlo Micallef De Caro, a leading notary, and his proposals for reform of the notarial profession, including the setting up of a Notarial Council.477 In 1907, Sir Henry Grant heralded certain legislative developments during his short stay (1907-1909).478 He took action to prevent the spread of infectious diseases affecting animals, primarily goats (Ordinance VIII 1908, the Fourth Sanitary Ordinance).479 He coordinated with Undersecretary of State the re-introduction in Malta of an Executive Council with salaried members.480 As a result, the elected members, again all belonging to the Partito Nazionale, took a practical approach to politics and

470 See 64. 471 NARMLGO-3897/1904. 472 NARMLGO-227/1905. 473 NARMLGO-2316/1913. 474 NARMLGO-1698/1906. 475 See 66. 476 NARMLGO-2185/1905. 477 Micallef De Caro 11. 478 MGG 5037, 31.x.1907. 479 NARMLGO-2125/1908. 480 Gilbert 186.

71 constitutions and legislation in malta cooperated with regard to important legislative proposals.481 Through the new Crown Advocate, Dr Vincent Frendo Azopardi (1905-1916), acting in consultation with the Chamber of Commerce, Sir Henry brought a new Customs Ordinance, Ordinance VII (1909), to fruition.482 The Governor also adopted a suggestion of PN deputy Dr Arturo Mercieca, the young but influential pro-Italian lawyer, to allow (in Ordinance VIII of 1909) a ‘frightened murderer’ to plead ‘excess legitimate defence’ and complete penal exemption for ‘excusable (wilful) homicide’ (in the Criminal Code, 1854).483 If it had not been for his short stay, Sir Henry would have implemented another request of Dr Mercieca to amend the Criminal Code and allow the Court to let an accused testify to his good conduct. Dr Mercieca was the defence counsel in a case of dubious violent indecent assault.484 Sir Henry would have also encouraged the enactment of other Ordinances regarding areas that had long needed legislative systematisation. For example, the Antiquities Committee raised its voice and the Maltese society’s awareness on the protection of Malta’s historical patrimony after a Gozitan had used the megaliths of a prehistoric temple in laying the foundations of a house.485 In fact, the Antiquities Ordinance (Ordinance VI 1910) was steered through the Council during the governorship of Sir (1909-1915).486 The Ordinance, based on an Italian statute of 1902,487 included expropriation as a mode of acquiring archeologically rich and valuable land, especially from the dead hands but undoubtedly preservative arms of hitherto-entailed nobles.488 In 1911, on the instructions of London, the Council of Govern- ment enacted the usual decennial Ordinance to hold a census

481 Frendo (1979) 136. 482 NARMLGO-2615/1909. 483 DCG, 23.xii.1908 and 5.v.1909. 484 Toglia v Christian, COM in RRC (1912) (Cd 6281). 485 See Magri on this story. 486 NARMLGO-2142/1910. 487 NARMCD-Crewe/Grant 17.ii.1909. 488 Strickland et al v Strickland [1908] UKPC 32, [1908] AC 551.

72 representation of the civil population (Ordinance VII 1911).489 The population had increased by 15% since 1901.490 Politically and economically, Malta was passing through a very difficult period.491 The elected members, with the support of the local Church, the Comitato Patriottico,492 Chamber of Architects, Chamber of Advocates, notaries public, legal procurators, Chamber of Pharmacists and medical practitioners,493 returned to abstentionism.494 The local Church took drastic measures out of fear of re-attempts at non- Catholic proselytism, excommunicating and even ordering a priest, Reverend Ġorġ Preca, to stop teaching Catholic doctrine495 through a lay society – the MUSEUM.496 London sent Royal Commissioners, Sir Francis Mowatt, Russell Rea MP and Sir Mackenzie Chalmers, to enquire into the financial, economic and judicial affairs of Malta.497 The Commission recommended legislative reforms for a better administration of justice and an improved system of education. These encompassed an accused’s right to testify in his case, and compulsory education.498 It also suggested emigration to prosperous America and Australia as an employment solution,499 and advised the Admiralty and Army to return lands and buildings to the Maltese.500 In addition, the Mowatt Commission wanted new fiscal measures to provide sources of revenue, reconfigure the local economy, and boost the country’s industry.501 Besides other new indirect taxes such as a general ad valorem duty on certain imported goods like sugar, it proposed the introduction of direct

489 NARMLGO-2829/1911. 490 Census (1912) 20. 491 RRC (1912) (Cd 6280) 11-13. 492 M, 26.i.1911. 493 M, 5.i.1912. 494 Frendo (1979) 145-147. 495 See 207 on the society’s formal recognition. 496 See Pace (1969) and Bonnici (1980) on Rev Ġorġ Preca, now Saint Ġorġ Preca. 497 MGG 5424, 11.ix.1911. 498 Cf 41-44. 499 Attard (1984) 29-46. 500 See 118, 121, 124, 125, 134. 501 See 84 et seq, on the introduction of direct taxation.

73 constitutions and legislation in malta taxation by way of duties on causa mortis successions and inter vivos donations.502 The Mowatt Commission also suggested the promotion of industry by monopoly grants when Britain exclusively claimed petroleum search in the Mediterranean Sea under cover of ‘public utility’.503 Indeed, the Commission proposed protectionist rather than liberal and capitalist schemes for combatting imitations of products and other forms of unfair competition that awaited legislative sanction.504 These radical and socialist measures marked a retreat from the laissez-faire system.505 The Commission kept silent only on trade-union reforms, although the British Parliament passed a new Trade Union Act to improve the already advanced UK system.506 The Commission strongly influenced two sets of amendments, one to the Criminal Code (1854), Ordinance XII (1913),507 and the other to the Procedural Civil Code (1855), Ordinance XV (1913).508 In the first, the principle that an accused could testify in his own case was incorporated.509 In Ordinance XV (1913), the order and status of advocates and legal procurators was recognised.510 The gap between lawyers and other bodies, especially the periti, was widened. In Polizia v Zammit Haber the court had not excluded from periti those practising informally, ‘bix-xiber’, on the ground that the Code De Vilhena (1724) did not distinguish between land surveyors by practice and academically qualified architects.511 In 1914, the Governor, Sir Leslie Rundle, who postponed the Commission’s proposals on education and taxation,512

502 RRC (1912) (Cd 6090) 42-43. 503 NARMPetit-624/1912. 504 RRC (1912) (Cd 6090) 18-27 and 34-43. 505 See Fenech (1973) on this viewpoint. 506 3&4 Geo 5, ch30. 507 NARMLGO-2827/1913. 508 NARMLGO-3117/1913. 509 8 Edw 7, ch67. 510 Dr Ugo Mifsud in PDS, 23.ii.1927. 511 NARMLGO-1683/1919. 512 NARMD-Clauson/Harcourt 1.vii.1914.

74 representation decided to make a compromise between pari passu and free choice in education via Maltese. He modified the Savona/ Strickland policies.513 He also agreed with London to push through the Council two recent UK Parliament Acts to control the transboundary increase of white slave traffic and opium (or more generally, intoxicant drugs, including narcotic substances) on the lines of international conventions.514 However, in the event he assented only to Ordinance XVI (1913) to control opium because the White Slave Traffic Bill was postponed on second thoughts as to whether it should include whipping as a form of punishment.515 In 1914, Britain and its Allied Powers declared war against Germany, initiating the Great War (1914-1918).516 The outbreak of the war coincided with the end of the first century of British constitutional and political rule in Malta.517 Looking in retrospect, the legal system of Malta had improved. Systematically, it was more streamlined. The institutional, administrative and judicial systems were re-organised on English models. Private law, still widely continental at its root, was codified. The Criminal, Civil and Commercial Codes had been enacted. Substantively, new statutes had been passed to embody important areas such as the sanitary. Professions such as the notarial and medical had been regulated, whether ad hoc or by a series of Ordinances. The Unions and the field of employment law generally were two sensitive areas in which little had been attempted or achieved. Throughout the period under review, the Roman Catholic Church, subject to the Holy See in Rome, and the Armed Forces of the Crown, as representatives of the Ministry for Defence in London, were the bodies, which, on the strength of their position and wealth, had held sway over the legislative process.

513 DCG, 29.viii.1914. 514 2&3 Geo 5, ch20. 515 NARMLGO-1896/1913. 516 See Hough on World War One. 517 NARMLGO-1264/1913.

75

PART II THE FIRST SELF-GOVERNMENT 1921-1933 this part is made up of four chapters and reviews the legislatures and legislation of the period 1914-1933. The four chapters are divided according to changes of administrations in the legislature. Chapter 4 is a voyage through the years 1914 to 1921. It is a continuation of the period of ‘autocratic’ rule starting in 1903 but also forms a prelude to the period of ‘diarchical’ government, 1921- 1933. ‘Diarchical’ here indicates the division of power between the British Crown and the local legislature. Chapters 5 and 6 of Part II cover the first two terms, each of three years, 1921-1924 and 1924- 1927, of the local, bicameral and semi-responsible legislature. The Unione Politica Maltese and the Partito Nazionalista held the administration for those two terms. Chapter 7 begins when the Constitutional Party and the Labour Party, who join forces, are elected to government but with a minority of senators. The story of the CP-LP in ‘compact’ government ends with the suspension of the first ‘diarchical’ legislature, from 1930 to 1932, as a result of a massive politico-religious confrontation. It concludes with the short administration of the Partito Nazionalista, 1932-1933, after the re-establishment of the local legislature. Part II demonstrates that throughout the period 1914-1933, the major influences on the law-making process are the political parties, with several notable lawyers among their ranks, the local Church and the Armed Forces of the Crown.

77

Chapter 4 LACK OF REPRESENTATION this first chapter of Part II concerns the last seven years of the period of non-representative government (1903-1921). It starts with the outbreak of the international armed conflict, the Great War or World War One, in 1914, and ends with the grant of diarchical government in 1921 in response to appeals for a more democratic Constitution. Chapter 4 is divided into two sections according to the principal themes that characterise legislation in the period. The first section relates to the War Office’s conditioning of law-making in Malta (1914-1917). The other mentions post-war initiatives to enact statutes for the purpose of increasing State revenue, reconfiguring the Malta’s financial structure and boosting its economy (1917-1921). ‘Austere’ measures of the fiscal type are coupled with ‘benevolent’ laws such as those which were directed to improving medical services. In 1914, the political parties, including several lawyers among their ranks, the local Roman Catholic Church and the British Armed Services, continue to be the leading forces that boasted a certain influence in terms of prestige, organisation as well as participation within and outside the law-making body. Taxation and other financial measures make the Chamber of Commerce more vociferous than in previous years. The traders and nobles are always there to stand up and be counted when their vested interests are at play. Others groups, such as the architects and medical doctors, turn out to be more assertive. Towards the end of the period, a National Assembly brings together the leading and minor forces of the country to induce Britain into granting a new Constitution three years later.

4.1. EMERGENCY

During the war, 1914-1918, the one political party active at the time, the Partito Nazionale, persist in abstentionism

79 constitutions and legislation in malta without its ex-leader Francesco Azzopardi, but with the support of the Comitato Patriottico.518 At the same time, the Dockyard’s Maltese workers emerge for the first time as a well-organised group ready to fight for legitimate trade- union and employment rights.519

In 1914, the Allied Powers’ declaration of war was at once followed by the imposition of a in Britain’s colony Malta under the 1896 Defence Regulations.520 Fortunately, Malta was not directly caught up in the fighting. Yet, the state of emergency coloured everything. The War Office joined the Colonial Office in London to mobilise the island fortress. There was constant imperial interference in the local legislative process.521 Not surprisingly, at the outbreak of the war, the War Office, which set great store by Malta’s value as a strategic outpost,522 was anxious to prevent espionage.523 Malta was vulnerable to spies during wartime no less than it had been susceptible to transboundary crimes, such as the rising drug trafficking and prostitution, in peacetime.524 For emergency reasons, the Eastern Telegraph Company was forced to surrender to the Royal Navy a new hub communications station on Malta.525 Like its founder Gugliermo Marconi, the company attached geographical importance to Malta from the earliest days of the wireless.526 Governor Sir Leslie Rundle and his successor Field-Marshal Lord Methuen (1915-1919),527 who had to cope with two further polls during the war due to abstentionism,528 focused on novel

518 Frendo (1979) 157-166. 519 See 83. 520 See 64. 521 Laferla (1976) 186. 522 NARMSD-Hartcourt/Rundle 7.v.1914. 523 See Carpenter on how the War Office became involved in imperial policy to control wireless. 524 Mercieca (1969) 135. 525 NARMLGO-5448/1916. 526 See 64, 65. 527 MGG 5692, 15.ii.1915. 528 Schiavone (1992) 45-46.

80 lack of representation legislative themes and regimes connected with the international armed conflict. The 1912 Mowatt Commission’s proposals for restructuring and recovering the country’s industry and economy had to be temporarily set aside.529 By specific War Office instructions, Sir Leslie and Lord Methuen expedited a number of military and war-related measures, starting with a law to regulate espionage activities on the model of the Official Secrets Act 1911,530 which had been passed in England a few years earlier.531 Discretion was allowed to the Crown Advocate, now Sir Vincent Frendo Azopardi, to adopt the 1854 local Criminal Code’s classification of ‘crime’, ‘contravention’ and ‘territoriality’. This was done in order to do away with drafting difficulties reminiscent of the first drafts of the Code in 1831.532 London wanted to accelerate the necessary enactment (Ordinance VI, 1914).533 The atmosphere of the time is indicated by the fact that, with Archiepiscopal blessing, London had decided to exile ex- prisoner Manwel Dimech to Egypt534 on the accusation that this ex-editor of a ‘revolutionary’ paper had been involved in secret communications with the Germans.535 Between 1914 and 1916, Sir Leslie and Lord Methuen were directed by London to adopt other defence enactments. These opened up, in Malta’s legal system, new areas of legislative regulation such as aviation and related themes. Among other statutes, there was one on aerial navigation and communication control (Ordinance IX 1914),536 on trading with the enemy (Ordinance XIII 1914)537 and on the Maltese Regimental Corps (Ordinance VIII 1915),538 on Malta’s defence (Ordinance XX 1914)539

529 See 184 et seq on the introduction of direct taxation, and 95, 96 on monopolies in general. 530 1&2 Geo 5, ch28. 531 See Vincent on espionage legislation in Britain. 532 See 30, 22, 35, 135. 533 NARMLGO-4/1913. 534 See Frendo (1972) and Azopardi (1975) on Manwel Dimech. 535 NARMLGO-3767/1914. 536 NARMLGO-3530/1914. 537 NARMLGO-4141/1914. 538 NARMLGO-4358/1915. 539 NARMLGO-4891/1914.

81 constitutions and legislation in malta and new Defence Regulations.540 In 1916, London agreed with the new Governor, Lord Methuen, to sanction a two year wood carbonisation monopoly concession to an import and export merchant from Floriana named Michele Bartolo (Ordinance V).541 Through his lawyer Dr Giuseppe Mizzi, a politically ‘anti- abstentionist’ convert, Bartolo had warned that the domestically vital commodity of charcoal would grow scarce in the war.542 Besides the Mowatt Commission’s recommendation,543 local entrepreneurs had increased their demands for the introduction of the principle of monopoly grants.544 Sooner or later, the principle would be recognised by legislation.545 At the height of the war, while serving as the ‘Nurse of the Mediterranean’ for treating the war-injured, Malta’s experience was mixed.546 On the other hand, the country prospered economically. It experienced an increase in work and employment.547 Maltese professionals thrived.548 The country’s financial institutions, including the banking service hitherto regulated under an unwritten and disorganised legal regime, found themselves extremely busy.549 On the other hand, the country suffered from inflation and a cost-of-living rise generating a profiteering spree and misery that greatly affected the working classes.550 In the state of emergency, the Admiralty employed Maltese workers on fixed-term agreements and paid them the same low wages as the Police constables and colonially regulated civil servants.551 Nevertheless, the Admiralty preferred the still cheaper option of using women and children to supplement

540 MGG 5834, 14.viii.1916. 541 See CBIntr on Michele Bartolo. 542 NARMPetit-2062/1914. 543 See 74. 544 NARMD-/Methuen 13.vii.1916. 545 See 95, 96. 546 See Mackinnon on Malta’s role as a ‘nurse’ in the war. 547 Busuttil (1965) 44. 548 Schiavone (1997) 446. 549 Consiglio 542. 550 See Fenech (1973) on the economic effects of the war. 551 NARMLGO-3899/1916.

82 lack of representation its workforce.552 This provoked industrial action by militant Maltese Dockyard workers.553 Inspired alike by the Bolshevist (or Communist) Revolution and the Papal encyclical Rerum Novarum,554 these followers of Manwel Dimech’s Xirka demanded ‘equal opportunities’. They organised a trade union, the Imperial Government Workers’ Union (IGWU)555 and staged a historic general strike.556 Interestingly enough, by employing women as part-time employees, the Admiralty foreshadowed a change in the profile of Malta’s labour structure well before the setting in of new social conventions such as female emancipation or equality of rights between sexes.557 It left a significant impact on future labour and trade-union legislation.558 In 1917, Governor Lord Methuen embarked on a programme of social justice based on state intervention. On the one hand, expenditure laws were projected to re-organise long-standing public institutions. On the other hand, revenue laws were in the pipeline to overhaul the present fiscal regime for the purpose of reconfiguring the economic system of the country.559 This programme coincided with the re-emergence of Sir Gerald Strickland and Dr Enrico Mizzi and the appearance of Dr Michelangelo Refalo. In 1917, the well-established Maltese lawyer Dr Enrico Mizzi successfully contested his first elections but received his political baptism of fire under the Defence Regulations (1916).560 Half-Italian but born in Malta, he was court- martialled and imprisoned for one year on the ground that he had advocated in writing the exchange of Malta for Eritrea.561

552 See Borg (1918) on the difficulties of Maltese Dockyard workers during the war. 553 NARMLGO-2738/1919. 554 Agius 124-127. 555 NARMLGO-2533-1917. 556 NARMLGO-2538/1917. 557 Macmillan 465-467. 558 Ellul Galea (1973) 127-148. 559 See Marwick on a similar programme in UK. 560 See 80. 561 See Sammut (1975) on the court martial of Dr Mizzi.

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From the court-martial, he emerged as a worthy successor of his late father, Dr Fortunato Mizzi, the founder of the Partito Nazionale and the author of the party’s ideology and programme, including the celebration of the Otto Settembre 1565 as the national day.562 Also in 1917, the half-British but also born in Malta, Sir Gerald Strickland returned from Australia after four governorships during which he became a fully-fledged politician imbued with a great deal of experience.563 As the new Crown Advocate (1915- 1919), Dr Michelangelo Refalo, a legally perspicacious lawyer, came into the limelight at the same time. He was to wield considerable influence as technical adviser while his superiors dictated and decided on policies and legislation.564 In 1917, London agreed to succession and donation duties and other direct taxation. A vehement elected minority made a very strong retaliation with the outcry ‘no taxation without representation’. The elite and bourgeois members of the Chamber of Commerce, traditionally reliant on indirect taxation, also opposed the introduction of direct taxation and other radical fiscal reforms.565 A committee was appointed by Lord Methuen in 1917 to identify new sources of revenue. It recommended legislation to establish a 5% ad valorem duty on freely imported articles, an entertainment duty and a succession and donation duty.566 Godfrey Ferris, nominated by the Governor as a consultant on industry, proposed legislation to impose levies by way of protection of the local hand-made jewellery and filigree against foreign imitations.567 Lord Methuen ordered Dr Refalo to rush Ordinance III (1917) through the Council to introduce the 5% ad valorem duty, ignoring the vociferous opposition of the elected representatives and the Chamber of Commerce.568

562 See Mizzi (1908) on his intention to revive the ‘Otto Settembre’. 563 Frendo (1979) 167-169. 564 Abela (1998) 50-51. 565 Vassallo (1998) 79-80. 566 NARMLGO-5333/1916. 567 Ferris 12-13. 568 NARMLGO-770/1917.

84 lack of representation

The Governor pushed through the Crown Advocate’s Office and the Council not less than six fiscal laws in the first half of 1918. By virtue of Ordinance III, he began with introducing entertainment duty and direct on the basis of a recent English Finance Act.569 Once again, he decided to press forward the measure amid the vehement opposition of the elected members.570 Among those who opposed the entertainment duty were the owners of cinema halls at the dawn of silent cinematography and the proprietors of the new and fully active Mile End Sports Ground where the Malta Football Association organised an annual football league and friendly matches between garrison and local teams.571 Lord Methuen met with objections from the Chamber of Commerce at government level, but used the official vote in Council to enact Ordinances VI,572 VII573 and XI (1918)574 to increase import and stamp duties.575 He welcomed criticism from the Chamber about technical aspects of a highly voluminous and controversial bill, a Succession and Donation Duties Bill, which Dr Refalo drafted by considering Italian legislation, foreign text- writers and local circumstances.576 However, the elected members alongside the privileged nobles and landowners launched a massive opposition against the Succession and Donation Duty Bill. Except for Francesco Azzopardi, the elected members boycotted the relevant debate with the outcry ‘no taxation without representation’.577 Lord Methuen detested them for doing so.578 From the effects of this landmark fiscal legislation, in agreement with London, he exempted only the mighty local Roman Catholic Church. Lord

569 6&7 Geo 5, ch11. 570 NARMLGO-5528/1917. 571 NARMPetit-128/1918. 572 NARMLGO-273/1918. 573 NARMLGO-834/1918. 574 NARMLGO-2196/1918. 575 NARMLGO-530/1918. 576 DCG, 9.iv.1918. 577 DCG, 26.vii.1918. 578 NARMLGO-2539/1918.

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Methuen reported that the ecclesiastical authority was a leading proprietor but also an authority bound by various administrative duties and philanthropic obligations such as the gratuitous transmission of bequests, and the free transfer of benefices, usufructs as well as chaplaincies.579 To no avail did Sir Gerald Strickland enter into direct correspondence with the Colonial Office to try and get an exemption for the nobles from the application of succession and donation duties to their estates. Formerly an apostle of direct taxation, while suggesting a public loan at 5% as an alternative government source of revenue, he did his utmost to ingratiate himself with the nobles and ensure their future support. Forming a strong and collective group, the nobles were divided only on the issue as to whether the abolition of existing entails should be rendered compulsory.580 However, Lord Methuen was determined to ignore their claims and those of the landowners.581 Indeed, Lord Methuen re-confirmed that in legislative decisions the most politically influential body was the local Roman Catholic Church. At that time with the Vatican’s beneplacitu, the Maltese Church had a new Archbishop, the England-educated, knighted Benedictine, Monsignor Don Mauro Caruana, who was appointed in preference to the first-in-succession, Malta-trained, Dominican Monsignor Angelo Portelli.582 On 16 July 1918, Lord Methuen enacted the Succession and Donation Duties Ordinance, Ordinance XVIII (1918) at the end of a sitting in which Dr Refalo made a rousing eulogy of the working classes, officially mentioning them as a separate economic unit.583 The enactment of the Succession and Donation Duties Ordinance engrossed the whole country. Concurrent legislative developments almost passed unnoticed. In regard to policing, Claude Woodroff Duncan, to whom Lord Methuen entrusted the post of Head of the Police, reported on mixed reforms

579 Dioc, vii.1919, n2, 40-53 and 57-64. 580 NARMD-Methuen/Long 16.ix.1918. 581 NARMLGO-2539/1918. 582 Mallia 257. 583 See Ġużè Orlando in IH 16.viii.1920.

86 lack of representation concerning the Corps varying from a benevolent revision of the under-salaried constabulary, to a drastic systematisation of the penitentiary and judicial systems governing juveniles.584 In 1917, 3,272 delinquents in the 9-16 age-bracket had been criminally convicted and sentenced,585 mainly for throwing stones and objects against ‘foes’586 not excluding the Governor.587 While re-designating himself ‘Commissioner of Police’ and giving new titles to his inferiors without changing the Corps’ status and masculine gender (Ordinance II 1918),588 the Governor agreed with Duncan to draft a bill to set up a juvenile court.589 Such a corrective measure was calculated to take two years of preparatory work.590 Furthermore, Lord Methuen directed Dr Refalo to revise the White Slave Traffic Bill.591 Although the war-increased presence of British servicemen had inflated the number of prostitutes,592 the Crown Advocate now omitted whipping as a sanction against adult offenders on ‘historical and social grounds’.593 The elected members did assent to two politically non- controversial laws. The Council of Government enacted the suspended White Slave Traffic Bill without flogging asa punishment (Ordinance XIII 1918).594 Besides, in the words of Dr Refalo by keeping ‘as nearly as possible to the testator’s will’ according to the ‘cy-près doctrine’, the government was authorised to utilise the Vincenzo Bugeja Emigration Fund to maintain prostitutes and check increased illegal emigration in quest of employment (Ordinance IX 1918).595

584 Formosa 147-155. 585 NARMLGO-3870/1917. 586 NARMLGO-2626/1915. 587 NARMLGO-876/1914. 588 Duncan 1. 589 NARMLGO-764/1917. 590 See 93, 97. 591 See 75. 592 LHRPLCG 1917-18 dos 58. 593 NARMLGO-2417/1918. 594 NARMLGO-2417/1918. 595 NARMLGO-1439/1918.

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4.2. AUSTERITY V BENEVOLENCE

In 1918-1921, the taking of fiscal and financial measures to generate revenue for the purpose of restructuring and boosting the country’s economy was coupled with the enactment of statutes to improve the medical and penitentiary sectors. This strategy to mix ‘austere’ with ‘benevolent’ legislation lasted until London decided to grant self-government to Malta.

On 11 November 1918, the Allies declared an Armistice.596 Its War Department reinforced with the Royal Air Force (RAF),597 Britain emerged as a victor. Malta had not been at the centre of fighting and had not suffered damage, but the Maltese soon felt the winds of change that blew in the aftermath of the war.598 The medical doctor Filippo Sceberras, the grandson of Camillo Sceberras,599 convoked a National Assembly to petition for a more democratic and self-government Constitution.600 He brought together under one roof various organised groups that mirrored political divisions.601 Dr Sceberras convened delegates from various Church bodies such as the Cathedral Chapter and the College of Parish Priests. He included workers’ associations such as the IGWU, Catholic-inspired benefit societies, as well as philanthropic and philharmonic societies. He extended a personal invitation to leading Church prelates like Monsignors Panzavecchia, Dandria and Ferris. Dr Sceberras also united well-established lawyers such as Dr Mizzi, Dr Ugo Mifsud, Dr Francesco Buhagiar, brothers Dr Alfredo and Dr Federico Caruana Gatto, and Dr Augustus Bartolo, the Professor of Legislative History, owner of the popular

596 MGG 6109, 11.xi.1918. 597 See Hamlin on the history of the RAF in Malta. 598 See also Lombardi on the effect of World War One in the eyes of the average person. 599 See Farrugia Randon (1994) for a detailed biography of Dr Sceberras. 600 NARMPetit-497/1919. 601 M, 24.xi.1918.

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English newspaper Daily Malta Chronicle and above all ‘Malta’s leading imperialist’.602 There was also the Italophile Professor of Commercial Law Carlo Mallia, and the Cottonera-born and comparatively young advocate Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, widely knowledgeable in Italian culture but not necessarily politically pro-Italian.603 Dr Sceberras also invited well-known figures from among the nobles, including Marquis Apap , and other persons from miscellaneous fields such as Colonel Dr William Savona LLD, Sigismondo’s son,604 trader Joseph Howard and Ġużè Orlando.605 Dr Sceberras did not invite a representative of the teachers, who were still thinking of forming a union.606 The participating groups and persons unanimously agreed that Dr Refalo should represent the Assembly in dialogues with London, precisely with the Undersecretary of State for the Colonies Leo Amery.607 However, at the time, Dr Refalo was overburdened with very important post-war or long-standing legislation of domestic importance. He was gathering new statutes, notably West African Ordinances, and related documents, on the introduction of a widows and orphans pension.608 As an alternative to kerrejjiet (common tenement houses) considered as lacking in sanitary measures in many cases, he was sketching a future bill on popular dwellings.609 Moreover, he had in hand a draft bill on building aesthetics.610 Lately, he had been very active working on two other draft laws, which were enacted without contention. First, London asked for the setting up of a Clearance Office for the object of liquidating British pre-war commercial, banking and other financial debts in favour of enemy

602 See TTM, 25.i.1927. 603 Schiavone (1997) 53, 103, 155, 203, 264-265, 408, 421 and 446. 604 See 51, 56 passim. 605 See ANM for the published minutes of the Assembly. 606 See 100 for the union’s formation. 607 Amery 194. 608 NARMLGO-2300/1919. 609 DMC, 20.xi.1920. 610 See PDS, 4.xii.1925.

89 constitutions and legislation in malta persons (Ordinance VI 1919).611 And there was a law to constitute the Chamber of Architects (CAR) and entitle only University of Malta graduates in architecture and civil engineering to apply for a warrant to exercise their profession (Ordinance XIV 1919). Since those able to design buildings through informal training were no longer eligible to apply, a long controversy was finally settled.612 The National Assembly and Dr Refalo officially proceeded with their separate but coordinated duties. Nevertheless, as a result of combined politico-constitutional and socio-economic events, Malta’s varied forces at grassroot level consolidated against the Crown colony status and the lack of responsible government. The enactment of the Succession and Donation Duties Ordinance pricked the landed owners on the raw.613 A University of Malta decision to start conferring bachelors degrees (LLB and MB) instead of doctorates (LLD and MD) offended the law and medical students.614 The imposition of tests in connection with job emigration to English-speaking countries was an intolerable hardship.615 Mass discharges of Dockyard workers and anti-government press criticism caused bitterness.616 The post-war inflation, with rises in the price of staple food such as flour and bread, rising rents and the steeply increasing cost of living in general, finally burst the bubble.617 On 7 June 1919, while the National Assembly held its second scheduled meeting, masses of people spontaneously demonstrated in Valletta and Floriana. Damage was caused to premises belonging to a few leading landowners and businessmen. Attacks were made on the residence of the legal procurator Francesco Azzopardi who retained his Council seat as the elected members protested against non-representation. The pro-British printing press of the Daily Malta Chronicle was ransacked.618

611 NARMLGO-1893/1919. 612 NARMLGO-3329/1919. 613 See 85, 86. 614 See Grech (1970) on student unrest in 1919. 615 Attard (1989) 62-72 and 81-84. 616 NARMLGO-1925/1919. 617 NARMLGO-1095/1919. 618 See Zahra (1977) for more information on the riots.

90 lack of representation

In place of the badly paid and unmotivated ordinary civil servants in charge of law and order, namely the Police, British armed services detachments were dispatched to the capital city to disperse the crowds. Four Maltese rioters were killed. Monsignor Angelo Portelli and the staunchly pro-British Chaplain of the Forces Reverend Edgar Salomone intervened to calm down the situation.619 Admitting that ‘something was due to Malta’ and hopelessly unable to control the turmoil, Governor Lord Methuen departed from Malta. Developments in the country and abroad were in stark contrast. In Versailles, , the Allies concluded a peace treaty in terms of which a League of Nations was created.620 But Malta was engulfed in civil unrest. Like Sir William Reid, Lord Grenfell and his predecessor, the new Governor Field-Marshal Lord Plumer (1919-1924) was determined to apply the strategy of affection and kindness. To stimulate economic development, he planned to enact austere taxation laws but only concomitantly with benevolent social measures.621 Lord Plumer immediately nominated experts to investigate the latest occurrences and the general state-of-affairs of the country.622 To accelerate the re-organisation of the Police Corps in a Central Headquarters, including the long-expected revision of salaries of policemen in general, he appointed Colonel Bamford, ‘the great reformist’, as the new Police Commissioner.623 Lord Plumer set up a commission (‘the Plumer Commission’) under the presidency of judge Alfredo Parnis to enquire into the ‘causes and facts’ leading to the disturbances (Ordinance XVIII).624 Under the chairmanship of the influential new Crown Advocate Dr Arturo Mercieca, he also set up a committee to raise funds to compensate the victims of property damage.625 He engaged

619 See also Sant for a detailed account on the riots. 620 Cannon 954 on the creation of the League. 621 NARMD-Plumer/Milner, 9.vii.1919. 622 DCG, 22.vii.1919. 623 See Bamford and RPF on the new Commissioner’s reforms. 624 NARMLGO-3647/1919. 625 NARMLGO-3981/1919.

91 constitutions and legislation in malta the ex-Crown Advocate and new Chief Justice Dr Michelangelo Refalo to report contemporaneously on the riots.626 Lord Plumer met with harsh criticism from the elected members for permitting the Disturbances Commission to investigate not only ‘facts’ but ‘causes’, which would require an examination of the whole administration.627 However, he ensured their cooperation when he disassociated himself from hasty military proceedings inflicting disproportionate penalties on 32 Maltese.628 One particular person was given 20 years imprisonment, only one degree less than capital punishment under the penal sections of the Criminal Code (1854).629 Around 150 persons testified, including the former Chief Secretary to Government, now Lieutenant-Governor, military court witnesses, and the materially and psychologically hard- hit individual front liners of the Chamber of Commerce.630 Incidentally, the Chamber resumed its activities despite the trauma of the 1919.631 On 18 September 1919, the Disturbances Commission reported that the dockyard and labour unrest, the high cost of living, violent press articles, the students’ strike and the inaction of the police, were the ‘causes’ of the events. But, it concluded that the extremely hostile crowds had provoked the fatal shootings.632 The Commission reached conclusions that contrasted with those of Dr Refalo, who in turn accused the British Armed Forces troops of wilful homicide and grievous bodily harm of Maltese citizens.633 In the first months of his governorship, Lord Plumer was perhaps more benevolent than austere. He tightened police control over the importation of foreign imitations of local

626 NARMSD-Plumer/Milner, 12.xii.1921. 627 DCG, 13.viii.1919. 628 NARMLGO-377/1921. 629 Azopardi (1979) 22-37. 630 NARMGMR 1363. 631 Vassallo (1998) 83. 632 Bartolo (1979) was the first to publish testimonies given before the Commission. 633 NARMLGO-2805A/1919.

92 lack of representation industries, particularly jewellery and lace.634 He planned legislation to encourage employment-generating new industries.635 He appointed a committee to advise on ‘long leases’.636 He engaged expert John Fox to report on a future self- contained postal legislation.637 He stressed organised emigration to English-speaking countries as a solution to unemployment and population surplus.638 To the great pleasure of the Church, he enacted a record number of Ordinances to exempt Church-run charitable institutions from mortmain law.639 He set up the recently- planned640 juvenile court (Ordinance IX 1919).641 Together with the medical sector, he appointed an expert committee to enquire into the state of leprosy (Ordinance XX 1919)642 and advise on the building of a new hospital and a milk pasteurisation station.643 He entrusted the chairmanship of the leprosy and hospital- building committee to an influential doctor of medicine and Chief Government Medical Officer (CGMO), Attilio Critien. With the backing of the Chamber of Advocates, he took steps to abolish existing entails, but had to retract the relevant draft bill644 because the nobles, as usual in a divisive manner, reacted negatively.645 Profiting from the official majority in the Council, he pushed forward a proposal of the fund-raising committee to establish a wartime excess profits duty (Ordinance XXIV 1919) on the lines of a recent British Act of Parliament.646 The Chamber of Commerce, a frontline force against the imposition of further taxation and in favour of protectionist measures, contended that fiscal legislation could not be made

634 ACJVCCA, Polizia v Caruana 26.ii.1921. 635 NARMD-Milner/Robertson 8.vii.1919. 636 See RLL for the report of the committee. 637 MGG 6449, 16.xii.1921. 638 NARMCD-Plumer/Milner 4.viii.1919. 639 See NARMLGO-285/1932. 640 See 87. 641 NARMLGO-2471/1918. 642 NARMLGO-4706/1919. 643 DMC, 31.viii.1921. 644 MGG 6233, 26.ix.1919. 645 See PDLA, 27.ii.1950. 646 5&6 Geo 5, ch89.

93 constitutions and legislation in malta retrospectively effective, especially if it hit the commercial class.647 Through its new public spokesman, Dr Enrico Mizzi, it tried to block Ordinance XXIV (1919).648 However, the Chamber succeeded only in postponing the relevant Council debate.649 The Magistrates’ Court and the press cited the many sales of goods at prices higher than official indices. Profiteering was rife in the country.650 Not a single working class group, not even the newly-unionised teachers, took to the streets to oppose Ordinance XXIV (1919).651 This confirmed that the masses, other than landowners, had had reasons other than the Succession and Donation Duties Ordinance to riot on 7 June 1919.652 After Viscount Milner concluded a short visit to Malta, Lord Plumer announced that London had resolved to concede Malta responsible government.653 On 20 November 1919, he revealed that London had appointed the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies Leo Amery654 to take the matter into his hands independently of the National Assembly’s preparation of a draft Constitution.655 On 12 June 1920, however, Lord Plumer specified in the Council that London had opted for self-government based on a strategy requiring the reservation of defence and external matters within the jurisdiction of imperial authorities.656 As a major post-war Mediterranean power, Britain had committed itself to expand across and beyond the Middle East via the intelligence and fighting services, exploiting the use of the fast-evolving technological telecommunication systems such as wireless telegraphy and air navigation.657 In its pre-war policy on armed conflict with another European country, the War Office had placed Malta first in strategic value.658 It was

647 NARMD-Plumer/Milner 29.xi.1919. 648 MT, 15.xi.1919. 649 NARMLGO-6608/1919. 650 Bartolo (1982) 160. 651 NARMLGO-3981/1919. 652 See 90, 91. 653 DCG, 21.xi.1919. 654 Ryan 17-19. 655 NARMD-Amery/Milner 24.xii.1919. 656 Dobie 108. 657 Pandey 8-19. 658 See 59, 80.

94 lack of representation resolute to tighten its grip over Malta as a near-impregnable stronghold equidistant between Gibraltar and but at the crossroads of Europe, Africa and Asia.659 In Amery’s own words, London looked at Malta as the ‘imperial fortress and harbour’.660 Therefore, it agreed to release the army-occupied old fortifications and other buildings but subject to its strict security policy and expansionism in the aftermath of the war.661 The relevant listings included the Cottonera Hospital, which the civil government could use as a temporary answer to the appeals of the Chief Government Medical Officer Dr Critien for erecting a new hospital or a milk pasteurisation centre.662 While London and Malta finalised the necessary arrange- ments to issue the relevant constitutional instruments, Lord Plumer moved to implement his government’s legislative pro- gramme. He was confronted with strong criticism from the elected members who disregarded important financial meas- ures. Particularly, there were three statutes: Ordinance IX (1920) was enacted to encourage new industries by monopoly grants on a general scale. The second was Ordinance XII (1920), meant to protect local hand-made jewellery from foreign imita- tions and competition. To increase government revenue under the guise of protectionism, Ordinance XIV (1920) was passed to impose import restrictions and give preferential treatments to protect other local industries that included hand-made lace and cigarettes. Dr Mercieca was faced with the difficult task of determining the scope and nature of monopoly grants but preferred to limit them to British-born and British-naturalised persons and to seven years, subject to extensions for equivalent periods.663 Personally opposed to the nationalisation of industry, especially petroleum search on the ground that it would impinge

659 Williams (1988) 35-45. 660 DHC, 10.xii.1919. 661 NARMD-Robertson/Milner 12.i.1920. 662 Census (1922) 3. 663 NARMLGO-3756/1919.

95 constitutions and legislation in malta on the individual right to property,664 Dr Mizzi expressed himself in favour of monopoly grants to all foreigners without distinction.665 Dr Mizzi informed the Council that the Chamber of Com- merce opposed in principle any form of monopoly legislation.666 This notwithstanding that the Chamber was prompt to accede to grants to British-born subjects only.667 If naturalised British sub- jects were listed as recipients, foreigners would have a legislative loophole for introducing new industries.668 The Chamber knew from its own records that most of the leading traders in Malta belonged to the second or third generation of foreigners who had settled in Malta since the Chamber’s constitution in 1848.669 It was also aware from what was published in the local press that the Maltese preferred foreign to local products.670 The Chamber correctly predicted that Ordinance IX (1920) would not work well.671 A naturalised Maltese British subject, a certain Gladstone, was the only individual who applied to obtain a monopoly, and this was for establishing a dry-cleaning outfit.672 While preparing what would become Ordinance XII (1920), Dr Mercieca consulted the body of goldsmiths and silversmiths as an autonomous sub-group independently of the traders’ representatives, the Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber deemed ‘impracticable’ the measure to safeguard locally hand- made jewels by marking foreign machine-made imitations.673 Dr Mercieca also disagreed with the Chamber that Ordinance XIV (1920) was ‘violative of freedom in commerce’.674

664 DCG, 27.xi.1920. 665 CCAC 1920 dos 10. 666 NARMLGO-2498/1920. 667 DCG, 22.v.1920. 668 CCAC 1920, dos 10. 669 LHRPLCG 1921, dos 72. 670 DMC 17.ix.1920. 671 NARMLGO-12/1925. 672 MGG 6454, 19.xi.1920. 673 NARMLGO-2009/1920. 674 NARMLGO-1865/1920.

96 lack of representation

Lord Plumer hastened to abide by a London direction to bind merchant ships over 1,600 tonnage in capacity to install a wireless telegraphy apparatus for safety during sea-crossings between Malta and the Southern European mainland. Since the War, Malta had been considered a main coaling and bunkering station for the British Mediterranean Fleet.675 However, the relevant Merchant Shipping Wireless Telegraphy Bill, which was drafted as a replica of a British statute,676 was postponed because Dr Mizzi and Malta’s community of traders677 considered it as anti-economic.678 In fact, the relevant enactment would take more than a year to see the light of day.679 On 20 October 1920, the Secretary of State Viscount Milner communicated with the Governor about a recent discovery of oil-fields north of Malta.680 He secretly disclosed that London had decided to nationalise petroleum search within the territory of Malta. Its resolution was an exception to the generalisation of monopoly grants to encourage new industries and boost the economy and enhance employment opportunities in a post-war period.681 Lord Plumer ordered Dr Mercieca to rush a statute through Council in order to devolve petroleum search on the State (Ordinance VI 1921).682 On the basis of colonial instructions, he also directed two other enactments. In line with an imperial enactment, a reformatory was established and juvenile delinquents were now liable to discipline and various stiff punishments, including whipping (Ordinance II 1921).683 The second enactment introduced a system to facilitate the enforcement of maintenance orders in foreign-element cases (Ordinance V 1921).684

675 DCG, 4.xii.1920. 676 9&10 Geo 5, ch38. 677 LHRPLCG 1921, dos 125. 678 Mercieca (1969) 134. 679 See 104, 108, 125, 126, 130, 134, 135. 680 LHRPLCG 1921, dos 30. 681 NARMSD-Milner/Plumer 20.x.1920. 682 NARMD-Plumer/Churchill 6.v.1921. 683 10&11 Geo 5 ch33. 684 NARMLGO-1156/1921.

97 constitutions and legislation in malta

The elected members criticised the proposed form of petroleum nationalisation because they considered it a system that subjected individual property ownership ad coelos et inferos (literally, from the heavens to the underworld) to a ‘praedial easement … in the public interest’.685 However, in relation to Ordinances II and V of 1921, they conceded686 that ‘le baton fait le bon garcon’687 and that the new maintenance orders machinery was simpler and less expensive than the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure system688 requiring a court registration of an application.689 At the time, the Crown Advocate was informed that a small group of individuals were extensively smuggling cannabis indica, hashish, between Malta and North Africa, and that they were principally targeting juvenile persons.690 The post-war increase in the number of battleships in the Mediterranean had extended the incidence of mixed marriages in Malta between foreign soldiers and sailors, and local women.691 Besides, the war had enlarged the list of individual servicemen abandoning their Maltese families and obligations, particularly maintenance towards them.692 Aware that the National Assembly would take some months to decide on the composition and operation of institutions con- cerning transferred or purely local and internal matters (religion, finance and justice) within the sphere of self-government, Lord Plumer proceeded with his legislative programme.693 But he fol- lowed the proceedings of the Assembly till the very end when it was still divided on a number of matters. First, the National Assembly was not clear whether to accept a wish of the Cathedral Chapter to declare Roman Catholicism as the religion of ‘the (executive) government’. This wish was

685 DCG, 27.xi.1920. 686 DCG, 19.i.1921. 687 NARMLGO-204/1921. 688 See 41. 689 NARMLGO-1269/1921. 690 NARMLGO-610/1921. 691 IH, 26.iv.1919. 692 Sant 34-35. 693 Ganado (1977) v1, 237.

98 lack of representation rejected. Secondly, there was lack of agreement on whether to adopt a proposal by Dr William Savona for a unicameral instead of a two-chamber legislature. It was feared that in clashes of majority, as where a pro-British majority was elected in the Legislative Assembly, or ‘Lower House’, and a pro-Italian majority in the Senate, the ‘Second Chamber’ would act as an ‘anti-democratic’ body. Dr Savona’s proposal was refused. The National Assembly was also split on whether to acknowledge the ‘parliamentary’ allowance principle given that every worker was entitled to payment, omnis labor optat praemium. The principle was declined.694 Even if it did not agree with the Bar’s view that Maltese was not technical enough to be used in ‘parliamentary’ debates, London was ready to consent to a resolution of the National Assembly to insert in the Constitution the controversial language proposals of the Chamber of Advocates. In particular, there was the simultaneous (or pari passu) teaching of English or Italian.695 London satisfied those elite and leading traders who used the Chamber of Commerce for personal gain, but not the diversi commercianti genuinely interested in defending trade interests.696 The former group, which sought representation in the Chamber’s Council, agreed to pari passu.697 Notwithstanding their traditionally laissez faire attitudes and British sympathies,698 several elite and leading traders now began to approach Dr Mizzi, lately a spokesman of the Chamber in political fora.699 With time, they would even concur with his policies. London and the National Assembly agreed to appoint 10 special senators, two from each of the following five bodies: the powerful local Church, the recently more vociferous University students, the strong Chamber of Commerce, the privileged

694 ANM, 104-106 and 137-148. 695 See 139-141. 696 Vassallo (1998) 83-84. 697 CCAC 146/20, 31.vi.1920. 698 Bartolo (1982) 109. 699 See 138, 144, 145, 204, 205, 208.

99 constitutions and legislation in malta nobles and the Trade Union Council (TUC). The TUC was a new institution representing the workers, prominently the body of Dockyard workers, the physical vanguard in the 1919 riots, and the trade-union movement.700 London disavowed the constitutionally-entrenched but hitherto colonially regulated and imperially bureaucratised civil servants who provisionally but unsuccessfully founded a Malta Civil Service Clerical Association to press for seats in the Senate.701 Several other bodies, such as the architects, medical doctors and newly unionised teachers, and the band clubs, also were not given representation in the Upper House and deprived of influence within the Legislature by London.702 Leo Amery himself convinced the Assembly to introduce a TUC,703 whereas Malta witnessed other important developments in trade unionism and industrial relations under the impact of the Papal Encyclical of 1891, Rerum Novarum.704 The English Jesuit Father Plater705 and leftist trade unionist Matthew Giles made a brief visit to Malta.706 Both Plater and Giles inspired the formation of a local branch of the British Workers Union and promoted the idea that TUC members had to come from trade unions of bona fide workers, including women with old age benefits, not from benefit societies.707 More concretely, they convinced the Governor to frame the TUC constitutive and elective regulations, the Plumer system, accordingly (Notice 213).708 In the House of Commons, Colonel Wedgewood was not sure whether the grant of self-government to Malta was a reactionary measure or a genuine grant.709 Milner said that London had granted the Maltese the ‘engine’ but had left them

700 Chircop (1991) 1-11. 701 Pirotta (1996) 379-382. 702 NARM, undated file May-June 1920. 703 Borg (1976) 74. 704 Agius 130-157. 705 See Cassar (1988/2) on Plater in Malta. 706 NARMSD-Churchill/Plumer 22.vi.1921. 707 NARMLGO-3523/1921. 708 MGG 6411, 1.viii.1921. 709 DHC, 11.viii.1920.

100 lack of representation the task of finding the ‘engineers’.710 Amery, who was to return to the limelight in the second legislature as Secretary of State for the Colonies (1924-1929),711 was blunter. He declared that the new Constitution would work well so long as Malta fulfilled the function of a fortress.712 Since the outbreak of the War, Malta had continued to play the role of fortress. Malta’s novel legislation to regulate aviation and wireless had a military basis. Until Britain resolved to grant Malta limited autonomy, several measures to boost the economy and improve the reformative institutions were taken in the context of its function as an outpost in a post-war era of imperial expansionism. Fiscal innovations introduced direct taxation. In 1914-1921, the military authorities and the local Church re- asserted themselves as the effective influences in law-making.

710 Laferla (1977) 226. 711 See 151, 159, 182, 207. 712 RRC (1932) 60.

101

Chapter 5 THE DIARCHY this chapter reviews the legislature and legislation of the first three years of the first diarchical government of Malta (1921- 1924). It shows that Britain introduced responsible government in Malta by way of a Constitution of the divide-and-rule type, which prescribed legal principles and institutions in a controversial language, and which set up a very complicated diarchy. Chapter 5 is divided into five sections. After analysing the nature of the first responsible government, it introduces the political parties as the main protagonists on the political scene, and pinpoints the similarities and differences in their electoral programmes regarding legislative proposals to be enacted during responsible government. Next, a survey is made of some of the many legislative problems which arise in the first sessions of the self-governing legislature. In the third division of the chapter, a few important statutory novelties are treated. The remaining two divisions concern the increased influence of the Air Ministry with regard to the enactment of certain Ordinances, and Dr Enrico Mizzi’s (and his party’s) impact on the Unione Political Maltese (a political party) and the implementation of its legislative programme.

On 21 April 1921, a new Secretary of State for the Colonies, Winston Churchill,713 issued Letters Patent and accompanying Instructions to establish the first responsible government in Malta.714 Nourished with extraordinary zeal for the heroism of their patriotic ancestors,715 the Maltese people illuminated every street and square with jubilant celebrations.716

713 See Gilbert for a complete biography of Churchill. 714 NARMD-Amery/Plumer 9.iv.1921 in LP Papers (1921). 715 DMC, 19.i.1922/23.iii.1922. 716 Mercieca (1969) 122.

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Indeed, the Maltese were too elated to realise that they had only been conferred a measure of autonomy as part of a very complicated system of condominium. In the context of a country functioning as a Crown-colony-cum-fortress, the new Constitution carefully divided executive and legislative powers between a civil, responsible government, and an imperial government subject to the headship of the Governor.717 A complex diarchy was established between a ‘Maltese Government’ and a ‘Maltese Imperial Government’.718 London entrusted the Maltese Government with the administration of purely local and internal matters, namely ‘transferred matters’: finance, justice, education, public works and health. Contemporaneously, and not surprisingly owing to strategic and overall expansionist reasons, London secured to the Maltese Imperial Government the regulation of external affairs, the so-called ‘reserved matters’:719 defence, emigration/ immigration, foreign relations and telecommunications, particularly wireless telegraphy.720 In conformity with a National Assembly decision, London constituted a bicameral legislature (or ‘Parliament’ in political jargon). A triennial Legislative Assembly (‘Lower House’) of 32 deputies, and a sextennial Senate (‘Upper Chamber’) of 17 senators, were set up. The Church, Chamber of Commerce, nobility, University student body and TUC were represented by two special senators each. The other seven ‘general senators’ were elected.721 With responsibility to the legislature,722 the Executive Council (‘’) was composed of the Head of the Ministry (popularly the Prime Minister) and six Ministers chosen from among the deputies.723 Within the Maltese Imperial Government, the Nominated Council consisted of the Lieutenant-Governor, Legal Adviser

717 Cf Mason 275 on the Indian case. 718 See LT 11.xi.1933 on the ‘curious phrase’ ‘Maltese Imperial Government’. 719 Austin 13-14. 720 LPRG (1921) Arts 29-30 and 41 (a)-(p). 721 LPRG (1921) Arts 1, 5 and 18. 722 Cremona (1997) 23-24. 723 Zammit (1991) 1630-1671.

104 the diarchy and a delegate from each of the three military services under the War Office’s authority.724 Finally, a Privy Council was created to host jointly the Executive and Nominated Councils on matters of jurisdictional competence.725 The election of the 32 Lower House deputies and the seven elected senators was by way of a proportional representation system (PRS) on the basis of the single transferable vote method (STV).726 A voter had to be male, 21 years of age, literate or the recipient of income (or rent) from immovable property or from capital of not less than £5 per annum. He had to be a male citizen, or more accurately, a Malta-born or at least Malta-naturalised British subject under the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914.727 Despite these limitations, the rule was not one man, one vote. It was prescribed in addition that an eligible voter could cast more than one ballot vote according to the value of property in his possession. Hence, as in the Constitution Letters Patent of 1887, the principle of plural voting was adopted.728 In 1921, this principle was very controversy in Britain.729 London failed to grant the right to vote of women, who were still not on a par with men in civil rights. For instance, a wife required the husband’s consent to be a party to a contract. Marginally, the number of females continued to exceed males according to a new statute-authorised census (Ordinance X 1920)730 of the population (now totalling 212,258).731 In the last ten years, there had been a sharp drop in men due to emigration.732 Therefore, the changing perceptions of women’s role were completely ignored. In point of fact, within the industrial sector, mass-producing, international companies like the machine- intensive tobacco firms British American Tobacco Co (BAT)

724 LPG (1921) Art 16(1)/I Arts 12-14. 725 LPRG (1921) Art 66. 726 Boissevain 1-6. 727 4&5 Geo 5, ch17. 728 See 57, 58. 729 Cremona (1997) 24. 730 NARMLGO-2702/1920. 731 Census (1922) 24-34. 732 Frendo (1968) 48-58.

105 constitutions and legislation in malta and Wills, invested in the domestic market with job policies preferring female workers.733 Local traders who established themselves as main importers of domestic industries, such as the vintner families Coleiro, Dacoutros, Cassar (better known as Marsovin) and Delicata, employed women in the production of wine, particularly in the bottling departments. The Strickland-De Trafford household engaged hundreds of women in spinning and weaving that popularised further Lord Strickland’s vote.734 Constitutionally, London vested the Governor with the discretion to initiate and assent to legislation subject to the disallowance of the Crown, or to the issue of an Order-in- Council.735 On the one hand, there were the ‘Acts’ on transferred matters, which the Legislative Assembly and the Senate were bound to submit to three readings and a discussion in committee stage (or in select committees in regard to technical bills).736 On the other hand, there were the ‘Ordinances’ which dealt with reserved matters.737 Constitutionally, with the Cabinet of Ministers, or in reality with the Minister for Justice, the Governor was also empowered to decide on the appointment of important legal officers. The Crown Advocate acquired a new dual role. The office was renamed as ‘Public Prosecutor and Treasury Counsel’ (or ‘Public Prosecutor’ for short). As the legal consultant and legal adviser of the Maltese Government, now ‘in a subordinate position’ to the Minister for Justice,738 the Public Prosecutor was entrusted with the preparation of legislation on transferred matters.739 There were also the superior courts judges who held office quamdiu se bene gesserint.740 As with the ‘Legal Adviser’ within

733 LHRPLLA 1924-27, v7, dos 214. 734 The author bases such information on Maltese collective memory which he has been compiling for years and which he is intending to publish in the future. 735 LPRG (1921) Arts 47-53. 736 SOLA SOs 100-121 and SOS SOs 65-103. 737 LPRG (1921) 41(1) and I Art 3. 738 Mercieca (1969) 131. 739 LPRG (1921) Arts 55 and 64. 740 See 26.

106 the diarchy the Maltese Imperial Government, London reserved the right of nomination.741 London bound the Governor to ask for its express consent if he was to enact legislation to apply civil government property to the imperial government; and to refer to it whenever there were deadlocks between the two Houses. A significant case would be where the Opposition with a majority in the Senate twice defeated an appropriation or fiscal bill requiring two-thirds of the joint votes of deputies and senators. Another case was where there were disagreements between the two governments, normally on legislative competence.742 Besides, London reserved to the Crown the right to revoke, alter or amend the whole Constitution, and to restore full legislative and executive authority in the Governor in ‘grave emergencies’.743 Finally, London entitled any candidate to stand for the two Houses but to sit only in one.744 The self-government machinery thus set up was not only based on a very complex diarchical system of power reservations. The new Constitution was also marked by ambiguous provisions and loopholes liable to generate politically unpredictable discords.745 By way of fundamental rights, it recognised only freedom of conscience and worship746 in pursuit of its 19th century policy of religious tolerance.747 London announced that the 1921 Letters Patent were not ‘the proper document to declare what is the official religion of the island’. It refused to prescribe in the Constitution that Roman Catholicism was the established religion of Malta.748 London did not plan to interfere in the religion of the country. It was to continue to sanction the legal practices that had pastorally enhanced the traditional bond of the local ecclesiastical authority with the ordinary Maltese faithful.749

741 See 111, 112. 742 LPG (1921) Arts 41 and 48. 743 Cremona (1997) 28-29. 744 LPRG (1921) Art 35. 745 See 125 on the estimates for 1922-23. 746 LPRG (1921) Art 56. 747 See 25. 748 NARMD-Amery/Plumer, 9.iv.1921. 749 See NARMLGO-285/1932.

107 constitutions and legislation in malta

It would not touch systems such as the mortmain exemption under which 76 Roman Catholic entities had benefited from the time of the Catholic Governor More O’Ferrall.750 However, London’s decision to refrain from declaring Roman Catholicism as the official religion of the country met with nation-wide disagreement. In sanctuaries and churches, the England-educated and appointed Archbishop Monsignor Mauro Caruana as well as the clergy declared that the Letters Patent concerned lacked ‘the sign of the Cross on their forehead’.751 The local press contributors (in the Italian, English and Maltese languages), especially the very old campaigners of the traditional pro-Italian classes, commented negatively on the decision constitutionally not to declare Roman Catholicism as the religion of the country.752 At the time, journalism was still the most effective medium of expression in Malta in view of the British services’ tight control over the more widespread wireless telegraphy and audio transmissions in the post-war era of expansionism.753 In the rural areas, the majority of the Maltese people expressed solidarity with their spiritual leaders. For some time, the harbour working-class inhabitants who were in contact with foreigners showed secularist tendencies. The emigrants, including younger and more laical or oecumenical priests, were less conformist in their views and attitudes.754 However, still considering their Church a second home, the peasants and village people of Malta, together with the Italianate classes of town and gowns, were as one behind their spiritual leaders. According to Malta-resident Britons like Shepherd and Peto, London’s decision was badly viewed by the Maltese because Protestant societies (such as MacNeill’s)755 had in recent years re-animated the local Church’s fear of potential infiltrations

750 See 37. 751 AA, Past Lett 65/21, 8.v.1921. 752 Shepherd 53. 753 Sir Ugo Mifsud in RCME 73. 754 See M, 25.ii.1919 and TMH 28.iv.1919. 755 See 69.

108 the diarchy of British Protestantism.756 London left it open to the local legislature to declare by statute that Roman Catholicism was the religion of Malta.757 London also refrained from nominating the national day of Malta. It also re-considered the use of the Italian and English languages in the legislature and the Maltese courts.758 It established only that Maltese was to be one of the languages of the responsible legislature and that the local language of popular discourse had to enjoy all such facilities as were necessary to satisfy the reasonable needs of a litigant in the Maltese courts. A very obscure phraseology was used to prescribe759 that the languages of the neighbouring peninsula and the Empire were ‘equal languages of education and culture’.760 Perhaps London wanted to give preference to English and the anglicisation drive, as Winston Churchill761 seemed to imply in the House of Commons.762 London kept silent on compulsory education. Huge sums of money were needed to build schools.763 It was also left to the local legislature to re-constitute important offices within the Head Ministry and Ministries such as the interior or justice ministries, the post department, and the notarial archives.764 Furthermore, the local legislature was given responsibility to legislate on the system for reviewing and auditing government expenditure.765 Fundamentally, London recognised that the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the President of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of both Houses should be entitled to the payment of allowances. Constitutionally, these had to be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund. The Anglo-Egyptian Bank was

756 Peto 59. 757 Ganado (1977) v1, 239. 758 See NARMLGO-152/1929. 759 NARMLGO-2910-1921. 760 LPRG (1921) Art 57(2). 761 See Durbridge on Churchill’s relations with Malta. 762 DHC, 2.viii.1921. 763 Bruce 100. 764 NARMD-Congreve/Amery 19.vi.1926. 765 PDLA 5.i.1922.

109 constitutions and legislation in malta formally appointed as the Maltese Government’s bank.766 The Constitution referred to the legalisation of estimates (popularly called the ‘budget’) by way of an Appropriation Act. But it did not state clearly whether permanent general or annual ad hoc legislation was required.767 Once again, the local legislature was given the discretion to define by statute its powers, privileges and immunities.768 Labour and industrial relations became matters for the local government. London did not accept a proposal of the British Treasury to deprive the Admiralty’s Maltese workers of voting to elect the Legislative Assembly and the Senate769 as provided in the Constitution.770 However, the Colonial Office laid down that a transferred item touching an imperial interest such as an immovable property in military hands had to be referred to the Secretary of State’s decision. Employment was a transferred matter. Immovable and movable property under the Admiralty was reserved. A British services employer might argue that his employee was equally reserved. Otherwise, London considered trade a transferred matter but the territorial waters, including sea-borne transactions, as reserved.771 Finally, the Maltese Government was empowered to determine the necessary rules on the election of the TUC representatives.772 Constitutionally, the Governor was placed at the head of a structure within which he would rarely exercise legislative and executive powers in real politics. Ultimately, through the Minister of Justice, it was the Cabinet of Ministers that decided on the initiation and enactment of legislation.773 This was where the political party elected to government managed to obtain the absolute majority in both Houses (17 deputies, and five special and at least four general senators), an occurrence less common

766 LPRG (1921) Art 38. 767 LPRG (1921) Art 62. 768 See 138, 142, 144, 152 et seq. 769 NARMD-Churchill/Robertson 11.viii.1921. 770 LPRG (1921) Art 31(1)(a). 771 LPRG (1921) Art 41(1)(f) and (3) and 54(1). 772 LPG (1921) Art 7. 773 See 106.

110 the diarchy in a multi-party system where arch-rival parties advocated mixed ideologies. Or else, where the political party in government got a relative majority, and sought the material support of other political groups in exchange for Ministerial seats. Indeed, the Secretary of State for the Colonies Leo Amery had agreed with the National Assembly to adopt a bicameral legislature because he had, like Dr Savona, read greater potentialities for deadlocks into such a system. In order to avoid a standstill within the legislature and the Maltese Government, any political party that was elected with an absolute majority in the Legislative Assembly but with a minority in the Senate had to ensure that at least half of the special senators voted with it.774 Leo Amery agreed with the IGWU to include two TUC senators and have a more balanced Senate.775 The price which had to be paid was the political polarisation of the legislature. Working class groups would favour Dr Savona and his pro- labour tendencies as much as the nobles supported Sir Gerald Strickland. The Church, Chamber of Commerce and University senators sympathised with traditionally pro-Italian formations (the Unione Politica Maltese and the Partito Democratico Nazionale).776 London applied a different stratagem to the Instructions institutionalising and governing the Maltese Imperial Government. However, if the War Office in London pressed for post-war expansionist measures and prevented cooperation in national problems, the Governor would once again find himself within the Maltese Imperial Government in much the same relationship with the British services (the Admiralty, Army and RAF,) as with the political parties in the Maltese Government.777 If as Governor of Malta, London appointed a person without previous experience of the country and its people, then the Crown’s representative would have to consult his Legal Adviser about the nature and consequences of legislative matters, including the formulation of Ordinances.

774 Blouet 181-182. 775 Micallef Stafrace (1996) 8-9. 776 Frendo (1979) 187. 777 NARMLGO-4379/1921.

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London consented to the nomination of Dr Victor Frendo Azopardi (1921-1927), Sir Vincent’s son, as the first Public Prosecutor (and Treasury Counsel), and to the elevation of Dr Arturo Mercieca to the Bench.778 It also appointed Robert Pentland Mahaffy,779 a war hero,780 to serve as Legal Adviser to the Maltese Imperial Government. Mahaffy was to serve for eight years (1921-1929), or in other words, for three governorships and legislatures.781 From the outset, he disagreed with the British Treasury that dockyard workers were ineligible for election to the legislature.782 He showed forthwith that he would not be a yes-man. He exercised considerable personal influence as draftsman and legal consultant, especially after Governor Lord Plumer (1919-1924) left Malta.783

5.1. PARTY POLITICS

The first self-government legislature, 1921-1924, comes into being after the holding of elections that epitomise the strains of thought in Maltese politics and law-making in evidence ever since 1880, and establish the battleground for decades ahead.

Lord Plumer set the 5 and 6 October 1921 as the dates for the first self-government elections.784 Four parties lined up as contenders, each with its own organ to air its views.785 Three came forward to contest for both Houses, the fourth only for the Lower Chamber. The formal name of the Partito Popolare of Monsignor Ignazio Panzavecchia was the Unione Politica Maltese (UPM). The ‘Panzavecchiani’ or ‘Unionists’ as they were also called,

778 MGG 6383, 1.iv.1921. 779 MGG 6399, 8.vi.1921. 780 Black 750-751. 781 See 159. 782 NARMD-Robertson/Churchill 11.vi.1921. 783 See 208 passim. 784 MGG 6429, 1.x.1921. 785 See Xerri on the role of the press in the 1921 general elections.

112 the diarchy published the newspaper La Voce del Popolo. The Constitutional Party (CP) or ‘Constitutionalists’ of Sir Gerald Strickland, the ‘Stricklandiani’, absorbed the Anglo-Maltese Party (AMP) of Dr Augustus Bartolo and used the journal of the Bartolo family, the Daily Malta Chronicle. Sir Gerald, who had formed the CP to promote imperial interests,786 threatened Dr Bartolo that he would issue a rival newspaper in English if the AMP did not join the CP787 under his leadership.788 The Labour Party (LP) was formed under a President, Colonel Dr William Savona, and a Vice-President, Dr Pier G Frendo. Its organ was called The Labour Opinion. Dr Savona, a Colonel, was politically and culturally an Anglophile extremist. Many supporters of the Party, the Labourites, were pro-British like him and were known as the ‘Savoniani’. But Dr Frendo, a practising lawyer, with a faction of his own within the party, was a moderate politician, not extremely pro-British and not necessarily against the simultaneous teaching of English and Italian, the pari passu.789 The Partito Democratico Nazionale (PDN) or ‘Nationalists’ under Dr Enrico Mizzi was a Gozo Party standing only for the Legislative Assembly. The ‘Mizziani’ issued the newspaper Eco di Malta e Gozo.790 The mildly pro-Italian UPM and extremely Italophile PDN agreed to contest the different districts of Malta and Gozo.791 The Chief Justice Dr Refalo, who together with Dr Filippo Sceberras was knighted in recognition of his contribution to the attainment of self-government, regarded the number of contesting parties as ‘too great’ in a society where political conflict was ‘endemic’.792 During the electioneering campaign, all four parties pledged allegiance to the local Church. They bound themselves to pass a

786 Bugeja 85-90. 787 Calleja (1999) 149-153. 788 Vassallo (1931) 102. 789 See 139. 790 G Bonnici (1990) 39. 791 Ganado (1977) v1, 248-249. 792 DCG, 19.ix.1921.

113 constitutions and legislation in malta law to declare Roman Catholicism as Malta’s official religion.793 The UPM had a Monsignor as founder and leader but also a wing of prelates.794 In the list of candidates, the PDN included Rev Alfonso Maria Hili, the Archpriest of Rabat, capital of Gozo.795 The PDN raised the suspicion that without a declaration of the country’s religion, the new Constitution could become a gateway to the admission of divorce to the detriment of the local sacramental marriage.796 The LP also had a few Roman Catholic clerics who, like their UPM/PDN counterparts, acted in line with the Church’s general policy.797 In fact, in the list of candidates for the Senate, the LP included Monsignor Michael Gonzi, a very ambitious and able administrator who was also a staunch Roman Catholic prelate. On the order of the Archbishop, Monsignor Gonzi stood in order to increase clerical membership and influence in the responsible legislature.798 All parties sprang from the older political formations and were set to reflect the socio-cultural and linguistic divisions of the preceding 50 years, in terms of groups and persons.799 Both the extremely Italophile (or ‘Irredentist’ in the words of political opponents) Partito Democratico Nazionale and the moderately pro-Italian Unione Politica Maltese emanated from Dr Fortunato Mizzi’s anti-reformist movement. On all matters of policy and proposals for new legislation, the two parties tended to converge. Electors regarded them as two sides of the same coin.800 Like his father,801 Dr Enrico Mizzi came all out to fight for the pari passu policy although by a rearguard action. With its better prospects as regards employment, intervening generations had

793 Ganado (1977) v1, 198-207. 794 See CP 4.vi.1921. 795 Schiavone (1997) 346. 796 M, 11.ix.1920. 797 Bezzina (1988) 64. 798 A Vella (1978) 124-125. 799 Pirotta (1996) 397-399. 800 Frendo (1979) 185. 801 EMG 15.vii.1921.

114 the diarchy caused English to become a preferred language.802 Dr Mizzi, whose party from Gozo had the highest proportion of lawyers as candidates (three out of four, or 75%), wanted to substitute Italian for English. By way of an Italianisation programme, Monsignor Panzavecchia and his party also promised to solve the interpretative riddle of the language of education clause of the Constitution (Art 57).803 Occupying the contrary position, the staunchly Anglophile CP whose creed was that Malta’s security and fortunes lay with Britain, emerged more or less with a programme reminiscent of Sigismondo Savona’s reformist ideology in 1880. The CP championed an equal facilities policy as a mild restatement of the free choice policy and the anglicising drive for advancing English and displacing Italian.804 Originally La Camera del Lavoro, the LP considered the ruler’s language more useful than Italian to the working classes in view of the emigration tendency towards Australia, Canada and the United States.805 A dozen men, including playwright Michelangelo Borg, journalist Guglielmo Arena and electrician/ photographer Salvatore Zammit Hammet,806 created La Camera with support from the Admiralty workers and the emerging trade-union movement.807 However, persons like the Vice- President Dr Frendo were among the first active members of the LP who were not anti-Italian and could vote either way on the language issue.808 The political parties, though not necessarily individual members within their folds, still attached too great an importance to the contest between the Italian and English question to be able to give electoral consideration to Maltese as the language of law, education and official use, let alone as the national

802 See Pace (1975) re the pari passu question and relevant documents for 1920-1924. 803 NARMLGO-2910/1921. 804 Frendo (1979) 201-212. 805 See 142, 143 on this point. 806 Azopardi (1984) 13-21 and 27-30. 807 G Bonnici (1990) 32-42. 808 Hull 276.

115 constitutions and legislation in malta tongue.809 Individual deputies or senators spoke in favour of the local language independently of their party’s policy. There was the philanthropist Alfons Maria Galea (LP)810 who together with noted authors and teachers, including Antonio Cremona, co-founded the Għaqda tal-Kittieba tal-Malti (Society for Maltese Writers) to promote the local tongue at official levels via a new alphabet.811 The political parties indicated that they read electoral repercussions into the short three-year term of the Legislative Assembly, and thus would propose very few fiscal measures.812 They diverged wholly or partly on the introduction of the typically collectivist compulsory education.813 The UPM favoured a curriculum of education based on Roman Catholic teachings. Monsignor Panzavecchia specified that such education had to conform to Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus.814 The CP was for compulsory education as part of the free choice policy to give energy to the anglicisation drive. Sir Gerald said that the Maltese were ‘of common Phoenician ancestry … with the main section of the British race’.815 The LP also expressed favour for compulsory education under the ‘guidance’ of the local Church at all levels from the elementary public schools upwards.816 The LP promised rent regulation of dwellings houses and shops for the benefit of the working classes and the blue- collars who constituted its backbone. It proposed the statutory implementation of widows and orphans pension, but was also for the introduction of income tax and national lotto as the sources of public revenue.817 Labour favoured the definition of trade unions under the UK 1871 and 1913 Acts that excluded benefit societies.818 But it opposed the Senate on the ground that the

809 See Muscat on the slow but steady march of Maltese towards its establishment as the national language. 810 See 163. 811 Zammit Mangion (1989) 2. 812 Ganado (1977) v1, 288. 813 See 139 et seq. 814 M, 4.xii.1919/15.xii.1919. 815 Strickland (1950) 25. 816 Frendo (1979) 188. 817 See IH 24.viii.1921. 818 See 54 and 74.

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Upper House would provide ‘a fortress for the privileged classes of the Maltese’ - the Church, nobles and traders.819 The UPM was committed to free trade, making the electoral promise to re-enact the Commercial Code (1857).820 It wanted to re-adjust the tax system according to a means test.821 However, it was against rent regulation, more specifically the control of ‘short leases’. It was not unknown that the local Church rented houses mainly on ‘long-leases’.822 The UPM was determined to overhaul the existing post office and treasury and audit legislation, over the years both having become labyrinths of rules and regulations. But it favoured ‘parliamentary’ allowances only in the initial stages of the campaign.823 The PDN pledged to tackle unemployment in view of post- war mass discharges and displacements, especially from the Dockyard. It announced that it would introduce a Workmen’s Compensation Bill.824 Like the UPM, the PDN favoured a tax re-adjustment, and vowed to pass statutes to provide for the long-desired widows and orphans pension and the building of workmen’s dwellings. The PDN argued that benefit societies unaffiliated to British associations should be eligible toTUC senatorial representation, fearing that if only trade unions with British affiliation were recognised, the TUC would sympathise with the LP.825 The CP unsuccessfully courted the LP to amalgamate into one party although Sir Gerald, the ex-champion of taxation, preferred the loan system as a government revenue-making source instead of income tax and other fiscal measures.826 The CP committed itself to reform the legal system regulating antiquities protection and prominently advocated the principle of ‘parliamentary’ allowances.827

819 Ġużè Orlando in IK, 2.iv.1931, 4. 820 See 41, 42, 45, 148, 162, 172. 821 See NL Pamphlets for the parties’ electoral programmes. 822 See, for example, RRC (1912) (6090) 51. 823 LHRPLLA 1921-22, dos 37. 824 See 117, 148, 152, 174, 203, 208, 209. 825 Anon (1971) 59. 826 G Bonnici (1990) 43-44. 827 LHRPLLA 1921-22, dos 31.

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The PDN and LP, both opponents of ‘parliamentary’ allowances, pioneered social legislation with emphasis on greater or wider commitments in social services, employment and housing. According to the local press, they were the closest in social policy.828 The PDN and LP proposed a mixture of leftist and rightist, or radical and conservative measures, but appeared further apart because of their excessively partisan clashes of language and culture. All the parties agreed that the War Office should return to the Maltese such lands as were no longer necessary for military use after the garrison rundown.829 All the parties were interested in building projects as a reflex of a country that was spared damage in the war. Malta was about to enter a construction, rather than, reconstruction period. The parties had platforms with planks that overlapped. But all tried to attract grassroots support from different regions. The UPM raised most votes in its Valletta commercial stronghold. It was easier for the CP to canvass the more thickly populated Dockyard constituency where English was rated highly as an employment asset.830 Around 20,600 electors (76%), including a high incidence of landowners, ultimately voted the first self-government into office in such an unstable way as to entangle its operation of the legislative process as part of a very complex diarchy.831 As regards the Legislative Assembly, the UPM elected 14 deputies, meaning double the CP and LP each of which got 7 deputies. The PDN won the remaining 4 seats. In the Senate, out of the 7 general senators, the UPM got 4 in contrast to the 1 of the CP and the 2 of the LP. Overall, the UPM got only a relative majority of seats in both Houses.832 Well-established figures were elected. Worthy of mention were a number of prominent lawyers. Dr Ugo Mifsud, Dr Francesco Buhagiar and Dr Alfredo Caruana Gatto, benefactor Canon Carmelo Bugelli, trader Joseph Howard and Dr Alfredo

828 IH, 14.xii.1920. 829 See 73, 121, 125, 126, 134 et seq on the rundown. 830 Frendo (1979) 206-209. 831 See Humphreys for a report on election results. 832 MGG 6432, 8.v.1921/6437, 24.x.1921.

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Mattei, were all of the UPM. Dr Augustus Bartolo, who had established himself as a leading scholar on British culture and the history of legislation, and Sir Gerald Strickland (CP) were also elected with a large number of first preferences. First generation Maltese of United Kingdom parents, Colonel Michael Dundon (LP) and Robert Hamilton (CP), were returned. A young legal procurator – Armando Mifsud (LP) – failed to get a seat contrary to expectations. The Labour leader Dr Savona was not elected to the Lower House but the TUC chose him and co-founder Salvatore Zammit Hammet as the Council’s special senators, disclosing the intimate tie that existed between this new trade- union institution and the minority party. Monsignor Michael Gonzi and the philanthropist/promoter of Maltese Alfons Maria Galea were elected as Labour senators. Two brothers sat as senators: Marquis Paolo Apap Bologna (noble’s representative) and Monsignor Giuseppe Apap Bologna (Church delegate). Advocate Dr Federico Caruana Gatto, brother of Dr Alfredo Caruana Gatto, was elected as senator in the name of the graduates but later tendered his resignation to be replaced by the Carmelite friar and poet Professor Anastasju Cuschieri.833

5.2. DIFFICULTIES

In 1921-1924, in a situation where no party obtains an absolute majority within the legislature, alignments and re-alignments ensue with the imposition of political conditions and accompanying problems regarding the enactment of legislation.

Following the 1921 election results, Lord Plumer nominated Joseph Howard (UPM) as the first Prime Minister and leader of the Lower Chamber.834 However, prior to the opening of the first responsible legislature, Howard failed to form an alliance between his party and one of the minority parties. In the first year, in order to secure a working majority (17 votes in the Lower

833 See Micallef (1978) on the 1921 elections. 834 NARMLGO-4399/1921.

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House and nine in the Senate) and avoid deadlocks regarding controversial legislation, he had either to yield to PDN demands, or make short-term deals with the LP. In the absence of such ad hoc arrangements, he pursued non-party objectives, such as the laws declaring the religion and national day of Malta. These were politically and electorally unifying measures. In the initial year when his party was always at the risk of early downfall, the Premier worked wonders in managing two dozen enactments and the first estimates.835 He achieved support though his handling of the religious question. On 3 November 1921, at the inauguration of the responsible legislature, by a Declaration and Confirmation of Faith, Howard disclosed that his government would soon move a bill to declare the ‘Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion’ as the religion of Malta.836 Dr Mizzi was the first to pledge support to the government on the religious question. Under the influence of an English legislative innovation of 1904,837 Dr Mizzi made an appeal for a Workmen’s Compensation Bill, a landmark piece of social legislation that carried great jurisdictional implications insofar as the British services- employed workers were concerned.838 Indeed, the UPM was sensitive to the post-war winds of change blowing from the outside world. Malta’s old material and spiritual order of things was set to disintegrate gradually to make way for a completely new foundation.839 The UPM set itself to take measures that would ensure a smooth but steady transformation of Malta’s physical and institutional configuration in the near future according to the signs and needs of the time. The UPM also prepared to re-organise the existing government offices and create new ones. For instance, the Crown Advocate obtained model enactments from Australia, New Zealand and Transvaal to reform the treasury and audit department.840 The UPM scheduled and approved schemes to provide for

835 See 124. 836 PDLA, 3.xi.1921. 837 6 Edw 7, ch58. 838 PDLA, 6.xi.1921. 839 V, 12.iii.1919. 840 NARMD-Milner/Plumer 17.xi.1921.

120 the diarchy employment-generating housing and infrastructural projects, which together with private construction initiatives were bound to transform Malta’s configuration rapidly.841 One such project was the utilisation of developable sites under British services occupation such as the Valletta conurbation.842 A leading British civil servant, Sir Edgar Harper, was invited by the government to act as arbiter between the civil government and the Chief Royal Engineer on the return of army-occupied lands.843 The government planned to update the Antiquities Ordinance (1910) as part of a nationwide, master plan building programme.844 However, the essential first step was to settle the vexed question of the constitutional omission regarding the declaration of religion.845 On 15 November 1921, Dr Ugo Mifsud, the first Minister for Industry, moved the relevant bill, using four words to describe the local Church: ‘Roman Catholic Apostolic Church’.846 On the principle of the bill, the UPM reached consensus with the second largest party, the CP. But they disagreed with the Stricklandiani on the designation (and substance) of the local Church that appertained to a universal institution. Monsignor Enrico Dandria (UPM) argued that the term ‘Catholic Church’, unqualified, was as broad as to comprise ‘our enemies in religion’, namely the and the Protestants. He invoked the encyclical Ad Beatissimi of Pope Benedict XV to include the words ‘Roman’ and ‘Apostolic’.847 Sir Gerald, the CP leader, who alleged in newspapers that the local Church sympathised with the UPM and PDN, insisted that the phrase ‘Catholic Church’ without the words ‘Roman’ and ‘Apostolic’ would suffice. He appealed to the Catechism of Pius X.848 Zealously the two parties diverged on a number of aspects of the bill. They assumed an attitude that augured ill and

841 LHRPLS 1921-24, dos 14. 842 The unpublished scheme and report are in AHRPHA. 843 NARMTL-Churchill/Plumer 20.i.1922. 844 LHRPLA 1921-23, dos 31, 36-37. 845 Bonnici (1975) 185. 846 NARMLGO-4607/1921. 847 PDLA,15.xi.1921. 848 Pr, 21.x.1921 and DMC 25.xi.1922.

121 constitutions and legislation in malta foreshadowed more intense antagonism on other legislation, whether or not religious in import. From the outset, the UPM showed that it would never entertain the Cathedral Chapter’s wish to extend the relevant declaration to ‘the (executive) government of Malta’. It thus demonstrated that its insistence on the fourfold nomenclature was not partisan.849 If it had done so, it would have made self-government theocratic. The UPM acted on the assumption that the Maltese responsible legislature would never restrain in any way the legitimate freedom of the local Church.850 The party in government was determined to continue the practice of passing Acts to exempt as many Church-run charitable institutions as possible from the operation of mortmain law.851 London also allowed the bill describing the local Church with the use of the fateful four words, subject to the proviso that the 1921 Letters Patent would be left intact: Act I (1922).852 Mr Howard made other attempts to form a stable and durable alliance with the PDN, and solve national problems at the risk of treading upon the competence, jurisdiction and similar interests of the Admiralty and War Department.853 He promised Dr Mizzi to implement a Workmen’s Compensation Act once his government surmounted the financial difficulties involved, and the Admiralty agreed to the measure as not falling outside the powers of self-government.854 In fact, Mr Howard immediately went for two of the electoral proposals of the PDN: a bill to regulate factories, workers and hours of work, the so-called ‘Eight Hours Bill’, and another to introduce a widows and orphans pension.855 The UPM had to tackle seriously the acute housing and employment problems at a time when the people had noticeably a greater social and national consciousness on the achievement of self-government.856

849 PDLA, 2.ii.1922 and PDS, 20.ii.1922. 850 Grima (1985) 1-3. 851 Scicluna 45. 852 NARMLGO-27/1921. 853 Bugeja 79-80. 854 NARMCD-Duke of Devonshire/Plumer 4.ii.1922. 855 See Azopardi (1968) on employment legislation in 1921-1924. 856 NARMLGO-379/1922.

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English-speaking countries were imposing stringent immigration controls, leaving stowing away the only safety valve.857 In 1922, Malta was more urbanised and less agricultural than ever before due to suburban growth.858 The populations of Malta had doubled in 50 years despite both organised and clandestine emigration. Its telegraphic media and telecommunications networks were more developed and far-flung.859 Malta was socially more outward-looking, secular and emancipative, especially in the industrial sector.860 In fact, the country was set to undergo a radical transformation of its labour structure. International companies preferred women and young workers. The policies of BAT and Wills caused a sizeable group of male hand-rollers to go on strike.861 Dr Alfredo Caruana Gatto (UPM), the drafter of the Factories Regulation Bill, proposed that women and children should be barred from working overnight or from exceeding the projected standard eight hours of work per diem in any ‘industrial factory’.862 He referred to the English Factory and Workshop Act (1901)863 and Employment of Women, Young Persons and Children’s Act (1919).864 This bill ran into difficulties. The government had to retract it because the Rear Admiral, the largest employer, impugned the right of the responsible government to legislate on Dockyard employees, including women and young workers. The Rear Admiral contended that the definition of ‘industrial factory’ encompassed the Navy Department workforce.865 In point of fact, for an indefinite time, the UPM also postponed the Widows and Orphans Pension Bill in which there was a similar definition.866

857 Casolani (1927) 1343-1357. 858 Mahoney 273. 859 NARMLGO-379/1922. 860 Frendo (1979) 201. 861 LHRPLLA 1924-27, dos 214. 862 PDLA, 17.ii.1922. 863 1 Edw 7, ch22. 864 10&11 Geo 5, ch65. 865 NARMHM-324/1922. 866 NARMLGO-303/1922.

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Although the Malta-based garrison was prepared to run down and return the old fortifications to the Maltese,867 the British Air and Naval forces were moving in the opposite direction owing to the Empire’s post-war policy in relation to the Middle East and India. The Colonial Office in agreement with the War Office decided to extend to Malta the effects of an Air Navigation Colonies and Protectorates Order-in-Council dated 6 February 1922.868 The Order-in-Council had ratified an international Air Navigation Convention signed by Britain on 13 October 1919.869 Mr Howard’s failure to form a coalition brought trouble during the presentation of the first Appropriation Bill relative to the 1922-23 estimates. To quote Mahaffy’s own words, the ‘delicate and highly artificial fabric’ of the new Constitution was laid bare in moments of disloyal spirit between the political parties.870 On 3 April 1922, the PDN made an extraordinary combination with the LP and CP to defeat by 18 to 14 the budget that included an allowance provision in favour of the senators.871 On 26 May 1922, it was the special senators who in their turn united to torpedo the relevant vote without that provision.872 Only by paying a heavy price was the UPM ultimately able to get the estimates through. First, it secured the LP vote in the Lower House by granting a ministerial portfolio to Dr William Savona.873 Dr Savona, who in principle was against the existence of the Upper House, immediately vacated his senatorial seat.874 In addition, the UPM bound itself to give priority to socialist or collectivist LP proposals.875 Top of the agenda were the introduction of compulsory education, rent and factories regulation, and the widows and orphans pension.876 Secondly, the UPM secured

867 See 73, 121, 126, 134 et seq. 868 9&10&11 Geo 5, ch20. 869 NARMCC-Churchill/Plumer 7.iii.1922. 870 NARMD-Congreve/Amery 19.vi.1926. 871 PDLA, 3.iv.1922. 872 PDS, 26.v.1922. 873 MGG 6472, 11.iv.1922. 874 See 99 on Savona’s original opposition to the Senate. 875 G Bonnici (1990) 58-59. 876 LHRPLLA, 1921-22, dos 36.

124 the diarchy nine senatorial votes, and thus ordered judge Dr Refalo to recognise their allowance as he prepared the Standing Orders.877 These internal rules of procedure of the legislature included the cumbersome system of Appropriation Bills for legalising annual and supplementary estimates.878 While the Maltese Government engaged in the tug-of-war on the estimates, Governor Lord Plumer demonstrated the defence- minded role, which the Maltese Imperial Government would continue to play in questions of reserved matters.879 He directed Mahaffy to re-introduce in the Nominated Council the Wireless Telegraphy (Merchant Shipping) Bill of the defunct Council of Government.880 London had indicated all along (in 1898, 1913 and 1921) that it would consider Malta an outpost for the control of wireless telegraphy, a lynchpin to overseas public and secret communications and defence stratagems.881 From the beginning, Mahaffy was beset with drafting problems owing to differences between the concepts of Maltese and English substantive law. For instance, in Maltese law there were ‘crime’ and ‘contravention’. English law by contrast distinguished between ‘treason’, ‘felony’ and ‘misdemeanour’. The Legal Adviser stuck to local categories. However, in line with the English Wireless Telegraphy Act (1904),882 Mahaffy modified the relevant bill to incorporate a further London-imposed instruction to bind ships to license wireless telegraphy apparatus.883 Through Dr Mizzi, the Chamber of Commerce reiterated that the imposition of wireless telegraphy on merchant ships would harm the already depressed maritime commerce owing to competition from neighbouring countries. It said that Malta was first and foremost a coaling station for merchant ships.884 It could not understand Lord Plumer’s claim that it was better to

877 SOLA (Malta 1922) 29-39 and 50, and SOS (1922) 25 and 45. 878 SOLA, Sos 77-88 and SOS Sos 76-77. 879 RCC (1931) 60. 880 See 97, 104, 108, 125, 126. 881 NARMD-Amery/Congreve 29.x.1924. 882 4 Edw 7, ch24. 883 NARMLGO-81/1922. 884 CCAC 1921, dos x.

125 constitutions and legislation in malta prioritise ‘passenger safety in the public interest’ rather than the private interest of individual traders.885 Britain envisaged Malta as a Royal Navy headquarters.886 In the event, Lord Plumer did not assent to the bill because he did not find a suitable Wireless Inspector.887 Through the Nominated Council he pushed through another statute on wireless telegraphy in the form of Ordinance II (1922). This was designed to regulate the apparatus on land. In a matter of weeks, local wireless enthusiasts had proliferated beyond measure.888

5.3. INNOVATIONS

In 1921-1924, in the midst of transient political alliances, the legislative enactments are few but important regarding one particular, common factor: their themes are all novel to the legal system of the country.

By 1922, it had become clear that the UPM-LP co-operation was doomed to a short life. The ideological and methodological divergences were too great.889 Besides, they had to bring forward legislation subject to the inveterate complications of the constitutional competences. For example, employment was a transferred matter, while imperial property, including the Admiralty-owned Dockyard, was reserved.890 They agreed to set up a mixed commission to enquire into the matter of constituting a widows and orphans pension.891 To comply with the LP-favoured British position, the UPM was ready to institutionalise only at regulatory level the internal composition (President, Secretary and so forth) and external

885 Amery 196. 886 NARMPetit-1235/1921. 887 NARMLGO-783/1921. 888 NARMLGO-4709A/1922. 889 G Bonnici (1990) 58-59. 890 See 110. 891 NARMLGO-303/1920.

126 the diarchy representation of the TUC. It agreed to recognise only bona fide trade unions such as the unions of goldsmiths, bakers, barbers and others, that germinated instantaneously to contest for a senatorial seat.892 It was ready to exclude benefit societies like the Società dei Piloti (Society of Marine Pilots), under Dr Mizzi’s presidency and legal representation,893 and the National Farmers Union.894 However, when it reluctantly agreed with the LP to introduce two controversial social measures to regulate rent and factories, the UPM started to show that its alliance with this minor ally would be short-lived. Several Panzavecchiani, mainly prelates belonging to traditionally landed families, strongly opposed the legislative institutionalisation of rent control due to institutional conflicts of proprietary interest.895 To alleviate the shortage of housing, as an alternative to the building of dwellings, the LP promoted the rent control measure with equal force.896 The Maltese working classes were heavily hit by this most acute post- war social problem.897 In 1921, Malta was not only set to undergo an unprecedented boom of dwelling-houses and buildings. There were infrastructural constructions, which included principal entertainment facilities. The soccer impresario Meme Scicluna, built the Empire Sports Ground in Gżira to replace the Mile-End Sporting Ground for the better organisation of football matches but also for greyhound and horse races.898 Another Gzira-based entrepreneur, Felic Gerada, constructed and opened one of the most beautiful theatres across the country: the Orpheum.899 It was also an era when Malta needed to organise a system of routes to accommodate motorcars and buses imported from the UK and the US, the new means of travel and transport that inundated the country and supplanted the railway and electric

892 LHRPLCG 1921-11, dos 115-116. 893 See LHRPLLA 1928, dos 38. 894 NA, Gauci Forno 6.vi.1921. 895 See PDLA 1.vi.1922. 896 G Bonnici (1990) 40. 897 See PDLA, 13.vi.1922. 898 Nicholl 38. 899 Calleja (2000) 98.

127 constitutions and legislation in malta tram.900 Meanwhile the Maltese people had become more aware of the need for environmental protection and preservation of heritage. A group of individuals made news when they took to the streets of Valletta to protest against the alteration of a baroque window in the capital city.901 There was another event which stole the headlines. This was a spectacular repetition of the recent debate on the 1922-1923 estimates.902 In the Lower House, pandemonium arose during the discussion on the Rent Regulation Bill, as a letter-writer had rightly anticipated in a local newspaper.903 Not only the UPM clashed with its coalition partner, the LP. The same LP and PDN, the arch-rivals on the language question, for once made common cause. On the presentation in the Lower House of the Reletting of Urban Property Bill, the LP Vice-President Dr Frendo said that such a measure was aimed at alleviating long-term housing problems. He explained that the bill established the principle of rent restriction by virtue of the automatic renewal of expired leases (short-term tenancies) of dwellings as well as shops.904 He said that the bill derogated from the relevant institute of the Civil Code (1874), including the right of preference.905 He revealed that he had based the bill on that Code, and on the German Civil Code, as well as recent Italian legal decrees and the works of the Italian jurisconsult Bassano Gabba.906 Unexpectedly, Dr Frendo was strongly criticised by Dr Alfredo Caruana Gatto (UPM), like him a moderate on the language question. Dr Caruana Gatto argued that the proposed Rent Regulation Bill was like the English Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (War Restriction) Act (1915).907 He fomented dissent in other Panzavecchiani to denounce the LP vice-leader as ‘bolshevik’

900 LHRPLS, 1921-22 dos 3. 901 PDS, 4.xii.1925. 902 See 124. 903 H, 3.vi.1922. 904 NARMLGO-131/1922. 905 See 23. 906 PDLA, 1.vi.1922. 907 5&6 Geo 5, ch97.

128 the diarchy and a ‘desecrator of Rerum Novarum’.908 Consequently, the Panzavecchiani formed an unusual front with the CP against the measure for the whole session of the legislature. They caused the LP to sever ties, and Dr Savona to resign his Ministerial seat there and then, and to take up again his senatorial seat.909 The PDN, which also had social legislation at heart, especially the provision of labour, proposed to amend the Civil Code (1874) to salvage the measure.910 The local tenants, the low-wage working class occupying Church-owned dwellings, remained without a means of legal redress against the imposition of excessive rents on the renewal of ‘short leases’.911 On 6 June 1922, as a source of revenue to sponsor building and infrastructural projects, Robert Hamilton (CP) made a motion in the Legislative Assembly for introducing public lotto in line with Italian legislation.912 He ignored the advice of his own leader Sir Gerald, who contended that lotto was an ‘act of violence’.913 So as to provide band clubs (the venues of political rivalry) with a source of revenue in exchange for music tuition to poor children, Governors had allowed lotto for a few years in the last decade of the 19th century.914 However, the UPM was also split on such a politically and morally controversial proposal. The UPM had to identify revenue sources for the public coffers and means for generating vote-catching employment. It planned to take steps to cut down on clandestine emigration, the available avenue to employment, and on related relief and repatriation expenses.915 With the establishment of bakeries, the navy, army and air force institutes (the NAAFI) were set to increase jobs for the Maltese, and pose a ‘political’ challenge to the UPM from the side of the Maltese Imperial Government.916

908 PDLA, 13.vi.1922. 909 See MGG 6540, 11.i.1923. 910 M, 13.v.1922. 911 See DMC 26.i.1922. 912 PDLA, 6.i.1922. 913 DMC, 15.ii.1922. 914 See 63. 915 NARMLGO-74/1923. 916 Pirotta (1996) 402.

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On 21 June 1922, Sir Edgar Harper adjudged that several militarily-occupied lands and buildings should revert to the Maltese.917 However, the Army Council at first argued that he had only made a recommendation, and so months elapsed918 before the British services entered the necessary agreements and released the properties concerned.919 For electoral reasons, the UPM kept aloof from collectivist legislation of the fiscal type. But it availed itself of the mixed opinions of deputies, senators and other politicians to move a draft bill to sanction public lotto as an alternative government source of income for financing national construction and infrastructural projects according to the signs and needs of the time.920 Dr Alfredo Mattei (UPM) called the public lotto bill ‘the ruin of the country’, whereas his party-mate Monsignor Ferris praised the measure and recalled that the ‘modern Popes’ Innocence XIII and Clement X had decreed lotto for the object of charity.921 He was more dogmatic than Monsignor Francesco Ferris whose personal view diverged from the Church’s general perspective. On ethical grounds, Canon Bugelli (UPM) voted with Dr Mattei and Sir Gerald against the proposed bill in the second reading, while Dr Mizzi voted in favour, on economic grounds.922 Dr Mizzi, who re-opposed a re-proposal for introducing wireless telegraphy on merchant ships,923 also spoke for the Chamber of Commerce. At the time, the Chamber tempered its policy of laissez-faire with shifts of concentration on new avenues like emigration and tourism, and pressured the State to close the NAAFI bakeries.924 The UPM protracted its analysis of the Public Lotto Bill because the internal political divisions on the matter rendered the

917 HA 15-22. 918 Bugeja 84. 919 RWGD 1923-24, U2. 920 LHRPLLA 1921-22, dos 11. 921 PDLA, 6.vi.1922. 922 PDLA, 14.vi.1922. 923 See 125, 126. 924 Vassallo (1998) 84-86.

130 the diarchy outcome unpredictable. But it was certainly resolute to press for the relevant enactment towards the end of the year for financial and economic reasons.925 It disclosed its strategy of coordinating with the Gozitan party leader and securing a working majority vote in the responsible legislature when it passed the first and only successful statutory measure to re-systematise government portfolios: Act IX (1922). By virtue of this Act, the UPM created the constitutionally prescribed new Ministry for Justice and the Internal Affairs Department,926 within which it included the novel two- pronged office of the re-designated legal adviser to the Maltese Government, and his legal adjutant (a legal procurator).927 It accepted a proposal of the Italy-trained lawyer and Gozitan Party leader to consider foreign-qualified Maltese lawyers as eligible to the post of Public Prosecutor and Treasury Counsel (the Crown Advocate).928 The UPM lacked the necessary finances to move a bill to organise the treasury and audit department. Moreover, it set aside another draft statute to modernise the notarial profession. On behalf of the British services, Mahaffy opposed a Notarial Council suggestion that Italian should be the only compulsory language of contracts, wills and rites de passage.929 The UPM permitted Dr Mizzi to introduce in the Legislative Assembly the bill to declare the national day of Malta. The bill was meant to rectify another constitutional omission, and to legalise what his father Dr Fortunato Mizzi had revived as the national day: the Otto Settembre, the commemoration of the Maltese and Hospitallers’ ‘Great Siege Victory’ over the Turks on 8 September 1565.930 During the debate in the Legislative Assembly, while agreeing in principle, Dr Mizzi (PDN) and Dr Bartolo (CP) revealed the political divisions and partisan extremities, which led

925 See 129, 133, 134, 145. 926 LPRG (1921) Art 55. 927 NARMLGO-136/1922. 928 PDLA, 30.vi.1922. 929 NARMLGO-219/1922. 930 See 56.

131 constitutions and legislation in malta newspapers with relevant coverage to be sold out.931 They quoted comparatively from two history writers who had attributed the Great Siege Victory to two different rulers. The Italian Carlo Saminiatelli Zabarella had concluded that the Order had won the siege thanks to the help of Pope Pius V.932 By contrast the British William Hickling Prescott had written that the Knights had triumphed over the Turks through the help of the English monarch Elizabeth I.933 Dr Bartolo related the epic story surrounding the content of the bill, giving the impression that his party had in mind no other date as an alternative meriting the name of ‘national’. The Sette Giugno 1919 disturbances were too recent to be in the mind of the proponents.934 Nevertheless, as a national day, Sir Gerald proposed 10 February, the feast of Saint Paul, which the Valletta under the title of the Patron Saint of Malta solemnised with pomp and circumstance.935 Count Strickland had been christened there and knew that the PDN had intimate connections with the celebration of St Paul’s day. Dr Fortunato Mizzi had also been President of the Valletta-based La Valette Philharmonic Society and Band Club which used to perform marches on the Saint’s feast days in the capital city.936 These alternative suggestions mustered insufficient support. On 18 August 1922, the UPM enacted the Otto Settembre 1565 Bill as Act XV (1922). It passed the Act in time for the first commemoration of the feast on the opening of the new scholastic year.937 On such an occasion the Maltese white and red flag was also raised.938 The UPM was also better poised to take numerical advantage of the political internal divisions and to rush the Public Lotto Bill through the responsible legislature (Act XVII of

931 Ganado (1977) vl, 284. 932 Zabarella was published in 1907. 933 Prescott appeared in 1857. 934 See 90, 91. 935 PDLA 8.vi.1922. 936 See 56. 937 T, v1, n42, 4. 938 Mercieca (1969) 145.

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1922).939 In fact, the UPM discarded the idea of basing the public lotto system on a special fund to avoid technical controversies that would arise from the fact that the Constitution Letters Patent required one single and indivisible public fund (the Consolidated Revenue Fund).940 The UPM refrained from picking a technical way through. As Governor Lord Plumer was to reveal during a visit by the Speaker of the South African Parliament, the Minister for Education Monsignor Ferris941 had almost completed the Bill to legalise the pari passu principle from the higher classes of the elementary schools upwards according to Dr Mizzi’s policy. It was hoped that the measure would lay to rest the 50 year old vexata quaestio of education, an issue recently aggravated by the Constitution’s ‘equal languages of culture’ clause.942 The UPM hastened to enact the Public Lotto Fund Act, Act XXI (1922), only on ensuring that Robert Pentland Mahaffy withdrew his opposition to the creation of the special fund.943 By virtue of the Public Lotto Act (1922), the UPM introduced a series of statutes that would replenish public monies without the need of special appropriation bills.944 The Maltese at large did not seem to mirror the intra-party division on the introduction of public lotto. Band clubs and philharmonic societies welcomed Act XXI (1922) and provided the first public lotto booths that sold tickets in abundance five days before the first draw: 86, 53, 72, 41 and 6.945 Thus, the Maltese people were further exposed to betting and gambling that had increased with organised sports (football, greyhound races, and so on).946

939 PDLA, 20.vii.1922. 940 NARMLGO-367/1922. 941 LHRPLLA 1923, dos 94. 942 LHRPLLA, dos 94. 943 NARMLGO-281/1924. 944 See 169, 170. 945 DMC, 12.ii.1923. 946 See 127.

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5.4. MILITARISM

In 1921-1924, self-government is supposed to see a rundown of the garrison. However, the Armed Forces of the Crown press for military measures the enactment of which reflect the real interest of the War Office over Malta in the context of post-war imperial militarism and expansionism.

On 23 January 1923, Lord Plumer assented to the Merchant Shipping Wireless Telegraphy Ordinance (Ordinance I 1923) after appointing Major Guy Harrison as first Inspector.947 For the Maltese Imperial Government a rather prolific legislative year got started. From the beginning of this year, a series of controversial Ordinances were projected to tighten control over defence matters and the army-occupied areas. On 23 February 1923, Plumer steered a bill through the Nominated Council to prohibit entry into lands under military occupation. Ordinance II (1923) was enacted, establishing prohibitive trespass that hit hardest the several farmers who used to traverse such lands to reach their enclosed fields. Farmers across Malta still tolerated948 the old military drill practices on their properties in exchange for compensation (or ‘exorbitant monies’ according to Mahaffy)949 from the Fortress Officer – permissive trespass. Now, they were expected to tolerate encroachments and expropriations of their rural and arable lands at the hands of the military authorities for the laying of airstrips and other facilities.950 By enacting Ordinance II (1923), Lord Plumer marked a turning-point in the relations between the fighting services and the peasantry. At first, he gave rise to a fierce confrontation between the two sides. A number of farmers started putting up ‘Out of Bounds’ notices on their lands, or else turned their

947 NARMLGO-4709/1921. 948 NARMLGO-156/1927. 949 NARMLGO-215/1924. 950 NARMLGO-230/1926.

134 the diarchy back on the Fortress Compensation Officer.951 Others served prohibitory injunctions on the Colonel-in-Charge Robert Napier Maddocks.952 The Governor sowed a seed that later was to develop into a most intense diarchical clash.953 In 1923, the Governor Lord Plumer also gave special attention to the UK Official Secrets Act (1911)954 so as to include the control of spying activities via aerial and wireless transmissions.955 He also ordered Mahaffy to assume responsibility for the matter despite drafting difficulties956 for the reason that the model British enactment had to be reconciled with the local criminal law position.957 Like the Expert Commissioner in 1831 and Sir Vincent Frendo Azopardi in 1914, Mahaffy incorporated the Maltese substantive Criminal Code (1854) distinction between ‘crime’ and ‘contravention’ in place of the threefold classification of ‘treason’, ‘felony’ and ‘misdemeanour’, which re-appeared under the English Act.958 The Chief Justice, the now knighted Dr Refalo, reminded him and Lord Plumer that the Maltese had inherited their criminal and penal law systems from Sicilian customs and pragmatic sanctions since the late Middle Ages. Sir Michelangelo Refalo said that the Maltese had looked at the Code for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1819) for codifying the operative Code (1854), and that past legal experts had left untouched basic principles of the criminal and penal systems of Malta.959 Mahaffy also introduced the concept of ‘passing over’, the flying of aeroplanes over prohibited areas, which had appeared in the English enactment, but was completely novel to Maltese law.960 The Legal Adviser did so under the instruction of the Air

951 NARMLGO-98/1925. 952 NARMLGO-156/1927. 953 See 167, 170, 203. 954 10&11 Geo 5, ch75. 955 NARMD-Churchill/Plumer 26.viii.1922. 956 See 81.. 957 NARMLGO-160/1922. 958 NARMLGO-6072/1921, and 4637/1921. 959 See 30. 960 NARMLGO-160/1922.

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Ministry delegate who had the backing of the War Office on the matter.961 On 23 February 1923, Lord Plumer assented to the new Official Secrets Ordinance, Ordinance III (1923).962 At once, he informed Mahaffy that London had instructed him to move a bill to implement an Order-in-Council (1922) for the purpose of prohibiting photography in Maltese aerial space in peacetime by way of precaution.963 During the relevant Nominated Council debate on the measure, the Aircraft Photography (Prohibition) Bill, it became clear that the War Office attached importance to Malta as an important aeronautical outpost rather than as a commercial and economic centre in the Mediterranean.964 The RAF had just inaugurated a military aerodrome at Ħal Far965 where it made wholesale appropriation of tracts of irrigated land966 on the basis of Ordinance II (1881)967 subject to the payment of compensation to the landowners concerned.968 The carrying of photographic cameras and the taking of pictures from civilian airplanes was disallowed on the insistence of the Air Ministry delegate who gave priority to Malta’s strategic value.969 On 6 April 1923, Lord Plumer assented to the bill, Ordinance IV,970 which on the positive side enriched the colony’s legal system with another new area of telecommunication: air navigation. The RAF’s inauguration of the Ħal Far airstrip was as much a prelude to the enactment of Ordinance IV (1923) as the gentle landing of a de Havilland was to be a sequel a month later.971

961 NARMLGO-173/22. 962 NARMLGO-216/1922. 963 NARMCC-Churchill/Plumer 13.iv.1922. 964 NARMLGO-4210/1920. 965 NARMLGO-43/1923, and DMC, 17.i.1923. 966 NARMLGO-1482/1921. 967 See 55. 968 See NARMLGO-175/1929. 969 NARMD-Duke of Devonshire/Plumer 18.i.1923. 970 NARMLGO-77/1923. 971 TMH, 22.v.1923.

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5.5. DR ENRICO MIZZI

The period 1921-1924 starts to be productive within the self-government legislature only after the UPM allied with the PDN. However, statutes are inevitably enacted subject to PDN conditions.

In his late pre-announcement on pari passu as a solution to the constitutional ‘equal languages of culture’ phrase (Art 57),972 Governor Lord Plumer had indicated that the UPM government and the PDN had for some time connived in a form of alliance. Dr Mizzi’s ultimate motive was the legalisation of what had formed the blood, spirit and soul of the PDN’s 50 years of existence: the Italianisation of Malta and its people.973 Ideologically, the Panzavecchiani were closer to the Mizziani than the Savoniani and could easily form a working majority in the Lower House with prospects of amalgamating into one party.974 Extremely or moderately, they were also for an Italianisation drive.975 The Mizziani had four deputies.976 As always, the senators representing the Chamber of Advocates and the University students, who generally came from the law faculty, were staunchly pro-Italians.977 Through his lobbying within the Chamber of Commerce, Dr Mizzi also stood a very good chance to get the votes of the Chamber’s senators. The Panzavecchiani knew how to play their cards. Nevertheless, whilst needing the votes of the PDN, they risked blackmail by Dr Mizzi in voting decisions within the legislative process during the remaining sessions of the first legislature. The PDN coerced the UPM into re-submitting three times the estimates for 1922-23.978 It was to force the UPM to set

972 See 133. 973 LHRPLLA 1923-24, dos 31. 974 See 165. 975 See 115. 976 See 118. 977 See 111. 978 See 124.

137 constitutions and legislation in malta aside several of its electoral proposals. These included the re- systematisation of the treasury and audit and notarial offices, the introduction of compulsory education on the basis of Catholic teachings, rent control and factories regulation (and the eight hours principle).979 Dr Mizzi conditioned the final texts of enactments relating to the post office, the electoral laws and others. He influenced the outcome of controversial and long-drawn-out statutes to legalise ‘parliamentary’ privileges and immunities and the TUC.980 Dr Mizzi was to have a numerical edge over Dr Savona and Sir Gerald whose parties would contribute to the discussion and enactment of legislation from the Opposition benches. In the ensuing months, in contrast to the defence-minded and fortress-oriented Maltese Imperial Government,981 he made the UPM pass very few other statutes. On 1 February 1923, on behalf of the Prime Minister Dr Francesco Buhagiar, the PDN leader Dr Mizzi introduced a bill to apply to the local responsible legislature ‘by wholesale reference’, rather than ‘by schedule’, the parliamentary privileges and immunities of the British House of Commons.982 He first revealed that Dr Buhagiar had drafted such a bill, also prescribed by the Standing Orders,983 in line with New Zealand (1861) and South Australian (1888) enactments. However, the PDN leader withdrew the bill since its laconic form, which Mahaffy favoured,984 created an apprehension that the measure might not specifically indicate to the average person the scope and content of the privileges and immunities.985 The proposed bill would have been a classic example where a political primus inter pares assumed the role of a legislative framer instead of the Public Prosecutor and Treasury Counsel.986

979 See 148 re their re-proposals. 980 See 145, 146. 981 See 134, 136. 982 NARMLGO-325/1923. 983 SOLA SO 186, SOS SO 45. 984 NARMD-Congreve/Amery 27.xii.1924. 985 Cremona (1997) 30. 986 PDLA, 1.ii.1923.

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On 22 February 1923, Dr Mizzi proposed a ‘parliamentary’ commission to revise the Plumer system on the TUC election and composition, and include groups of mala fide workers and benefit societies as candidates. He proposed to create ‘competition’ for the pro-British and pro-labour Workers’ Union adherents.987 He had his motion approved but the commission still needed more time to get political consensus to replace the present TUC system.988 On 23 February 1923, Dr Buhagiar introduced the two important albeit controversial educational bills in the Lower House. The first was the Simultaneous Teaching of Italian and English (‘Pari Passu’ Bill) in line with his own party’s electoral programme.989 The second was the Compulsory Education Bill.990 However, he ultimately mothballed this latter measure. Dr Buhagiar had framed the Compulsory Education Bill on Italian and other continental legislation. He had based it on a method that would gradually extend the system to different parts of the country to allow time for building more schools together with housing estates according to the post-war construction programme in progress.991 Dr Buhagiar wanted to please Dr Mizzi after Dr Frendo (LP), hailed the Compulsory Education Bill as ‘a panacea for … analphabetism’992 (illiteracy) and voted for the Pari Passu Bill.993 In fact, Dr Buhagiar also ignored the Union of Teachers that had used its official magazine to appeal for the implementation of compulsory education.994 Indeed, the UPM had more time to spend on the Pari Passu Bill with the Compulsory Education Bill shelved. But Sir Gerald and his team were provided with elbow-room to lambaste pari passu, counter-proposing the ‘Equal Facilities Policy’, a modern version of the Free Choice Policy.995 Deputies Robert Hamilton

987 PDLA 22.ii.1923. 988 See 100, 104, 110, 111, 117, 119, 127, 155 et seq. 989 NARMLGO-80/1923. 990 NARMLGO-167/1922. 991 LHRPLLA 1923-24 dos 61. 992 PDLA, 23.ii.1923. 993 PDLA, 6.iii.1923. 994 T, v1, n38, 3-4. 995 M, i/ii 1923.

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(CP) and Colonel Dundon (LP), both first generation Maltese of UK parents, also sought to promote Maltese as a language of the legislature and legislation.996 However, by saying that English was an instrument for Protestantising, the PDN hardened the clergy’s antagonism towards both the CP and LP.997 In the thick of the pari passu battle in both Houses of the responsible legislature, the UPM prelates, prominently Monsignor Dandria, expressed indignation at the Church senator Monsignor Apap Bologna, who at first seemed to vote against the relevant Bill.998 However, the UPM (and the DPN) passed the Bill, Monsignor Apap Bologna voting for and Dr Savona against it in the second reading in the Upper House:999 the Simultaneous Teaching of Italian and English Act/Act IX (1923).1000 Before submitting the Act to London’s approval, the UPM handed the Act to Mahaffy to scrutinise its validity in the context of British armed services interests.1001 On the advice of the London General Post Office in line with the English Merchant Shipping (Convention) Act of 1914,1002 Mahaffy had piloted an amendment (Ordinance V 1923) to include vessels under 1,600 tons in capacity in the brand-new Wireless Telegraphy (Merchant Shipping) Ordinance.1003 The UPM also moved and passed other non-controversial revenue statutes. First, it passed the Allowance To Members of the Legislature Act (Act III 1923) that included senatorial pay.1004 Then, it passed an Excess Profits Duty Adaptation Act, Act VI 1923, to exempt the Anglo-American Tobacco Co and other Malta-based international companies from double taxation in line with a Grenada Ordinance (1920).1005

996 PDLA, 16.iv.1923. 997 Dobie 88. 998 M, 18/23.vi.1923. 999 PDS 15.v.1923. 1000 PDS, 20.vi.1923. 1001 NARMLGO-289/1923. 1002 4&5 Geo 5, ch50. 1003 NARMD-Duke of Devonshire/Plumer 7.vi.1922. 1004 NARMHM-286/1923. 1005 NARMLGO-141/1923.

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The third statute was a Stowaways Act (Act VIII 1923). A re-adaptation of Ordinance I of 1888,1006 this enactment was intended to make checks on ships not carrying the royal flag,1007 clamp down on illegal immigrants, including stateless persons, and spare Malta’s relief and repatriation expenses.1008 As a result of a decision by the Order of Franciscan Minor Conventuals, ta’ Putirjal, to alter the artistic façade of their Valletta church without a permit from the State-nominated Antiquities Committee, the UPM also passed Act IV (1923) to amend the Antiquities Ordinance (1910).1009 The Panzavecchiani forgave Monsignor Apap Bologna, who finally voted for pari passu while his brother the Marquis Paolo, one of the nobles’ senators, voted against a re-proposed Disentailment Bill.1010 But they never condoned the friars1011 for keeping the clergy away from street protests against Monsignor Apap Bologna’s original stance against pari passu.1012 They reacted strenuously against the Franciscan Minor Conventuals for structurally altering the façade of their church in Valletta.1013 They passed the Antiquities Act (1923) to remove any doubt about the law’s application to the ‘stubborn’ friars, and also brought a court action to enforce the Act against them.1014 The UPM had to put up with the harsh criticism of the CP and the journalistic attacks of Dr Bartolo, a regular frequenter of the church at issue.1015 The Panzavecchiani were heavy-handed with the friars. But then, with the go-ahead of the Antiquities Committee, they constructed a school in place of Fort Saint Michael at Senglea (l-Isla), the old fort that had borne the brunt of the assaults of the Turks in the Great Siege of 1565.1016

1006 See 50. 1007 NARMD-Duke of Devonshire/Plumer 13.v.1923. 1008 PDLA, 26.vii.1923. 1009 PDLA, 7. v.1923. 1010 PDS, 17.v.1923. 1011 Ganado (1977) v1, 342. 1012 M, 18/23.vii.1923. 1013 AMAMAC, 17.vii.1923. 1014 ACJVFHCC, Buhagiar noe v Dandria noe 31.vi.1923. 1015 Ganado (1977) v1, 343. 1016 AMAMAC, 15.xii.1923.

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In 1923, the UPM passed nine Acts overall and could do no better in a year, which also took its biggest toll with the unexpected death of Chief Justice Sir Michelangelo Refalo.1017 At least, it had the Pari Passu Act, Act IX (1923), approved in London in late October1018 as soon as Mahaffy reported that the Act fell within the terms of the Constitution.1019 Indeed, the British services continued to provide the major source of income for the Maltese and through employer- employee relations entrenched English as the de facto language.1020 The local market for the ruler’s language was to increase in the coming years.1021 By opening more NAAFI bakeries during the supposed post-1921 garrison or army rundown, the services augmented spending in jobs and salaries for the local skilled and semi-skilled workers and stepped up competition with the local commercial class.1022 Towards the end of 1923, the UPM also resumed discussion on the Privileges and Immunities of the (Responsible) Legislature Bill. But time and again, it held over the measure because the Opposition leaders protracted the relevant discussion in the legislature.1023 Dr Mizzi explained that the Maltese legislature’s privileges and immunities had existed since 1849 in an unwritten form in line with the House of Commons procedures, and had been confirmed by Ordinance VIII (1881).1024 Dr Mizzi said that Sir Thomas Erskine May’s collection of the British House of Commons rulings1025 applied automatically to the new legislature. He showed that he was influenced by British parliamentary practice despite his politically pro-

1017 See Abela (1998) for a documented biography on Sir Michelangelo. 1018 MGG 6610, 31.x.1923. 1019 NARMLGO-289/1923. 1020 Rossi 71-72. 1021 Frendo (1992) 452. 1022 Vassallo (1998) 85-88. 1023 See 110, 137, 138, 142, 144, 154. 1024 See 57. 1025 See May on the rulings of the British House of Commons in 1923.

142 the diarchy

Italian tendencies.1026 Contrarily, Sir Gerald raised issues of constitutional relevance. He questioned whether a legislature could amend constitutional provisions on ‘transferred matters’, or apply Standing Orders to third parties. He asked whether the legislative body could proceed against its own members before the ordinary tribunals.1027 Legislatively, the UPM was still less active in the remaining six-month session of the first legislature (1921-1924). On new statutes of institutional importance, the PDN leader Dr Mizzi used his unabated influence, acting as if he were the Church’s protégé in the responsible legislature. Dr Mizzi was influential on the form of enactment of Act III (1924) to re-structure the post office in line with an English Act of 1908.1028 Dr Mizzi determined the outcome of Act VII (1924) to facilitate the reciprocal enforcement of foreign judgments according to the UK Administration of Justice Act (1920)1029 combined with a Somaliland Ordinance.1030 Moreover, he influenced the final text of the first Electoral Act, Act XIV (1924),1031 based on the UK Representation of the People Act (1918).1032 In 1921, the UPM had promised a new Post Office Act but had to delay the measure because of the Pari Passu Act and other legislative priorities.1033 The UPM adopted a Mizzi proposal to empower the Postmaster General to inspect and sequestrate letters or mailed articles on suspicion of immorality, sedition or public order.1034 Like a priest in a church homily, Dr Mizzi said that ‘pornographic’ periodicals like La Vie Parisienne had alarmingly proliferated via shipped mail.1035 He only agreed to entitle the ordinary citizen to sue the Postmaster General for

1026 PDLA, 3.xii.1923. 1027 PDS, 14.i.1924. 1028 8 Edw 7, ch48. 1029 10&11 Geo 5, ch81. 1030 NARMMLGO-75/1923. 1031 NARMMJ-140/1924. 1032 7&8 Geo 5, ch64. 1033 See 137, 138. 1034 LHRPLSLS, 1924-27, dos 289. 1035 PDLA, 8.x.1922.

143 constitutions and legislation in malta civil damages according to the indigenous court doctrine of governmental liability.1036 In fact, there was a more serious cause for checking mails suspected of being used for criminal purposes. Mail could be used to facilitate the international trafficking of drugs, which was on the increase. At the time, the RAF inaugurated in Malta a military aerodrome, enabling more regular and speedier mail services by air.1037 A foreign pharmaceutical supplier of products to the local government medical stores and to around 30 local importers, was involved in global trafficking of illicit drugs.1038 On Dr Mizzi’s request, the UPM also suspended Article 2 of Act VII (1924).1039 As in 1921, Dr Mizzi stated that the measure provided a gateway to the infiltration of divorce.1040 He argued that the Act violated Malta’s public law that considered marriage indissoluble according to the universally applicable Canon Law.1041 On 22 April 1924, the UPM passed the Electoral Act in view of the approaching elections, while Dr Mizzi agreed to shelve the ‘Parliamentary Privileges Bill’ for the new legislature.1042 ‘Moral and material injuries’ were qualified as corrupt practices on the insistence of Dr Mizzi.1043 He said that the word ‘moral’, instead of ‘spiritual’ in the British model, would ensure the clergy’s control over the electorate against any party committing ‘spiritual injuries’.1044 Moreover, instead of the Chamber of Commerce as such, ‘the Council of the Chamber of Commerce’ was given the right to elect two senators. It was through such a Council that Dr Mizzi lobbied politically.1045

1036 See 63. 1037 See 136. 1038 NARMD-Thomas/Plumer 6.ii.1924. 1039 PDLA, 17.iv.1924. 1040 NARMD-Plumer/Thomas 30.vi.1924. 1041 NARMLGO-194/1925. 1042 See 154, 155. 1043 PDLA, 10.iv.1924. 1044 TMH, 9.iv.1934. 1045 See 138, 205, 208.

144 the diarchy

At this stage, ignoring a nobles’ claim to London that only the King could confer titles, Dr Mizzi pushed forth a Pontifical Titles Bill.1046 He did not fear that the Crown might veto the Bill for recognising papal authority. He would have passed the Bill through the Legislative Assembly and the Senate had he moved it earlier to avoid its lapse on the dissolution of the first legislature.1047 In 1924, the UPM set up a Labour Bureau,1048 and re-proposed a Widows and Orphans Pension Scheme.1049 It also scored high profits with the Public Lotto Act,1050 a financial success on which it could capitalise electorally. But it had failed to pass social legislation on workmen’s compensation, compulsory education and rent regulation.1051 The nearer the Lower House approached dissolution, the more the Malta Civil Service Association grew agitated. Left without a legislative framework, civil service employees still awaited basic social benefits such as gratuities to their dependents for in-service or on-duty casualties.1052 In 1921, the UPM had electorally got a relative majority and had to form coalitions. In 1924, it had to explain to the electorate a legislative performance, which did not tally with its 1921 promises. The first three years of self-government were characterised by several failed legislative proposals due to internal political problems compounded by opposition from the Admiralty. As a result of the UPM’s alignment with the PDN, the enacted measures, including the controversial pari passu in education, were more in satisfaction of the demands of the smaller of the two allies, the PDN. In 1921-1924, the influence of the local Roman Catholic Church prevailed in connection with legislation not merely to declare the religion of Malta but also to establish the electoral system, organise the post office

1046 PDLA, 27.iii.1925. 1047 NARMHM-477/1924. 1048 Ellul Galea (1999) 274. 1049 NARMLGO-26/1924. 1050 LHRPLLA, 1923-24 dos 46. 1051 See 138. 1052 NARMLGO-125/1925.

145 constitutions and legislation in malta and so on. On the other hand, the imperial government passed without obstacle a series of Ordinances motivated by post-war British expansionism.

146 Chapter 6 INSTABILITY this chapter, the third of Part II, covers in four divisions the second term of the first responsible government, from 1924 to 1927. It concerns another period of much political and legislative instability within and outside the law-making body in the course of which the tug-of-war between the ‘pro-Italians’ and ‘pro- British’ groups continues, particularly after the system gravitates towards a two-party system. Chapter 6 is divided into four divisions. In the first two divisions, it focuses on the fact that political confrontation within self-government reaches its climax when failed legislation of the first legislature is re-proposed. A long-time is wasted to bring into effect a number of controversial measures to regulate employment and trade-unionism. In the third division, mention is made of initiatives that are undertaken to legislate on important construction and infrastructural projects in a post-war building boom. Finally, the chapter closes with a crisis that sweeps through the diarchy towards the end of the second legislature as a result of questions of jurisdictional competence regarding the enactment of legislation.

6.1. RE-PROPOSALS

In 1924-1927, the political and legislative battle continues within the self-government. Re-attempts are immediately made to enact failed statutory proposals of 1921-1924.

Lord Plumer earmarked 9 and 10 June for the holding of general elections limited to the Lower House.1053 Although the Senate was more changeable in reality, for example, Monsignor Gonzi had resigned as a senator to be consecrated Bishop of

1053 MGG 6666, 5.vi.1924.

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Gozo,1054 its term had been set at six years. The same parties vied with quasi-replicas of their 1921 electoral programmes. Remarkably, the PDN, now a party candidate for Malta, and the LP, now without Dr Frendo, re-proposed workmen’s compensation and industrial health legislation.1055 The UPM, which based compulsory education on Roman Catholic teachings, proposed to strike a balance between long- needed construction projects and pro-environment measures mirroring a post-war, self-government awareness.1056 It bound itself to erect schools, houses and tourist accommodations such as hotels. It committed itself to hold a layout scheme competition for the development (what it called ‘exploitation’) of the army- released areas outside the Valletta/Floriana bastions. The main avenue to the capital, known as Portes des Bombes, was part of the project.1057 By legislating on the two evolving correlated institutes of antiquarian and artistic heritage conservation, and building aesthetics regulation, the UPM was set to protect the physical and historical patrimony.1058 The UPM also electorally pledged to pass novel collectivist laws of the commercially protective or industrially beneficial type. These included measures, which it had failed to pass in 1921-1924. Among other re-proposed statutes, there were those relating to the fixing of rent regulation, the grant of workmen’s compensation and the imposition of a profit-making duty on lace-making and hand-made cigarettes as a mild form of fiscal safeguard against imports.1059 Like the CP, the UPM reiterated its promise to enact a new Commercial Code while it repeated that it would base compulsory education on Catholic teachings.1060 The four parties repeated their 1921 performance. But the largest two got parity of preferences to compound further the paralysis of the legislative process. The UPM diminished the

1054 MGG 6677, 30.vi.1924. 1055 See 99, 101 for their 1921 electoral proposals. 1056 Pr, 10.v.1924. 1057 See 121, 129, 130, 170. 1058 See 50, 164, 165. 1059 See 152, 165, 166. 1060 See 116, 152 and 153.

148 instability number of votes and seats. It obtained 10 seats, four less than 1921. Conversely, the CP increased its seats by three. Thus, it also got a majority of 10 seats. The PDN got five seats, adding one, while the LP stuck at seven, which it also won in 1921.1061 William Charles H Robertson, acting Governor until the arrival of General Sir (1924-1927),1062 entrusted Dr Francesco Buhagiar (UPM) with the formation of a new government. Dr Buhagiar had ‘assured him’, without giving him details, of the support of the LP, which had obtained more seats than the PN.1063 The UPM continued to enjoy the pre-1924 working majority in the Senate and was about to initiate a process of assimilation with the PDN until a final merger.1064 However, it was unsuccessful in its bid to ally with it the LP, which also resolved to keep distant from the CP. So long as the LP had more seats than the PDN and kept away from uniting with the CP and from bringing about the government’s downfall, the UPM would run the government with a weaker relative majority and with a political ‘obligation’ to toe the line of the LP in legislative decisions.1065 In fact, Sir Walter Norris Congreve’s first Speech from the Throne, which mentioned reforms to the Commercial Code (1857) and construction projects, included the LP electoral proposals of compulsory education and rent regulation.1066 Like Sir Ugo Mifsud (UPM) and Sir Gerald (CP), who were elected from two districts to re-confirm their popularity, Dr Enrico Mizzi (PDN) saw his party and personal influence conditioned by the LP’s numerical advantage. While Benito Mussolini became Prime Minister of Italy and imposed Fascism on that country,1067 Dr Mizzi still referred to Italy as ‘the Mother Country’.1068 Never would the PN leader re-propose measures

1061 Schiavone (1992) 87-88. 1062 MGG 6677, 30.vi.1924. 1063 NARMLGO-112/1924. 1064 See 165. 1065 NARMLGO-182/1924. 1066 PDLA, 21.vi.1924. 1067 Rhodes 31-32. 1068 DMC, 13.v.1924.

149 constitutions and legislation in malta such as the Pontifical Titles Recognition Bill, which London considered a ‘hypothetical bill unless enacted’.1069 A lawyer who successfully contested for the first time and became Minister for Justice was Gozitan Dr Carlo Mallia (PDN).1070 A versatile commercial lawyer, lecturer within the University of Malta, and staunchly pro-Italian, he was to frame a few important albeit aborted measures in line with his party’s programme.1071 In fact, the Chamber of Commerce, a Senate member, was to raise its voice or express its view on such laws.1072 The other lawyer, Dr Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici (PDN), also formed part of the elected team. Dr Mifsud Bonnici, a politically pro-Maltese albeit anti-Fascist, expert on Italian culture, was to be at the centre of important decisions of policy within his party.1073 Dr Alfredo Mattei, unelected but appointed Senator on behalf of the PN, and the noted Professor of architecture and civil engineering, Robert V Galea (CP), were to cut good figures in debates held within the responsible legislature, concentrating on momentous construction and environment- related legislation.1074 The Chamber of Architects, and the powerful Roman Catholic Church, a beneficiary of several other mortmain exemption laws but loud in defence of its own landed rights, were the authorities to oppose environment-related measures on professional1075 or proprietary grounds.1076 Dr Savona (LP leader) and Mr Zammit Hammet (LP co- founder) contested successfully for a Legislative Assembly seat, and, so, vacated their senatorial posts.1077 Also elected as LP deputy was Canon Bugelli, ex-UPM.1078 The Legal Adviser Mahaffy, whose advice was sought by the UPM on important

1069 NARMMH-447/1924. 1070 Schiavone (1997) 375. 1071 See 158, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 167. 1072 See also 171, 172, 173. 1073 See 161, 167. 1074 See 165, 169. 1075 Gatt (1925) 5-6, (1926) 11-12, and (1927) 5. 1076 See NARMLGO-285/1932. 1077 PDS, 21.vi.1924. 1078 See 118, 154.

150 instability statutory re-proposals,1079 from now on would not see eye to eye with Sir Walter Norris Congreve, an asthmatic and, like him, a survivor of serious war wounds.1080 In the wake of a court judgment disallowing the from trespassing on peasants’ lands while conducting artillery manoeuvres,1081 Mahaffy did not agree with the Governor to enact an Ordinance to permit military field drills against the Maltese peasants’ interests.1082 For him, military training in Malta was ‘as frequent as fox-hunting goes in England’.1083 On 22 September 1924, Dr Buhagiar resigned his position as Head of the Ministry and seat in the Lower House to become a judge. As UPM leader, Dr Mifsud succeeded him, becoming the youngest Premier of a British colony where a civil and an imperial government co-existed.1084 Dr Mifsud became Premier just before Leo Amery became Secretary of State for the Colonies in the Baldwin government.1085 It was Leo Amery who in 1919-1921 had been directly involved in the grant of the operative Letters Patent.1086 Dr Mifsud had hardly had time to reflect on the legislative agenda of his government when the new Labour Bureau presented him with an elaborate report in which it suggested a tax of halfpenny on machine-made cigarettes. The proposal was two-pronged in effect. On the one hand, it protected the local hand-rolled cigarettes industry and related employment. On the other hand, it increased government profit through a mild form of taxation.1087 On 17 November 1924, the UPM voted £44,000 for authorising by statute the building of workmen’s dwellings at Bormla and Raħal Ġdid.1088 But Dr Mifsud and his government ran into many

1079 See 159, 162. 1080 See W La Touche Congreve on Sir Walter. 1081 ACJVFHCC, Saliba v Napier Maddocks 3.x.1924. 1082 See 159, 160. 1083 NARMHM-125/1926. 1084 MGG 6709, 23.ix.1924. 1085 MGG 6723, 10.xi.1924. 1086 See 94, 100. 1087 LHRPLLA, 1924-27, dos 214. 1088 LHRPLS, 1924-27, dos 15/16; RWGD 1924-25, V5.

151 constitutions and legislation in malta difficulties with regard to other parts of his programme. First, there was a novel Lace Protection Bill to impose a levy on foreign- imported lace. Another proposed measure was the Compulsory Attendance Bill as a ‘half-way house’1089 to compulsory education based on a Catholic curriculum.1090 Two other draft statutes had failed in the first legislature, that is the Workmen’s Compensation1091 and ‘Parliamentary Privileges’ bills.1092 The UPM had to dump the first Lace Protection Bill, because Mahaffy argued that it would affect external or international trade, and so qualified as a reserved matter.1093 Again, it had to shelve for an indefinite time the Workmen’s Compensation Bill, a measure which it re-introduced on a motion by Dr Mizzi.1094 London considered several draft provisions ultra vires by reason of Article 41 of the Constitution in regard to employees ‘in docks for building and repairing vessels’.1095 The Dockyard workers, half the Maltese workforce, were Admiralty employees.1096 The UPM proceeded with the Compulsory School Attendance and ‘Parliamentary Privileges’ bills because it wisely did the necessary homework to pass them almost without objection towards the end of the year1097 (Acts XXII and XXIV 1924).1098 It had electorally re-proposed obligatory education based on the Roman Catholic teaching.1099 But now it had to come out with the different version of compulsory attendance or schooling in order to try and please the LP without quarrelling with the PDN.1100 Even though several state schools, unlike the private schools, did not teach beyond the fourth grade (the highest among the lower standards), Reverend Dandria re-drafted a bill to establish

1089 TTM, 24.v.1926. 1090 See 116, 139, 148. 1091 See 117, 121, 122, 148. 1092 PDLA, 17.xi.1924. 1093 NARMLGO-263/1924. 1094 See 174, 210. 1095 See 110, 126. 1096 NARMLGO-131/1926. 1097 PDLA, 24.xi.1924/16.xii.1924. 1098 NARMD-Congreve/Amery 27.xii.1924. 1099 See 148. 1100 See 154, 155.

152 instability compulsory attendance up to the sixth grade or the second advanced standard.1101 Reverend Dandria re-adopted the principle of applying the law only to zones where teaching was up to the advanced standards, gradually to other areas according to a school building programme.1102 Sir Gerald questioned the UPM’s argument that Catholic morality went hand in hand with compulsory education. However, he was like a voice in the wilderness.1103 The Panzavecchiani prelates Monsignors Ferris and Dandria in the Legislative Assembly affirmed that they politically agreed with compulsory attendance if this system of education had Roman Catholicism as its basis. They stated that since its inception in 1921,1104 their political party had favoured compulsory education with a curriculum of teaching based on Roman Catholicism.1105 A pastoral letter read in the parish churches of the country confirmed that the Curia speaking as an institution shared the same view.1106 Strikingly enough, the Compulsory Attendance Act did not specifically state that children attending particular state schools below the fourth grade were bound to proceed with education in other state schools that taught up to the advanced standards.1107 The omission could easily be given a negative interpretation. Self-employers running businesses varying from large quarries to small ‘casa-botteghe’, argued that the Act did not hinder them from employing their own children who finished attending state schools below the fourth grade.1108 Probably because a proposal for an immediate legislative amendment to a new, albeit historically controversial, Act was inopportune, Dr Mifsud Bonnici tried

1101 NARMLGO-182/1924. 1102 RWGD, 1924-25, M2. 1103 PDLA, 28.ix.1924. 1104 See 116. 1105 Zammit Mangion (1992) 45-47 and Camenzuli 168-197. 1106 AAC 1924, dos 14, Terribile/Caruana 9.xii.1924, and Caruana/ Terribile 10.xii.1924. 1107 NARMLGO-286/1924. 1108 See NARMLGO-131/1926.

153 constitutions and legislation in malta to get a judicial interpretation on the matter notwithstanding that the court might take months to decide.1109 Meanwhile, the UPM institutionalised the privileges and immunities of the responsible legislature with the LP’s vote (Act XXIV 1924) after indicating that it would re-move a Rent Regulation Bill.1110

6.2. EMPLOYMENT AND TRADE-UNIONISM

In 1924-1927, a number of statutes are enacted to authorise initiatives and projects that appear miscellaneous in character but have ultimately a common goal: the rights or protection of the skilled worker.

In 1925, as in the previous year, the UPM was driven back to the strategy of running with the LP hares and hunting with the PDN hounds.1111 Although ex-PDN member Canon Bugelli and LP co-founder Zammit Hammet started off the year by voting occasionally with the UPM, there was always the risk that the seven LP deputies could join the 10 of the CP to give the Constitutionalists the reins of administration with an absolute majority of 17 in the Lower House.1112 New statutes were not only programmed to generate employment. Legislative measures were taken to protect the skilled worker in his job but also in his abode against the possibility of eviction. Many skilled workers lived in rented dwelling-houses. At the same time, the list of re-proposals included the regulation of factories and establishment of hours of work, the grant of widows and orphans pension as well as the constitution and composition of the TUC. These last-mentioned two measures were aimed at maintaining the support of the LP. However, the TUC measure was planned according to the PDN political programme. An amendment that found favour with

1109 See 167. 1110 NARMD-Congreve/Amery 27.xii.1924. 1111 See 153. 1112 G Bonnici (1990) 73-76.

154 instability

Dr Mizzi was meant to liberalise the Monopolies Act (1920). Excluded from the legislative agenda were proposals which the PDN leader looked on as harmful to the use of Italian as an institutional language. The UPM undertook to organise an international layout competition for the development, ‘exploitation’, of the surroundings of Valletta.1113 The development of the area outside the capital city, re-named the ‘Harper Area’ in honour of Sir Edgar, would provide employment for many skilled labourers.1114 Incidentally, the government consulted the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in regard to the nomination of the necessary assessors.1115 But then a blueprint of the Superintendent of Public Works, Architect Alphonse Drago, was adopted.1116 The UPM also re-nominated a select committee to investigate the issue surrounding the protection of workers employed within the industry of hand-rolled cigarettes. It preferred to impose by legislation a protective levy on machine-made cigarettes that would simultaneously increase government revenue.1117 The first law, which the UPM enacted in 1925, was the Rent Regulation (or Control) Act. But the first proposal, which it rejected, was a Savona Bill to introduce Maltese in the Criminal Court. While the LP had much at heart rent control inasmuch as many working class families rented their houses,1118 Dr Mizzi deemed Dr Savona’s proposal a measure to defeat Italian.1119 As with Act I (1925), using the 1922 Bill that included English rent restriction principles,1120 it provided that, for three years, leases of urban properties, other than ‘clubs’ (philharmonic), might be automatically renewed.1121

1113 VLOC 1. 1114 See 124, 129. 1115 NARMLGO-45/1925. 1116 RLVC iii-viii. 1117 LHRPLLA, 1924-27, dos 214. 1118 See 116, 127, 128, 129. 1119 M, 5.i.1925. 1120 See 127, 128. 1121 NARMLGO-67/1925.

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The UPM re-proposed the factories regulation, widows and orphans pension and TUC bills very early in 1925. It started with the TUC Bill, which measure the 1923 commission had expected but had failed to accomplish in the first legislature.1122 The UPM planned to withhold the elections of the TUC senators pending Dr Mallia’s completion of his task. It entrusted Dr Carlo Mallia with the task of creating the relevant draft statute. Dr Mallia, who thought that Malta lacked large industries and trade unions, followed his party’s policy. He acknowledged the benefit societies while barring workers in foreign affiliations, including British trade unions, from representation.1123 He explained that he had devised a law to regulate any stalemate which the TUC senators could create with their absence in the Upper House.1124 Refusing to recognise the right to strike, the UPM objected to the Plumer system in content and form.1125 So, it met with strenuous opposition from the TUC officers who held their posts under the 1922 Regulations.1126 And for the same reason, the CP leader Sir Gerald considered Dr Mallia’s Bill constitutionally outrageous. He complained that senators elected from benefit societies would politically remove any balance that the Letters Patent had achieved between the professional and workers’ delegates in the Senate. However, Canon Bugelli and Zammit Hammet voted for the enactment of the Bill - the TUC (Constitution) Act.1127 Sir Gerald lobbied against the Act in the corridors of Whitehall where the measure was disallowed.1128 On 17 April 1925, the UPM made a bid to re-introduce two other legislative proposals of the first legislature. The two draft statutes were the long-awaited Bill to grant a pension to widows and orphans of government employees, and the bill to regulate factories and hours of work, and protect workers in general,

1122 See 139, 168. 1123 See Papers TUC for a detailed report on the TUC Bill of 1925. 1124 NARMLGO-185/1925. 1125 Micallef Stafrace (1996) 14-18. 1126 See 100 re Regulations. 1127 PDLA 30.iii.1925/4.v.1925. 1128 NARMLGO-264/1925.

156 instability especially women and children, in industrial occupation.1129 The UPM attempted to re-propose the two statutes which it was expected the Chamber of Commerce would react against regarding the definition of ‘industry’. There were also difficulties arising from the interests of the Admiralty1130 owing to the implications of the controversial constitutional clause relating to ‘immovable and movable property of imperial interests’.1131 London had not extended the franchise to female British subjects under the 1921 Constitution,1132 and had not stimulated women to participate in politics as in England.1133 However, it could not stop the post-war era changes that included a restructured labour force and an accompanying rise in unorthodox social trends like female emancipation and gender equality in the field of industry.1134 The largest employer, the Admiralty, was a leading employer of women (and children) outside working hours for low pay in traditionally male-dominant industrial and occupational positions.1135 The Admiralty repeated, now with the Chamber of Commerce, its opposition to the Widows and Orphans Pension and Factories Regulation bills.1136 It did so despite the fact that such measures would bring Maltese law au courant with the most advanced industrial health legislation.1137 The UPM gave latitude to Dr Victor Frendo Azopardi to re- model the original draft bills together with two committees of both Houses. It re-directed him to redraft the Factories Regulation Bill in line with new Southern Rhodesian and Indian legislation. He also recast the Widows and Orphans Pension Bill pursuant to the Warner Report recommendations and injury benefits suggestions of the Association of Civil Servants.1138

1129 NARMLGO-267/1924. 1130 See 110. 1131 NARMSD(2)-Amery/Congreve, 2.vi.1925. 1132 LPRG (1921) Art 7. 1133 See Graves on women’s participation in politics in England. 1134 See 83. 1135 LHRPLLA, 1924-27, dos 71 and 203-204. 1136 See 123, 124, 126. 1137 See MRMPH-101/1929. 1138 Report is in AHRPSCFR (1925).

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Dr Frendo Azopardi was ordered to re-include in both measures the disputed definition of ‘industrial factory’ and the bar on women and children in occupation overnight or beyond eight hours of work per day.1139 As a result, the naval authorities and the Chamber of Commerce hardened their opposition, leading the relevant debates in the responsible legislature to successive monthly postponements.1140 In 1925, the UPM and the Chamber agreed to amend the Monopolies Act (1920) to extend the relevant grants period to 50 years and include ‘foreigners’ in the list of individuals eligible for concessions (Act X 1925).1141 Dr Enrico Mizzi, now spokesman for the Chamber for some years, revealed that since the enactment of the principal statute in 1920, five persons had applied for the exclusive right to promote industry.1142 The Minister of Justice Dr Carlo Mallia, the drafter, concurred with the Chamber to widen the scope of the law without hindering imports.1143 Dr Mallia also consulted Mahaffy1144 who agreed that the application of Act X (1925) to ‘foreigners’ did not violate Art 41 of the Letters Patent.1145 The amendment (Act X 1925) did render more efficacious the system of monopoly grants so much so that domestic entrepreneurs of the time, such as Lewis Farrugia, Sons (better known as Farsons), Francis Portanier, Emanuel Said and John Bezzina, Sons, all availed themselves to boost the quality of their productions and become leaders and paragons in the general industrial arena of the country in the following years.1146 At the time, the UPM collaborated with Mahaffy but it quarrelled with the British services on military claims to ‘permissive trespass’ and on the right to legislate on

1139 See also AHRPSCMMC (1922/1925). 1140 NARMHM-184/1925. 1141 PDLA, 15/30.v.1925. 1142 See MGG 1921/1925. 1143 NARMLGO-103/1925. 1144 NARMLD-Congreve/Amery 18.vii.1925. 1145 NARMLGO-12/1925. 1146 The author treats the story of Act X of 1925 in more detail in his unpublished MA (History) thesis ‘A History of Maltese Legislation: 1918-1928’ which he submitted in 1996 to the Faculty of Arts, University of Malta.

158 instability the regulation of dangerous drugs.1147 It almost clashed with the Admiralty for allowing financial and defence requirements to cripple the idea of a tourist bureau that would turn Malta into a ‘holiday centre’1148 and alleviate economic and employment problems.1149 Indeed, Mahaffy diverged from the view of his Governor, the War Office delegates in Malta, as well as the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Leo Amery, in London that the Maltese Imperial Government was constitutionally empowered to legislate on the control of dangerous drugs and military trespass. From this time onwards, he regularly disagreed with them on claims of constitutional competence concerning partial or concurrent rights of legislation.1150 It was London’s wish to regulate dangerous drugs in line with a recent UK Parliament Act that had implemented a treaty as the final decision of an assembly of world states in Geneva.1151 Mahaffy argued that the theme of illegal drugs fell exclusively within the legislative competence of the Maltese Government. The Legal Adviser to the Governor opined that there was no need for Dr Frendo Azopardi and the Cabinet to hold meetings with Governor Congreve on the matter and thereby delay in undertaking the relevant legislative measure in Malta.1152 On the contrary, Sir Walter and the Secretary of State for the Colonies contended that the matter was reserved because it implied Malta’s right of accession to an ‘adoptive treaty’.1153 Mahaffy also disagreed with his superiors’ view that they should formulate a bill to legalise military trespass on private properties for military training purposes after the Civil Court in 1924 had held that the Crown had no such right.1154

1147 See 166 et seq. 1148 TTM 14.vii.1925. 1149 Bugeja 83. 1150 NARMD-Amery/Congreve 18.iv.1926. 1151 15&16 Geo 5, ch74. 1152 NARMLGO-64/1926. 1153 NARMD-Amery/Congreve 29.vi.1925. 1154 NARMLGO-230/1926 and 289/1927.

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6.3. A BUILDING BOOM

In 1924-1927, the policy of consultation is continued between the self-government and interested bodies within the condominium. At the same time, relations are further strained between the same government and the Armed Forces of the Crown. The military authorities remain reluctant to cooperate despite the objection of several farmers to a Royal Air Force decision to expand the Ħal Far aerodrome.1155

In 1925, the UPM re-proposed to consolidate the Antiquities Ordinance (1910).1156 It also showed more sensitivity to the environment. The Museum of Archaeology under Dr (later Sir) Temi Zammit resumed general excavation works for ‘Saracen’ remains in Rabat.1157 Reverend Dandria re-drafted the relevant bill after holding talks with the Antiquities Committee and the local large landowning Church. Without interfering with properties used as military sites, he bound the Armed Forces of the Crown in Malta to preserve archaeological discoveries whenever they expropriated new lands or transformed those already in their possession. At that time, the main reason why the Forces wanted land was the need for airstrips.1158 Reverend Dandria drafted the bill keeping in mind an incident three years earlier when the friars had altered their Valletta Church-cum-friary.1159 He re-conferred on the Minister concerned the power to reconstitute an Antiquities Committee but simultaneously enabled the ecclesiastical authority to set up its own Board to deal specifically with Church property.1160 Reverend Dandria reported that the local Church, which the government had exempted 12 times in four years from the

1155 See 136. 1156 See 72. 1157 RWGD 1925-26, O5. 1158 PDLA, 4.v.1925. 1159 See 141. 1160 AAC, 1924-25, dos 2.

160 instability mortmain law,1161 had a jus nativum or inalienable right to administer its own estates according to Canon 1495 of the Codice Benedittino (1917).1162 Indeed, the local ecclesiastical authority was a patron of arts across the country.1163 Government and Opposition deputies alike proposed to protect antiquities by incorporating Civil Code (1874) principles, which they quoted as irrefutably authoritative. For example, in the law of lease there was the right of pre-emption, which they said should be applied to the public acquisition of archaeological discoveries.1164 Sir Gerald, an antiquarian-minded collector,1165 whose party’s manifesto had promised to make Malta an archaeological research hub,1166 voted for the bill: Act XI (1925).1167 Sir Walter followed with a Notice to prohibit fixed or painted advertisements on listed buildings, the first step towards the enactment of a new enabling statute on building aesthetics.1168 The Antiquities Committee also undertook to screen the Harper Area Scheme but at once declared that the project was in line with progress, ordering very slight modifications to it.1169 On 20 August 1925, Monsignor Panzavecchia died1170 and Dr Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici (PDN) undertook to lead his party towards integration with the UPM.1171 Meanwhile, Dr Carlo Mallia framed a voluminous bill to re-codify the Commercial Code (1854).1172 He undertook the preparation of a novel bill to re-organise the treasury and audit department.1173 In addition, he revised the failed bill to modernise the notarial archives and

1161 NARMLGO-285/1932. 1162 Codex (1917) c1495, 435. 1163 Sammut (1955) 87-92. 1164 PDLA, 15.v.1925. 1165 See 61. 1166 LHRPLLA, 1921-23, dos 31. 1167 NARMLGO-113/1925. 1168 See 163, 164. 1169 AMAMAC, 16.viii.1925. 1170 Schiavone (1997) 466. 1171 Anon (1972) 30. 1172 See 23, 41, 116, 148, 149. 1173 See 183.

161 constitutions and legislation in malta related public registry.1174 He framed the draft Code by perusing contemporary Italian legislation and the teachings of the noted modern Italian jurist Cesare Vivante. Dr Mallia’s preliminary provisions on traders in general included commercial partnerships, the legal personality of which he implicitly recognised.1175 He based a new title on ‘unfair competition’, ‘concorrenza sleale’,1176 on the principle that a trader could not use a registered trade-mark in illegal imitation of another even where the latter was unregistered.1177 However, he had to postpone the draft Code for reasons both of principle and detail pending consultation with interested bodies.1178 In order to re-fashion the Notarial Archives Bill, Dr Mallia met a government-appointed expert committee under the chairmanship of the ex-Crown Advocate and now Chief Justice Arturo Mercieca,1179 the Chamber of Commerce and notary Carlo Micallef De Caro.1180 The Bill included the recognition of the status of the notaries on the model of other chambers, like those of advocates, architects and legal procurators, the recognition of a Council of Notaries, which was already in existence.1181 To placate the naval, army and air force authorities that had opposed the proposal in 1922,1182 Dr Mallia put English on a par with Italian as the language of contracts, wills and civil acts. He consulted Mahaffy, who incidentally reported that the enactment of a third wireless telegraphy bill, Ordinance IV (1925), to regulate the apparatus on board men-of-war and services aircraft, should be the last. In fact, the Legal Adviser to the Governor said in a report to the Colonial Office, once again the proposer of Ordinance IV (1925) on the basis of a UK Parliament Act,1183 the

1174 NARMLGO-181/1924. 1175 See F Cremona (1989) on this viewpoint. 1176 See MGG 6956, 25.ii.1927. 1177 See ACJVCc, Colombos v Lee noe 14.ii.1933. 1178 See 172. 1179 MGG 6624, 2.i.1924. 1180 NARMLGO-273/1925. 1181 See MGG 6779, 29.v.1925. 1182 See 131. 1183 6 Edw 7, ch13.

162 instability corpus of relevant wireless legislation now applied to land, sea and air.1184 However, Dr Mallia hastened to take the advice of the government-appointed expert committee to re-exclude Maltese as a third optional language of notarial deeds, committing a tactical mistake in the view of certain pro-Maltese language senators. On his own personal decision, he also disqualified women from the right to act as witnesses to contracts.1185 He was severely criticised by senator Alphonse Maria Galea (LP) and by Sir Gerald (CP).1186 Both spent hours finding fault with the proposed measure with the result that they protracted its debate for months.1187 Senator Galea was full of praise for the Għaqda tal-Kittieba tal-Malti for establishing a Maltese standard orthography.1188 He mentioned the linguist Mikiel Anton Vassalli as the ‘father of the Maltese language’.1189 Senator Galea lambasted the re-proposed bill for excluding Maltese from public deeds. He almost quarrelled with the students’ delegate, the Carmelite Anastasju Cuschieri, because this well-established poet, speaking ironically enough in Maltese, called his native language a ‘patois’.1190 Sir Gerald said that gender discrimination in the proposed notarial bill made the measure ‘anachronistic’ because Maltese society was becoming more and more conscious of female emancipation, especially in industrial work according to the prevalent trends in England and America.1191 On 25 November 1925, Dr Mallia proposed the important but postponed Aesthetic Buildings Bill. In an era of academic advances in civil engineering coupled with a boom of housing and infrastructural projects, this Bill ensured that architects followed rules of proportionate arrangements in construction.1192

1184 NARMC-Amery/Congreve 28.v.1925. 1185 See NARMD-Du Cane/Amery 28.iv.1927. 1186 PDLA, 9.xi.1925. 1187 See 171. 1188 See Cremona (1945) on the first study on the Għaqda. 1189 See 24, 30. 1190 PDLA, 16.xi.1925. 1191 PDLA, 15.xii.1925. 1192 PDLA, 25.xi.1925.

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As an extension of the conservation of existing historical sites in the built-up areas of old towns and villages of the country,1193 Dr Mallia drafted a bill that regulated the symmetry of frontages and elevations of potential buildings in developable locations, and thus complemented the antiquities legislation. Along with other Cabinet members, Dr Mallia held several meetings with the Church and British services on ecclesiastically- owned or militarily-occupied lands. As a prototype, he utilised the London Buildings Act (1894), which he had retrieved with other papers in the Refalo File of 1919-1920.1194 However, Dr Mallia also consulted the writings of Bufarini on Italian and continental buildings, and the Chamber of Architects.1195 After his government made a pact with the Archiepiscopal Curia, Dr Mallia incorporated an express clause to exclude churches, seminaries, convents and other ecclesiastical buildings. He excluded property belonging to the British services under the same exemption, ‘the negative clause’,1196 on the request of Mahaffy acting for the War Department.1197 Dr Mallia ignored the argument of Dr Augustus Bartolo, now a Professor, that Art 41 of the Letters Patent did not invalidate the bill if the Maltese Government dealt with buildings without affecting imperial interests.1198 He agreed with Mahaffy, who utilised this Article with respect to other legislation1199 for some time.1200 Dr Mallia entrusted the law’s enforcement to a Symmetry Board. But he had to deflect some suggestions as fit for other legislation. For example, it was proposed that his Aesthetic Buildings Bill should apply the judicially home-grown ‘Dual Personality of the State’ theory where public workers damaged building aesthetics.1201 He had to convince the Senate that the omission of colour as an aesthetic criterion would be rectified in

1193 PDS, 4.xii.1925. 1194 See 89. 1195 Gatt (1926) 11-12. 1196 PDS, 23.xii.1925. 1197 NARMLGO-283/1925. 1198 PDLA, 1.iii.1926. 1199 See NARMLGO-54/1933. 1200 See pp 220 & 221. 1201 See 63.

164 instability due course. Dr Mallia had a good response from the Senate, which proved its worth in relation to the Bill by the depth and quality of its debate, as also by its constructive and non-confrontational manner.1202 Senator Dr Mattei said that the bill would restrain reckless building contractors from throwing up blocks of houses in breach of the rudimentary axioms of building aesthetics.1203 Dr Mallia drafted and formally presented the bill in the name of one party and government. But he steered the measure through the Legislative Assembly and the Senate on behalf of another party and new government: the PN. On 16 January 1926, the UPM merged with the PDN under the name of Partito Nazionale (PN) and under Dr Mizzi and Dr Ugo Mifsud as co-leaders. Ex-UPM and LP Canon Bugelli, and LP co- founder Salvatore Zammit Hammet, joined its ranks following expulsion from the LP. The new UPM thus had an overall number of 17 deputies, the UPM’s own 10, the five of the PDN and the two ex-LP.1204 The new (or renovated) party could now carry on with the Aesthetic Buildings Bill and other pending legislation without hindrance. Within a week from the party’s formation, the CP agreed to taxation as a method for financing social measures and made a ‘compact’ agreement with the LP.1205 The PN passed the Aesthetic Buildings Bill as Act VI (1926) and rapidly composed the Symmetry Board1206 to process a few fine specimens of Victorian art nouveau architecture.1207 But together with the Antiquities Committee, it screened the Harper Area project lest a newly proposed arch-supported avenue as an access facility for modern motorcars arriving straight from Italy, the UK and the United States into Renaissance Valletta1208 would breach the capital city’s fortifications.1209

1202 PDS, 13.xi.1925/22.i.1926. 1203 PDS, 4.xii.1925. 1204 Anon (1972) 28-33. 1205 See Cassar (1991) on the story of the ‘compact’. 1206 NARMMSB, N37/1926. 1207 See Attard (1977) for examples of art nouveau in Malta. 1208 See 212 re motor cars. 1209 AMAMAC, 11.iii.1926.

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6.4. THE BORDERLINE

The period 1924-1927 closes with the two sides of the diarchy engaged in a direct clash as a result of the Maltese Imperial Government’s decision to legislate about military training.1210

In 1926, the PN was forced to terminate some important legislative efforts which had made no progress. General elections were fast approaching. It had to do so in the face of internal and Admiralty opposition to re-proposed social and employment legislation that invoked Art 41, the ‘imperial property’ clause, of the Letters Patent.1211 However, the first contest between the two governments turned on the entitlement to the regulation of dangerous drugs. The PN considered the theme of dangerous drugs a transferred matter. But Governor Congreve and the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Leo Amery, never accepted that the control of intoxicants passing through the territorial waters or airspace of the country without touching the local population was not a reserved matter.1212 Unceremoniously but with the consent of Amery, Sir Walter enacted Ordinance I (1926) to outlaw the sea-bound and airborne trade in illegal drugs.1213 He aligned the Maltese legal system with the Geneva Treaty (1924).1214 Equally unsurprising, the PN reacted by engaging Dr Frendo Azopardi to prepare a Dangerous Drugs Bill. The bill was not immediately steered through the legislature because the enactment of the long-pending Treasury and Audit Bill1215 was given priority. In fact, the PN also sidelined Monsignor Dandria’s advice to amend Act XXII (1924) and implement a recent Court of Appeal decision per Chief Justice Mercieca in the compulsory attendance case

1210 See 167, 173. 1211 See 110, 126, 169. 1212 NARMD-Congreve/Amery 16.iii.1926. 1213 NARMLGO-64/1926. 1214 See 159. 1215 See 162.

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(Dr Mifsud Bonnici’s case).1216 The Court had held that children attending lessons in lower classes at one elementary had to carry on with lessons in advanced classes at another elementary state school.1217 The Treasury and Audit Bill was finally enacted on 14 April 1926.1218 Utilising colonial statutes supplied by London to the Crown Advocate in 1921, Dr Carlo Mallia drafted the relevant enactment, Act XII (1926).1219 Dr Mallia had sought to give a well- shaped order to the existing jumble of colonial treasury and audit rules. He included the principle legalising each budget by an Appropriation Act and the system of trusteeship of public funds.1220 During the relevant lengthy Legislative Assembly debate, Premier Dr Mifsud and Sir Gerald revealed great knowledge on finance.1221 But Dr Mifsud faced stiff opposition from the CP leader who deemed any trusteeship of public funds a ‘political boodle’ for the benefit of Ministers.1222 On 17 May 1926, Sir Walter convened the Nominated Council to discuss a bill authorising military training.1223 He not only polarised politically and socially the Forces-peasantry issue that had been dragging on from the first legislature.1224 He provoked the political parties and the Chamber of Commerce as well as the Chambers of Advocates and Legal Procurators to rear their heads.1225 Acting with the joint consent of the Colonial and War Offices, Sir Walter explained that the Military Training Bill revolved on the imposition of a ‘praedial servitude in the public interest’. In crude terms, the Bill established a right of way through the property of the local farmers in the interest of the British military services.1226

1216 See 153. 1217 ACJVCCA, Polizia (Semini) v Agius, 6.iii.1926. 1218 PDLA, 14.iv.1926. 1219 See 121. 1220 NARMLGO-265/1926. 1221 PDLA, 22.iii.1926. 1222 PDS, 23.iii.1926. 1223 NARMLGO-230/1926. 1224 See 135. 1225 See RRC (1932) 18-19. 1226 NARMD-Congreve/Amery 1.iv.1926.

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The Governor remarked that this question of imposing a servitude was not new to Maltese law, because the Civil Code (1874) (originally Ordinance III 1863) had recognised ‘praedial easements’ under the title of ownership.1227 He informed London of the PN and Opposition’s indignation, but the War Office was adamant in defending the rights of the British armed forces.1228 At the time, Sir Walter rejected an application of an Ireland-born, permanent Maltese resident, John James Scorey, to be the first broadcaster in Malta.1229 He said that public transmissions were the monopoly of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).1230 The Legal Adviser Mahaffy reported that the eventual outcome on the Military Training Bill had to stand upon a ‘foundation of cordiality and goodwill’ between the civil and imperial sides of the diarchy.1231 He drafted the relevant bill by using the English Arbitration Act (1889)1232 and the Military Manoeuvres Act (1897).1233 So, he vested an ad hoc arbitration tribunal rather than the local Court of Appeal with jurisdiction over these matters.1234 He hoped that the Nominated Council would pass the Military Training Bill before the 1927 electoral campaign.1235 He helped the Public Prosecutor Dr Frendo Azopardi to draft the Dangerous Drugs Bill, another diarchical bone of contention.1236 On 21 July 1926, in fact, the PN enacted this Dangerous Drugs Bill (Act XV) with another, which entitled the Governor to apply the Pensions Ordinance (1905)1237 to a wider list of public officers and civil servants who retired at 65 (Act XVI).1238 Constitutionally, the PN had to limit the scope of Act XVI (1926) to internal, land- based, drug trafficking.1239

1227 See 46. 1228 NARMLGO-193/1927. 1229 Cf Sacco (1985/2) on broadcasting in Malta. 1230 NARMPetit-115/1926. 1231 NARMHM-125/1926. 1232 52&53 Vict, ch59. 1233 60&61 Vict, ch43. 1234 NARMHM-349/1926. 1235 See 170 et seq re the 1927 elections. 1236 See 159, 160, 166, 167. 1237 See 71, 72. 1238 See NARMLGO-1/1935. 1239 NARMHM-268/1926.

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On 30 September 1926, through the Governor, the PN issued Notice 3081240 in place of Notice 213 of 1921 to establish new TUC regulations.1241 These new regulations recognised benefit societies and trade unions without British affiliation (such as the Società dei Piloti), and established the biennial holding of elections to fill the senatorial seats.1242 The PN re-kindled political trouble. TUC officials argued, unsuccessfully in the Court of Appeal, that their Statute had fixed one year for Senatorial elections.1243 The PN also moved two socially beneficial albeit financial bills to legalise the systematic construction of workmen’s dwellings (in all, £15,300 at source)1244 and the development of the areas surrounding Valletta and Floriana, the Harper Area(s) (£75,000, as a beginning).1245 However, it based the bills’ operation on special funds rather than the Consolidated Revenue Fund, thereby requiring the cumbersome formalities of Appropriation bills.1246 Hence, the CP leader Sir Gerald called the proposals economically ‘non-viable’ and electorally vote-catching’ while Robert V Galea said that they disregarded the environment.1247 The PN agreed with the LP that the Mandraġġ (a slum area)1248 in Valletta should be cleared. But he revealed that it had many difficulties constructing workmen’s dwellings in Bormla and Raħal Ġdid.1249 The government ignored the current political and diarchical tension. It proceeded to enact the Factories Regulation Act, Act XXI (1926). Calling the Act ‘a crowning feat’,1250 the PN enacted it without the disputed definition of ‘industrial factory’ in satisfaction of Admiralty demands.1251 The PN passed the

1240 MGG 6907, 30.i.1926. 1241 See 156, 157. 1242 NARMLGO-246/1926. 1243 ACJVCOA, Bugelli et v Mifsud noe 12.x.1926. 1244 NARMLGO-16/1926. 1245 MRMCHMF-1/1927. 1246 See 110, 124, 126, 167. 1247 PDLA, 20.x.1926. 1248 See Critien on the Mandraġġ. 1249 PDLA, 23.xi.1926. 1250 Mifsud Bonnici (1927) 956. 1251 PDLA, 17.xii.1926.

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Harper Area Act,1252 Act I (1927),1253 and the Social Dwellings Fund Act1254 as Act VI (1927).1255 In 1927, while the constitutional crisis concerning military training lingered on, the PN intensified its legislative programme with the legislature getting closer to general elections somewhere in the middle of the year.1256 Before dissolution, it enacted no fewer than 30 Acts, including innovative protectionist and construction measures but also failed on long-pending re-proposals of the first legislature.1257 It set an indisputable record given that in the first three months, Sir Walter also steered through the Nominated Council the Military Training Bill - Ordinance I (1927). Sir Walter died of his asthma condition after Ordinance I of 1927 was enacted, leaving a veritable storm following his peaceful burial in Malta’s territorial waters.1258 In fact, Mahaffy absented himself under protest from the relevant Council debate with the result that the War Office slashed his salary.1259 Viscount Peel, who led an Imperial Parliamentary Conference to Malta,1260 declared that the military training issue stood ‘on the borderline between the authority of a Constitutional and Fortress Sovereign’.1261 The political parties vigorously re-opposed Ordinance I (1927), exploiting prominent newspaper coverage accorded to their respective slants and biases.1262 The Legislative Assembly and the Senate unanimously passed resolutions to deplore the enactment of the Ordinance.1263 La Giovine Malta and other bodies joined the chorus of protests.1264 In the agitated concluding months of the second legislature starting with the arrival of Governor General Sir John Du Cane

1252 NARMLGO-291/1926. 1253 PDLA, 17.i.1927. 1254 NARMLGO-277/1926. 1255 PDLA, 22.iii.1927. 1256 See 169. 1257 See 173. 1258 Ganado (1977) v1, 317-319. 1259 DHC, 9.v.1927. 1260 See RVD on Viscount Peel’s visit to Malta. 1261 NARMT-Amery/Congreve 3.i.1927. 1262 See TMH, 10.i.1927 and M, 5.ii.1927. 1263 NARMHM-56/1927. 1264 NARMPetit-6/1927.

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(1927-1930), the PN rushed through the responsible legislature several other laws.1265 First, in line with the appellate court judgment of the previous year (Act VIII 1927),1266 it sought to fill in a loophole in the Compulsory Attendance Act (1924).1267 Then, it enacted the two long-pending Notarial Archives/Profession and Public Registry Acts (Acts XI and XII 1927),1268 measures which the Senate over-discussed.1269 Moreover, to tighten control over the trusteeship system in the recent Treasury and Audit Act, the PN enacted a short law of the Prime Minister’s own making to amend the same Act. It feared that the number one Opposition critic, Sir Gerald, would use the matter on the trusteeship system as a vote-catching target in his election campaign (Act XVI 1927).1270 The PN tried to find an alternative and provisional statutory solution to the aborted 1925 TUC (Constitution) Act1271 and concurrently a type of primary legislation under which it might benefit politically and legislatively if returned to government. It passed an Act limited to the registration of a trade union formation - Act XVII (1927).1272 The PN rested on the able drafter Dr Mallia to provide for the function of an acting judge as registrar of trade unions with powers to register benefit societies and new associations. One of such associations was the Port Workers Union.1273 Probably because women were ineligible to vote and stand for elections to self-governing institutions,1274 the PN restricted trade-union membership to males. Sir Gerald and the TUC officials, including pro-PN President Agius and Secretary Grima who were elected under the 1926 Regulations, considered that the Act violated the quamdiu se bene gesserint principle.1275 The outgoing government passed

1265 MGG 6967, 29.iv.1927. 1266 NARMLGO-131/1926. 1267 PDS, 18.iv.1927. 1268 NARMLGO-273/1925. 1269 See 163. 1270 NARMLGO-117/1927. 1271 See 156. 1272 NARMLGO-149/1927. 1273 NARMD-Du Cane/Amery 19.iv.1927. 1274 Micallef Stafrace (1996) 62. 1275 See 26, 106.

171 constitutions and legislation in malta the Act.1276 But the TUC saga would continue after the general elections were over.1277 Furthermore, the PN hastened to resuscitate and pass the two shelved collectivist bills to impose protective and profit-making levies on locally hand-made cigarettes and lace, Acts XVIII and XXI of 1927.1278 In addition, it rushed through the suspended bill to establish a special fund for a widows and orphans pension (Act XIX 1927).1279 Having already abandoned the first two bills in the first legislature due to reactions on constitutional and economic grounds from the Legal Adviser and the big foreign Malta- based industries, the PN, formerly the UPM, had electorally re- proposed their enactment in 1924.1280 The PN moved and enacted a bill to set aside £75,000 for building a central hospital at L-Arkata l-Baxxa, Mrieħel, situated around three miles from Valletta (Act XXVIII 1927).1281 Finally, it incorporated in the Commercial Code (1857) several amendments and additions (Act XXX 1927).1282 This last enactment, which Dr Mallia had proposed as part of a new Commercial Code, included the express recognition of the legal personality of commercial partnerships and the prohibition of unfair competition.1283 The PN re-nominated a select committee to deal with the bill to provide government revenue by protecting hand-rolled cigarettes vis-à-vis international, machine-making cigarette companies. The British American Tobacco Co, almost exclusively employing women, was one such international company.1284 Concurrently, the PN perfected a package deal with Mahaffy to try and pass the bill to guard the home industry of lace against the onslaught of foreign competition,1285 and the Widows and

1276 PDLA, 30.vi.1927. 1277 See 206 et seq. 1278 NARMLGO-150/1927. 1279 NARMLGO-158/1927. 1280 See 151, 155. 1281 NARMLGO-124/1927. 1282 NARMLGO-59/1927. 1283 See 162. 1284 PDLA, 21.ii.1927. 1285 LHRPLLA 1927-28, dos 38.

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Orphans Pension Bill.1286 Dr Mallia, the drafter, agreed to re- omit the disputed definition of ‘industrial factory’ from the last- mentioned re-proposal.1287 Conversely, Mahaffy accepted that the Lace Protection Bill was ‘purely local business.1288 While increasing government revenue in line with the suggestions of the select committee and Mahaffy, the PN enacted the two statutes to impose a levy on the local hand-made cigarettes and lace, with a view to protecting such products. The Labour Bureau, which encouraged Maltese civil and military employees to boycott the purchase of tax-levied, machine- made cigarettes from the NAAFI, praised Act XXI (1927).1289 The Chamber of Commerce, now grown to give more attention to the wider group of small traders, refrained from reacting to either of these protectionist measures.1290 The local consumer bought up the whole non-levied products in store.1291 While engaging in an excited electoral battle with the CP, which contested as a separate party from the LP, the PN passed Acts XVI/XXX (1927) at the end of heated debates in the legislature in June-July.1292 However, the PN and CP intensified their electoral campaign around the Military Ordinance (1927)1293 during the street activities of breathless propaganda through tableaux and slogans. Priests attended mass meetings, despite a Curia ban which prohibited them from doing so.1294 The PN (pro-Italian Nazionalisti) of co-leaders Dr Mizzi and the knighted Dr Ugo Mifsud,1295 the former emphasising Italy’s right to intervene in local politics,1296 took an attitude of compromise towards the issue on military training. The imperialist CP assumed a confrontational front.1297 Sir Gerald

1286 NARMLGO-158/1927. 1287 PDLA, 16/31.v.1927. 1288 NARMLGO-164/1927. 1289 NARMD-Du Cane/Amery 21.vi.1927. 1290 Vassallo (1998) 88-89. 1291 NARMLGO-38/1928. 1292 See R Vella (1978) on the electoral campaign of 1927. 1293 See 170. 1294 Ganado (1977) v1, 369. 1295 See Calleja (1997) for a documented biography on Sir Ugo Mifsud. 1296 NARMSD-Du Cane/Amery 29.ii.1928. 1297 NARMLGO-93/1927.

173 Strickland raised the military issue in the British House of Lords.1298 This was before Sir Ugo Mifsud got to know that the War Office had agreed to amend Ordinance I (1927) to give a right of appeal before the local court, but after the general elections were over.1299 Incidentally, Sir Gerald was in the headlines for being ‘apron-dressed in a Freemason party’ according to the sworn affidavit of a waiter (Ettore Bono) before Dr Frendo Azopardi.1300 Like the LP, the PN promised workmen’s compensation and social housing legislation.1301 But it called ‘Bolshevist’ the renewal of its own Rent Control Act (1925).1302 The LP, fielding a young and socially radical medical, Dr Paul Boffa, wanted to renew the Act.1303 Ex-LP Vice-President and deputy Dr Frendo re- contested as leader of a new Partito Nazionalista Maltese (PNM, pro-Maltese Nazzjonalisti). Dr Frendo founded his new party after the Governor fixed 7/9 August as polling days for electing the entire legislature.1304 In 1924-1927, there were other instances of failed legislative measures, prominently the TUC Constitution Act. However, as opposed to 1921-1924, the enactment of re-proposed employment legislation laid solid foundations that augured for the development of other electorally proposed legislation concerning labour and trade-unionism. In 1924-1927, the imperial government assumed the other face of confrontation when it pressed forward statutes to legalise military training besides imposing conditions regarding the enactment of self- government legislation regulating conditions of work.

1298 DHL, 9.v.1927. 1299 NARMHM-284/1927. 1300 Sacco (1985/1) 77. 1301 Anon (1972) 30. 1302 See 155, 209. 1303 G Bonnici (1990) 99-104. 1304 MGG 7007, 2.viii.1927.

Malta Office, Attorney-General’s credit: Photo

Sir Adrian Dingli

177 Photo credit: the Author’s collection Author’s the credit: Photo

Sir Antonio Micallef

178 Photo credit: the Author’s collection Author’s the credit: Photo

Sir Vincenzo Frendo Azopardi

179 Photo credit: Professor Giuseppe Mifsud Bonnici Giuseppe Mifsud Professor credit: Photo

Sir Filippo Sceberras

180 Malta Office, Attorney-General’s credit: Photo

Sir Michelangelo Refalo

181 Photo credit: the Author’s collection Author’s the credit: Photo

Mr Joseph Howard

182 Photo credit: the Author’s collection Author’s the credit: Photo

Sir Ugo Mifsud

183 Photo credit: the Author’s collection Author’s the credit: Photo

Monsignor Ignazio Panzavecchia

184 Photo credit: National Archives, Rabat, Malta Rabat, Archives, National credit: Photo

Sir Gerald Strickland

185 Photo credit: National Archives, Rabat, Malta Rabat, Archives, National credit: Photo

Sir Augustus Bartolo

186 Photo credit: National Archives, Rabat, Malta Rabat, Archives, National credit: Photo

Dr Francesco Buhagiar

187 Photo credit: the Author’s collection Author’s the credit: Photo

Sir Arturo Mercieca

188 Photo credit: Dr Fransina Abela Dr Fransina credit: Photo

Professor Carlo Mallia

189 Photo credit: Professor Giuseppe Mifsud Bonnici Giuseppe Mifsud Professor credit: Photo

Dr Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici

190 Malta Office, Attorney-General’s credit: Photo

Dr Victor Frendo Azopardi

191 Photo credit: the Author’s collection Author’s the credit: Photo

Monsignor Enrico Dandria

192 Photo credit: the Author’s collection Author’s the credit: Photo

Dr Pier Giuseppe Frendo

193 Malta Office, Attorney-General’s credit: Photo

Sir Philip Pullicino

194 Photo credit: the Author’s collection Author’s the credit: Photo

Archbishop Mauro Caruana

195 Photo credit: Reverend Natalino Mizzi Natalino Reverend credit: Photo

Dr Enrico Mizzi

196 Photo credit: the Author’s collection Author’s the credit: Photo

Archbishop Sir Michael Gonzi

197 Malta Prime Minister, of the Office credit: Photo

Sir Paul Boffa

198

Chapter 7 THE COMPACT

this chapter surveys the third and fourth legislatures and legislation of the first self-government, 1927-1930 and 1932-1933, as well as the interval in between them, 1930- 1932, when self-government is suspended. The chapter’s two sub-divisions cover the years 1927-1932, and 1932-1933 respectively. In 1927-30, the CP and LP in ‘compact’ government with a minority in the Senate, enacts a wide programme of statutory measures. However, this can only be done after London amends the Constitution. By contrast, in 1932-1933, several statutes to strengthen the process of re- Italianisation within the Maltese institutions, especially education, are projected but never enacted after London intervenes to suspend the Constitution for the second time in three years. In 1930-1932, among other statutes, the Governor takes a number of measures to cope with the political emergency of the time. Apart from the political parties, the local Church figures as the leading force in the country, so much so that in 1930, London has to suspend the Constitution and the legislative process at the peak of a politico-religious confrontation between the Church and the ‘compact’ government.

On 7/9 August 1927, the Maltese electorate went for the programme of the CP in heavily contested general polls.1305 However, the electorate gave the CP only a relative majority of seats in the elections of the Legislative Assembly. The CP elected 15 deputies in contrast to 14 of the PN, and three of the LP, but then only three of their candidates in the elections for the Senate were given first preference.1306 The electorate forced the CP to renew its ‘compact’ agreement with the LP so as to secure an absolute majority in the Lower

1305 MGG 7020, 18.viii.1927. 1306 Schiavone (1992) 103-104.

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House. This notwithstanding the fact that Sir Gerald, the ex- apostle of taxation but a later convert to the loan system, disagreed with the LP idea of financing social reforms via income tax.1307 The electorate still made it mathematically quasi-impossible for the CP-LP to secure supremacy in the Senate. The Church functionaries, traders and University students were also pro-PN. The nobles’ delegate and TUC representatives were pro-CP-LP. Therefore, ‘the compactists’ risked having money bills defeated in the Senate until they got two-thirds of the joint vote of the two Chambers and incurred more waste of time.1308 The electorate brought about a situation which in 1919- 21 the opponents of the bicameral system in the National Assembly had rightly feared.1309 The CP offered Ministerial seats to the LP, which preferred a standing committee to hold ‘pre-parliamentary’ discussions on legislative proposals.1310 Sir Gerald, returned from only one district, became Prime Minister at 67. After being elected with a good showing, Professor Bartolo, and ex-judge but political debutante Dr Alfredo Parnis, assumed the Ministries for Instruction and Justice respectively.1311 By contrast, the socially committed Dr Boffa polled the highest number of votes among the LP candidates. But he was left without a portfolio.1312 In 1921-24 and 1924-27, despite the fact that a diarchical crisis accompanied their governments,1313 the pro-Italian UPM-PDN alliance (or PN) had made the complex 1921 Letters Patent work one way or another. In 1927-30, although the pro- British CP-LP sought an entente with the British services in regard to construction projects of military interests,1314 owing to the bicameral division of powers, the compactists were doomed to endure a very turbulent legislative period with

1307 Sacco (1985/1) 84. 1308 See 106. 1309 See 111, 112. 1310 G Bonnici (1990) 102-103. 1311 MGG 7026, 31.viii.1927. 1312 Sacco (1985/1) 83. 1313 See 135, 168, 169, 170. 1314 Hancock 420.

202 the compact fatal political consequences.1315 The CP-LP, prompt to consult the retiring Mahaffy on a Workmen’s Compensation Bill,1316 welcomed Sir Alan Cobham, an aeronautics expert. The CP-LP accepted his view that Malta was an ideal ‘Junction of the Air in the Mediterranean’.1317 They also adhered to an Air Council listing of land for setting up a sea-plane base.1318 In view of the introduction of civil aviation, the CP-LP agreed to an RAF application for expropriating further private (civil) lands to extend the Ħal Far aerodrome.1319 On the other side, London distinguished between the CP-LP and PN also because Sir Gerald promoted imperial interests.1320 After quickly approving Ordinance II (1927) to grant a right of appeal before the local court under the Military Training Ordinance (1927),1321 London was ready to amend the Constitution to enable the CP-LP to pass legislation despite their minority of seats in the Senate.1322 After appointing Dr Philip Pullicino as Public Prosecutor in place of Dr Frendo Azopardi,1323 Sir Gerald Strickland ordered, successfully, the trial of Ettore Bono for criminal perjury (‘the trial of Terinu’).1324 Adjourning the local legislature for two months until November,1325 to allow ample time for action to secure at least a working majority in the Senate, he coupled a legislative programme with stringent application of ‘parliamentary’ rules to demoralise the PN in both Houses.1326 In disagreement with the TUC pro-PN President Agius elected under the 1926 Regulations, the CP-LP issued Notice 323 to invalidate the effects of Notice 308 of 1926.1327 They re- established the Plumer system regarding the election of the TUC

1315 See 206 et seq. 1316 See 209. 1317 See Cobham for the relevant detailed report. 1318 NARMLGO-304/1927. 1319 NARMCD-Du Cane/Amery 26.iv.1928. 1320 Bugeja 85-90. 1321 NARMD-Amery/Du Cane, 31.viii.1927. 1322 See 207, 208, 209, 210, 211. 1323 NARMLGO-28/1928. 1324 DMC, 17.viii.1927. 1325 PDLA, 23.xiii.1927. 1326 See RRC (1932) 25-27. 1327 See 169, 170.

203 constitutions and legislation in malta senators, formally representing the registered trade unions but in reality the body of collectively disorganised and leaderless Maltese workers.1328 Therefore, as TUC senators the CP-LP canvassed and elected two of the LP co-founders to recoup the PN’s narrow majority. The first was Dr Savona, who had not been returned to the Lower House and had had to yield leadership to Colonel Michael Dundon. The other was playwright Michelangelo Borg.1329 However, the CP-LP not only induced Dr Enrico Mizzi as President of the Società dei Piloti to get a court decision invalidating Notice 323 (1927) on the ground that such delegated legislation excluded trade unions without British affiliation besides benefit societies.1330 From the outset of the third legislature, they invited political trouble that impinged on the operation of the legislative process so that they enacted little legislation. On 21 November 1927, in the Speech from the Throne, Sir John Du Cane indicated that the CP gave priority to the LP’s legislative proposals. He mentioned the general hospital and Harper Area projects, rent regulation and Maltese as a court language.1331 The CP-LP, which had to cope with the building boom that self-government had generated,1332 decided to build the general hospital on a different site.1333 In fact, the CP-LP nominated a Board of Revision, expropriated tracts of irrigated land at Gwardamanġa, and there laid the foundation stone despite the fact that the Chamber of Architects’ Chairman and Board member Lawrence Gatt was against the new site.1334 Like the UPM/PN in 1925,1335 the CP-LP consulted the RIBA and engaged a British architect, Harry P Adams, to re-design the

1328 MGG 7018, 16.viii.1927. 1329 Micallef Stafrace (1996) 21-22. 1330 ACJVCOA, Società Cattolica San Giuseppe et al v Savona et al 5.xii.1927. 1331 PDLA, 21.xi.1927. 1332 LHRPLLA, 1928-19, dos 13. 1333 NARMHM-414/1927. 1334 Mr MF-58/1928, undated. 1335 See 172.

204 the compact necessary plans.1336 However, they could not amend Act XXVIII (1927)1337 until Adams re-designed the relevant plans.1338 The CP- LP proceeded with investigating a prominent member of the Chamber of Commerce, who alleged that this body was there to serve the PN.1339 Constitutionally, they impugned the 1924 Electoral Act for entitling the Council of the Chamber, rather than the Chambers’ members, to vote for their senators.1340 They also brought before the Legislative Assembly editors of pro-PN newspapers, among whom Mr Degiovanni of L’Ass,1341 on the allegation of breaching the Privileges and Immunities Act (1924).1342 They found them guilty and sent them to prison.1343 Sir Gerald argued that ‘Parliament’ was supreme because such an Act, with its ‘wholesale reference’ to the House of Commons procedures, had vested the two Houses with such a wide ‘judicial’ competence as to render the legislature superior to any other entity or hierarchy. He said that even the Curia, the Church’s administrative body subject to the universal Canon Law, was subject to ‘Parliament’.1344 Notwithstanding all the procedural and voting problems within the legislature, in the current session (1927-28) the CP-LP managed to pass Act XXXII (1927) to renew the Rent Regulation Act (1925) but now only for one year.1345 This time, the PN did not oppose the Act once its renewal was for one year.1346 Moreover, the ‘compact’ government passed Act V (1928) to bind the legislature to enact within four months any legislative proposal which was meant to levy a tax on a good at the risk of raising the price of such a good and of causing the general consumer to buy up (forestall) the good’s stocks on the market in advance of the

1336 LHRPLLA, 1928-29, dos 9. 1337 See 209. 1338 See 145, 146. 1339 See AHRPSCC (1930), an unpublished file in the House of Representative. 1340 See 144 1341 PDLA, 22.vi.1928. 1342 Ganado (1977) v1, 373-374. 1343 See 208. 1344 PDLA, 26.vi.1928. 1345 NARMLGO-349/1927. 1346 See 210.

205 constitutions and legislation in malta legislative proposal becoming an Act.1347 A classic case in point was the recent Act XXI (1927) to tax certain cigarettes.1348

7.1. POLITICO-RELIGIOUS CONFRONTATION

The period 1927-1930 is largely dominated by a State- Church conflict that sparks off in the very first session inside the Senate but develops into a full-blown Anglo- Vatican confrontation. London intervenes to render law- making possible.

On 23 June 1928, the Premier, now Lord Strickland, held a meeting with the workers’ representatives, including Dr Mizzi acting for the Società dei Piloti, to try and settle the TUC Senate delegation issue. With the exception of the actual TUC officers, all agreed that Michelangelo Borg and Armando Mifsud should return uncontested in the first elections but that benefit societies should be allowed to enter the contest as from the following elections.1349 Mr Agius, the President of the TUC, judicially impugned the validity and effects of the elections at which Borg and Mifsud were returned uncontested to the Senate.1350 In fact, the compact government ended up before the Court of Appeal presided over by the now knighted1351 Chief Justice Dr Arturo Mercieca, the pro- Italian lawyer and erudite judge.1352 As a result, the legislature endured another TUC trauma, consequently enacting very little legislation until the end of 1928.1353 On 11 July 1928, the CP-LP failed to get their first general estimates for 1928-29 through the Senate. The Church senators aligned with the PN in the relevant voting.1354 Lord Strickland

1347 NARMLGO-38/1928. 1348 See 173. 1349 Memo TUC doc Red B para 43. 1350 ACJVCOA, Agius noe et al v Parnis noe et al 14.viii.1928. 1351 MGG 6840, 2.i.1926. 1352 See Vol 2 17, 18, 21 for important judgments by him. 1353 But see 208 et seq. 1354 PDS, 11.vii.1928.

206 the compact in tandem with Dr Boffa, the latter definitely replacing Colonel Dundon as LP leader and bent on seeing his party’s proposals implemented,1355 declared a grave and massive politico-religious battle against the Church.1356 On the contrary, Archbishop Dom Mauro Caruana held the CP leader personally culpable for trying to subject the Church senators to state control. So, he resorted to a militant defence at grassroots level. He initiated the issue of a Church newspaper in Maltese, Leħen is-Sewwa (The Voice of the Truth), formally recognised the 20 year old, lay Christian society, MUSEUM,1357 and approved a new Catholic Action movement.1358 The CP-LP immediately resolved to draw on the extra- constitutional assistance of the Secretary of State for the Colonies1359 to rescue the first estimates.1360 They induced London to issue Letters Patent to enable the Maltese legislature to amend the Constitution1361 on the lines of the UK Parliament Act of 19111362 to the effect that if the Senate rejected twice a money bill, the Legislative Assembly would be able to pass the measure by a simple majority at a joint sitting with the Upper House (by 25 votes of the 49 legislative members).1363 On 14 August 1928, however, the Court of Appeal annulled the contentious TUC elections. There was the criticism of the CP, which in its turn struck back at Sir Arturo.1364 It caused Minister Dr Parnis to appeal to the Privy Council, and, pending judgment, to force Colonial Secretary Amery to suspend the local court’s decision and allow senators Borg and Mifsud to participate in the Upper House proceedings.1365 The CP-LP passed Act I (1929) to implement the new Letters

1355 Saliba 20-21. 1356 RRC (1932) 30-32. 1357 See 73. 1358 Koster 93-116. 1359 Bugeja 89-90. 1360 NARMD-Du Cane/Amery 13.vii.1928. 1361 MGG 7116, 7.viii.1928. 1362 1&2 Geo 5, ch13. 1363 MGG 7716, 7.viii.1928. 1364 ACJVCOA, Agius noe et al v Parnis noe et 14.viii.1928. 1365 NARMD-Van Best/Amery 4.x.1928.

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Patent.1366 They enacted the defeated Appropriation Act after they secured a majority of a single vote in a division which included the ‘ayes’ of the two TUC senators Borg and Mifsud.1367 The compactists resumed their breach of privilege litigation, causing other pro-PN newspaper editors, prominently Dr Mifsud Bonnici, to be imprisoned.1368 However, it was the reactionary attitude of the special Church delegates that fuelled political tension in and outside the Upper House. Attention was diverted from the crisis only by isolated national events, notably the death of the founder of the National Assembly Sir Filippo Sceberras.1369 The knighting of Professor Augustus Bartolo was given prominence by the Bartolo press.1370 The CP-LP embarked on electorally proposed statutes after the Court of Appeal in the person of the Chief Justice, Sir Arturo, rejected their submissions1371 that the words ‘Council of the Chamber of Commerce’ in the Electoral Act (1924) implied the whole ‘Chamber of Commerce’ as in the Constitution.1372 The CP- LP also undertook to implement electorally proposed measures before losing their other TUC case before the Privy Council (23 January 1930), which gave a judgment that vindicated Sir Arturo’s appealed decision.1373 The CP-LP passed the long-awaited landmark statute to introduce contributory compensation for industrial employees over 18 who suffered occupational injuries (Workmen’s Compensation Act, Act VI 1929). There had to be an exception for the case of those who fell within the competence of the Maltese Imperial Government. Two other notable statutes introduced Maltese in the Criminal and Civil Courts subject to the consent of the defendant and as a linguistic medium of notarial acts (Acts XVI and XVII 1929). Act XXVIII (1927) was amended to

1366 NARMLGO-232/1928. 1367 Cremona (1997) 29. 1368 PDLA 13.iv.1929. 1369 Ganado (1977) v1, 386-388. 1370 DMC, 30.viii.1928. 1371 ACJVCOA, Valenzia v Arrigo 18.iii.1929. 1372 See 99, 138, 144, 145, 204. 1373 Strickland v Grima [1930] UK PC7, [1930] AC 285.

208 the compact implement Harry P Adams’ new general hospital plans1374 (Act XVIII 1929).1375 Twin statutes were enacted to re-appoint a civil servant as trade-union registrar, and to re-define trade-union membership in terms of the Plumer system but with women included (Acts XXI1376 and XXII 19291377) to increase female participation and rights within the industrial workers.1378 A statute was enacted to extend rent control for further two years (Act XXIII 1929).1379 Finally, Act XXIX (1929) was passed to amend Ordinance XIV (1889), the current Press Law,1380 and force all newspaper editors to deposit a higher sum - 200 pounds - as a guarantee for their future behaviour.1381 The Workmen’s Compensation Act, Act VI (1929), engendered heated controversy between the LP and the PN as to which of the two parties had originally proposed the Act.1382 In fact, the Act had been proposed several times during the self-government.1383 LP executive members, who had assisted in the drafting of this statute, could not contradict the assertion of Dr Mifsud Bonnici that the measure was Dr Mizzi’s brainchild.1384 One of the LP executive members included Moses Gatt, a leading Dockyard draughtsman.1385 The proposal to enact a Workmen’s Compensation Act was brought to a successful end on this occasion due to the fact that, unlike the previous government, the CP-LP negotiated with the British services the exclusion of the War Department’s employees and so obviated constitutional and practical problems. A clause was also inserted into the Act to impose liability for occupational accidents on any UK-domiciled

1374 See 206. 1375 NARMLGO-3/1929. 1376 NARMLGO-140/1929. 1377 NARMLGO-146/1929. 1378 Micallef Stafrace (1996) 62. 1379 NARMLGO-216/1928. 1380 See 60. 1381 NARMLGO-148/1929. 1382 See PDLA, 28.vi.1928. 1383 See 117, 121, 122, 147, 148, 152, 174. 1384 See 121. 1385 Ellul Galea (1982) 360-372.

209 constitutions and legislation in malta company that employed persons in Malta.1386 The clause was incorporated on the suggestion of Mahaffy who, afterwards, left Malta.1387 As for the statutes relating to the use of Maltese, it was Dr Boffa, a regular speaker in Maltese in legislative debates, who piloted the historical enactment to introduce the Maltese tongue as a court language - Act XVI (1929).1388 Because of the constitutional clause1389 that ‘Italian and English were the court languages’, the use of Maltese as a court language could not be made compulsory.1390 Therefore, this permissive statute rendered only voluntary every native citizen’s right to request a court to conduct his case in his ‘ilsien li tagħtu ommu’. The pro-British local press congratulated the CP-LP for Act XVI (1929)1391 while the PN called the extension of rent control by two years (by Act XXIII 1929) ‘a Bolshevist measure’.1392 The CP-LP moved and passed Act XVI (1929) when the four PN senators absented themselves from the Upper House in reaction to Dr Mifsud Bonnici’s imprisonment for breach of privilege.1393 The PN senators included Professor Luigi A Randon, a culturally and politically pro-Italian Professor of Italian Literature,1394 who called Maltese ‘a domestic language’ and Italian ‘the cultural and national language’ of Malta.1395 Some 33,600 of the local population were literate in their native tongue – Maltese.1396 But there was a decrease in the number of those who were educated and used Italian in public.1397 The CP-LP considered that Act XVI (1929) would not disturb Italian from its constitutionally secure status as the language

1386 NARMLGO-24/1928. 1387 MGG 7232, 6.ix.1929. 1388 PDLA, 22.iv.1929. 1389 NARMCD-Amery/Chamberlain 24.ii.1928. 1390 See 109. 1391 TTM, 25.x.1929, DMC, 5.xi.1929 and Pr, 7.xi.1929. 1392 PDLA, 10.xii.1928. 1393 See 208. 1394 Schiavone (1997) 472. 1395 PDS, 30,xi.1927. 1396 M, 19.ix.1929. 1397 See RRC (1932) 117-118 and 121-130.

210 the compact of judicial record.1398 They were confident that the Chamber of Advocates, mainly composed of pro-Italian lawyers, would not boycott the measure. In fact, they had done their homework well. Dr Giuseppe Borg Olivier, who belonged to a traditionally pro-Italian family, was the first to defend a case in Maltese in the Commercial Court.1399 The CL-LP’s political hostilities with the Opposition harshened after Lord Strickland sponsored Act XXXIX (1929) to force newspapers editors to deposit a 200 pounds guarantee. The Opposition interpreted the Act as an attempt to muzzle its press.1400 But it was the Società Operaia Cattolica, a benefit society represented by Mr Giuseppe Micallef Goggi, that opened a court case to impugn the validity of all Acts of the third legislature, from Acts I to XXIX 1929,1401 including Acts XXI and XXII under which the TUC senators had been elected and voted.1402 At the time when the CP-LP sanctioned Act XXIX (1929), their relations with the Church had also deteriorated. The general politico-religious confrontation had so worsened that the British government and the Holy See held discussions to try and solve the matter on a diplomatic level. Lord Strickland entertained the hope of emulating the Italian Fascist government in concluding a concordat with the Vatican. But according to the Irish Apostolic Visitor to Malta Monsignor Pasquale Robinson, the Prime Minister had subjected Malta to ‘inquisitorial despotism’.1403 In 1930, the events that had characterised the third legislature of self-government precipitated a crisis. On the one hand, CP- LP consolidated their wide ties with the British services. On the other hand, their hostilities with the PN reached their climax while their confrontation with the local Church exploded. As far as the services’ interests were concerned, the CP-LP were willing to bring forward an Expropriation Bill to expedite the taking of whole stretches of land not only to accelerate the building of

1398 NARMLGO-152/1929. 1399 Ellul Galea (1979) 12. 1400 MT, 4.v.1929. 1401 See 213 for the final decision. 1402 See 209. 1403 Rhodes 58.

211 constitutions and legislation in malta the new hospital, schools and workmen’s dwellings but also to facilitate the erection of a new civil aerodrome1404 (Act III 1930).1405 They asked Minister Dr Parnis to frame the Bill concerned. However, to make sure that the Opposition would not impeach the Act on jurisdictional grounds as far as the taking of imperial property, they adopted a suggestion put forward by the noted international constitutionalist Sir Berriedale Keith to pass Act III of 1930 subject to the issue of an Order-in-Council.1406 As regards the State-Church clash, this was so grave1407 that an Anglo-Vatican crisis of a diplomatically insurmountable magnitude ensued.1408 In the Legislative Assembly, Lord Strickland deplored a decision of the Provincial of the Valletta Franciscan Conventuals, the ‘pro-PN’ Italian Father Carta, to ‘banish politically’ two ‘pro-CP’ Maltese subordinate friars to a Sicilian convent.1409 Lord Strickland marred his personal relations with Archbishop Don Mauro Caruana such that the latter did not turn up for the opening of the arch-supported avenue, named ‘Duke of York Avenue’,1410 within the Harper Area.1411 Malta was so overtaken by the Church-State conflict that it hardly took in the gravity of the worldwide economic depression.1412 On 1 May 1930, Archbishop Caruana interrupted any possible attempt towards rapprochement between his Church and the CP and LP. The two parties independently decided to contest separately the general election, which was to be held within a month.1413 The Archbishop imposed an unconditional ban on all Catholics who voted for the CP and LP.1414 He announced that all those who did so would commit a ‘mortal sin’ and thus would

1404 See 136, 160, 161, 203. 1405 NARMLGO-152/1929. 1406 NARMLGO-960/1932. 1407 Bugeja 90-100. 1408 See Correspondence on the strained Anglo-Vatican negotiations on the matter. 1409 PDLA, 15.vii.1929. 1410 Anon (1977) xvi-xvii. 1411 See 166. 1412 Blouet 168. 1413 Ganado (1977) v1, 416-421. 1414 AA, Past Lett 257/30, 1.v.1930.

212 the compact incur ‘spiritual penalties’.1415 He accused the CP-LP supporters of operating within political parties which perpetrated ‘moral injuries’.1416 The new Bishop of Gozo, the ex-LP senator Monsignor Gonzi, signed the relevant decree in a spectacular re-appearance in public as presumptive future spiritual leader.1417 The Governor was left with no alternative but to promulgate Ordinance I to withhold the general elections.1418 Predicting a Court of Appeal judgment of 25 June 1930,1419 which accepted Mr Micallef Goggi’s claim that Acts I to XXIX of 1929 were null and void because the TUC Senators had been irregularly elected,1420 Sir John also validated such Acts (Ordinance II 1930).1421 PN and clergy demonstrations and CP and LP counter-manifestations followed with the result that the London announced the temporary but sine die suspension of the Constitution and the legislature.1422 On 2 July 1930, London issued an Amending Letters Patent Order-in-Council to lift the 1921 Constitution and render the legislature inoperative.1423 It devolved on the Governor full powers, including the making of legislation by Ordinance.1424 The country entered into an indeterminate period of constitutional uncertainty. Political protests and counter-protests intensified in the country.1425 Governor Du Cane immediately indicated that legislation would primarily be enacted to cope with an imposed political state of emergency, and that the few non-emergency statutes would be passed to organise the ever-increasing motor traffic. He hastened to take the first in a series of emergency measures to ensure at once the strictest political control and at the same

1415 Koster 105. 1416 Full text is in Holy See, 131-135. 1417 See 114, 147. 1418 MGG 7329, 21.vi.1930. 1419 ACJVCOA, Micallef Goggi v Mifsud 25.vi.1930. 1420 See also 219. 1421 NARMLGO-139/1930. 1422 NARMLGO-190/1930. 1423 MGG 7331, 2.vii.1930. 1424 MGG 7336, 18.vii.1930. 1425 NARMLGO-190/1930.

213 constitutions and legislation in malta time restore calm. This was a statute entitled the Prevention of Disturbances Ordinance (Ordinance V 1930), which also set up a Provisional Executive Council (or Cabinet of Ministers) to advise on legislation.1426 The retraction of the Constitution and the taking of emergency measures diffused but did not eliminate tension. Sir John tried his utmost to give a good impression of his administration. He was favoured by the fact that the current world economic depression did not affect Malta. Even in its unlawful aspects, economic life in Malta was not paralysed. Among the statutes which he immediately submitted to the Provisional Executive Council were Ordinances VII and VIII (1930) to tighten control over prostitution and venereal diseases.1427 Although it was constitutionally and politically a very difficult moment for Malta, building resumed on the new general hospital, schools and social housing.1428 Construction activity meant more motor traffic. This being still unregulated, conditions on the roads became chaotic.1429 Notwithstanding the fact that the current political atmosphere inevitably also permeated the enactment of legislation, important statutory developments occurred in connection with motor traffic control. The decennial London-directed population census (Ordinance XI 1930) showed a population growth. But it also re-confirmed the expansion of supply and services, indicating an increase of motorcars.1430 Deaths had multiplied owing to traffic accidents at high-walled and blind-cornered public roads. Concurrently, the electric tram and railway companies closed down to make way for the new bus service.1431 Sir John Du Cane appointed his new Legal Adviser, Robert Strother Stewart (1930-1933), to be Chairman of a Traffic Control

1426 NARMLGO-224/1930. 1427 NARMD-Passfield/Du Cane 1.ix.1930. 1428 Bowen-Jones 177. 1429 NARMLGO-269/1931. 1430 Census (1931) xxx-xxxi. 1431 Dhn, 30.xii.1930.

214 the compact

Board (TCB).1432 Its task was to impose some order in the new transport service.1433 The TCB decided to allot a monopoly to charabancs belonging to the British Motor Co. (BMC), which were to be imported to ply on the British-patronised Sliema route.1434 The monopoly was justified on the grounds of ‘superior-service’ and ‘fear of labour displacement’ in the state of constitutional emergency.1435 The Opposition protested by launching attacks via the press. The newspaper Malta, for one, called the monopoly concession ‘a war against Maltese industry’.1436 The Chamber of Commerce said that the exclusive grant went against the freedom of trade. Bus owners formed a Union of Motor Omnibus Owners (UMO). There were threats of a general strike.1437 The TCB was forced to postpone its preferential treatment policy. BMC then sued the Chairman, Strother Stewart, for damages.1438 Therefore, soon after enacting unpopular but financially needed taxation statutes such as Ordinances III1439 and V1440 to increase import duties, and a statute to retrench costs connected with the new hospital construction (Ordinance IV 1931),1441 Sir John passed the Traffic Regulation Ordinance, Ordinance X (1931).1442 This empowered the TCB to arrange routes, allot services and systematise traffic in general, and to regulate the takeover of ex-workers of the recently closed down electric tram and railway.1443 At this juncture, London decided to send Lord Baron Askwith, Walter Egerton and Count De Salis (the ‘Askwith Commission’) to enquire into the general conditions of Malta.1444 On 19 April 1931, Sir John enacted Ordinance XI to empower the Askwith

1432 MGG 7835, 16.xii.1930. 1433 NARMHM-29/1931. 1434 DMC, 26.i.1931. 1435 MDV, 3.i.1931. 1436 NARMD-Du Cane/Passfield 21.i.1931. 1437 CCAC 9/1931, 8.i.1931. 1438 See Vol 2 11 for the decision. 1439 NARMLGO-91/1931. 1440 NARMLGO-107/1931. 1441 NARMLGO-101/1931. 1442 NARMLGO-150/1931. 1443 NARMLGO-269/1931. 1444 NARMD-Passfield/Du Cane 21.iii.1931.

215 constitutions and legislation in malta

Commission to carry out its task.1445 Its method consisted mainly of interviews with leading personalities and bodies.1446 While the Askwith Commission carried out its enquiry, the Governor enacted two other traffic statutes under social or political constraints. Ordinance XV (1931) gave the TCB the added power to sequestrate buses in the event of an industrial action.1447 The UMO reacted by planning a stoppage of the bus service, intended to halt the commercial life of the community.1448 Ordinance XIX (1931) required walls along public streets, especially blind and dangerous corners, to be restricted to a maximum of four courses, to ensure better visibility for motorcars, and alleviate the ever-rising toll of road accidents and deaths.1449 The Governor also passed Ordinance XX (1931) to prohibit public meetings, and restrain pro-Italian forces like the PN, Chamber of Advocates and University law graduates1450 in their ‘attempts to disturb the peace’.1451 Without excluding further extensions,1452 he left in operation for another year the statute to re-let and, thus, control urban property, except clubs (Ordinance XXI 1931).1453 Despite the fact that building was prospering, the low-wage earners, who generally occupied rented dwelling-houses, looked favourably at the extension of the Ordinance.1454 In May 1932, the Askwith Commission closed its enquiry, a highlight of which was Dr Mizzi’s mention of the Maltese as Italians. The Commission recommended the constitutional entrenchment of Maltese instead of Italian, and the restoration of self-government in the context of Malta as a vital naval link to the Empire’s network stretching to India via the Suez

1445 The minutes are in RCME (1932), the report in RRC (1932). 1446 NARMD-Du Cane/Passfield 16.v.1931 and Passfield/Du Cane 9.vi.1931. 1447 NARMD-Luke/Passfield 6.viii.1931. 1448 NARMLGO-155/1931. 1449 NARMLGO-269/1931. 1450 Sacco (1985/1) 94. 1451 NARMLGO-270/1931. 1452 See Vol 2 44. Subsequent Governors followed suit until 1941. 1453 See 209. 1454 NARMLGO-281/1931.

216 the compact

Canal.1455 London agreed with the Commission’s findings but first it appointed another General as the new Governor, Sir David Campbell (1931-1936).1456

7.2. RE-ITALIANISATION

The period 1932-1933 is characterised by the PN in government with an absolute majority seeking to re- institutionalise by legislation the while the Fascists spread their movements overseas and Britain tightens its military precautions.

On 2 May 1932, London restored self-government by re-instating the 1921 Constitution in accordance with the recommendation of the Askwith Commission.1457 It also re- entrenched Maltese in the Constitution, an event which coincided well with a decision of a group of University students to co-found the Għaqda tal-Malti Università (the University Maltese Language Society) to promote the local tongue.1458 Sir David Campbell, the new Governor, followed by fixing the polling days for 13/15 June 1932.1459 The CP and LP (the Boffisti since Dr Boffa’s leadership) resolved to re-contest as separate parties with previous proposals coupled with new ones. They re-accentuated the introduction of compulsory education and old age pension. For the first time, they mentioned the establishment of a national health scheme. Lord Strickland tried to re-establish good terms with the Church even if the spiritual leaders of the country re- confirmed the decree of 1930 imposing ‘spiritual penalties’ on those Catholics voting for his political party (the CP).1460 In his own name as well as on behalf of his party, now without Sir

1455 RRC (1932) 5-6, 81-84 and 168-169. 1456 Ganado (1977) v1, 448. 1457 MGG 7550, 2.v.1932. 1458 Buttigieg (1980) 63. 1459 MGG 7567, 7.vi.1932. 1460 See 212.

217 constitutions and legislation in malta

Augustus Bartolo,1461 he apologised to Archbishop Caruana. The spiritual leader took till the end of the electoral campaign to lift the decree of 1930.1462 Conversely, the LP and its militants, including the Għaqda Proletarja Maltija (Society of Maltese Workers), faced a harsh campaign from the Church. They were accused of practising Socialism or Bolshevik as a subversive system typified by ‘Soviet Russia’.1463 Under the joint leadership of Dr Enrico Mizzi and Sir Ugo Mifsud and a combination of veteran politicians, such as Monsignor Dandria, with fresh faces, notably Gozitan lawyer and agriculture expert Dr Giuseppe Micallef, the PN’s manifesto proposed to transfer Malta from Colonial to Dominion status.1464 In terms of the British Parliament’s Statute of Westminster (1931),1465 the PN wanted Malta to become a politically autonomous and administratively free community within the Empire.1466 With a possible ‘back to the land’ programme, it also promised to liberalise further the old mortmain and recent public construction legislation in the light of a general embellishment of the country. However, the PN omitted taxation and social services from its manifesto.1467 It intensively used its newspaper Malta to depict Lord Strickland and his party genuflecting at the Pope’s feet. It was confident of victory and was gearing itself to annihilate the CP and LP.1468 In the event, the PN got 21 deputies and five senators, registering an absolute majority of votes and seats in a record poll (95.53%).1469 It crushed both the CP, which elected 10 members in the Legislative Assembly and two in the Senate, as well as the

1461 Calleja (1999) 207. 1462 Luke 82-86. 1463 LIS, 13.ii.1932. 1464 Documents in Mizzi (1964) 4-12. 1465 22 Geo 5, ch41. 1466 Cannon 301. 1467 Anon (1972) 44-45. 1468 M, 13.xi.1932. 1469 Schiavone (1992) 129-145.

218 the compact

LP that returned only its leader Dr Boffa as though it were on the verge of extinction.1470 The PN became the first party to gain total control of the legislative machinery in both Chambers under the 1921 Constitution. Sir Ugo Mifsud assumed the Head of the Ministry and Industry while Dr Enrico Mizzi took the education portfolio instead of Monsignor Dandria, who died before the opening of the new legislature. Dr Mifsud Bonnici, an apostle of Italian culture but politically a Maltese antagonist of Mussolini and Italian Fascism, became the new Minister for the Treasury and Police. Gozitan Dr Micallef was given the Ministry for Agriculture. From the outset, the PN indicated that it was set to implement a wide programme of legislation to embellish the infrastructure and communications system. It mentioned that it would seek to regulate hours of work for shop workers to try and become more popular among such workers.1471 It confirmed that it would liberalise the property acquisition system to consolidate its friendship with the strongest institution – the Church.1472 However, just when Britain and Malta were already feeling the effects of grave political developments on the international scene, it took over with the slogan to re-Italianise Malta. Mussolini, with his appetite for expansion overseas, called the Mediterranean Sea ‘Mare Nostrum’.1473 The opening of the legislature was in October and until then the Governor could take all legislative measures which he deemed fit by way of political precaution. On 12 July 1932, the British Parliament enacted the Malta Constitution Act and removed any remaining doubt on the validity and effects of Acts I to XXIX of 1929.1474 In 1930, Sir David Campbell had already validated these Acts1475 which included those to regulate trade-union registration, and to make Maltese

1470 G Bonnici (1990) 149. 1471 NARMLGO-59/1935. 1472 Blouet 187. 1473 Rhodes 53. 1474 22&23 Geo 5, ch43. 1475 See 213.

219 constitutions and legislation in malta a court language.1476 Independently of any view of Malta’s Privy Council (the Nominated and Executive Councils sitting together) as well as public opinion,1477 he enacted Ordinance XIX (1932) to ban the publication, possession and distribution of seditious materials.1478 His real motive behind the enactment of Ordinance XIX was soon disclosed. Dr Mizzi was brought to court and fined for allegedly having seditious writings.1479 But John Joseph Scorey, now a civil servant, was not meted out the same treatment because he showed loyalty to the Crown. Dr Mizzi was so irritated that he forced Dr Mifsud Bonnici to order the Police to indict six Labourites for allegedly keeping seditious agitprop.1480 The trial was very long, but at the end, the Labourites were acquitted.1481 The PN opened its legislative programme with a bill to facilitate the expropriation of lands and another to nationalise telephony. It needed to carry out the compulsory acquisition of wider areas than required for accelerating important public works. The Harper Area1482 project was still in progress.1483 Nonetheless, the new Maltese government also decided to take over the telephony service from the Malta Telephone Company on the expiration of the relevant 50 years contract on 3 January 1933.1484 This meant the nationalisation of telephony (Act XII 1932),1485 a milestone since the service’s inception.1486 The PN appointed a select committee to study the expropriation of wider areas than actually required for ‘public purposes’ according to a provision, which the CP-LP had not included in Act III (1930).1487 Consequently, the PN had to wait for the committee’s study before proceeding with the

1476 See 207, 208, 209. 1477 MDV, 19.ix.1932. 1478 NARMLGO-139/1930. 1479 TTM, 13.iv.1933. 1480 Galea (1999) 88-109. 1481 ACJVCOA, Polizia v Carmelo Carabott et al 8.xi.1933. 1482 NARMMJ-830/1933. 1483 See 129, 155, 162, 165, 166, 169, 204, 212. 1484 Ganado (1977) v4, 323. 1485 NARMLGO-296/1932. 1486 See 53, 54. 1487 See 212, 213.

220 the compact measure.1488 On the contrary, it had to rule out the negative clause system for the purpose of excluding expressly the application of the Telephony Undertaking Act to the laying on imperial property of telegraph poles in connection with telephony. The negative clause system had evolved within the self-government legislature by way of practice since the Aesthetic Buildings Act (1926). It purported to exempt matters in the reserved area from the operation of self-government legislation.1489 In fact, the Legal Adviser Strother Stewart disagreed with both his predecessor Robert P. Mahaffy and the present Public Prosecutor Dr Philip Pullicino on using the clause.1490 He argued that the Constitution (Arts 41 and 48) denied the civil government any right to insert such a clause.1491 The Legal Adviser said that if self-government legislation fell within the reserved area, the Governor had either to obtain prior instructions from the Colonial Office to assent to the relevant enactment, or else suspend the enactment until London allowed it.1492 Strother Stewart also mentioned that Ordinance I of 1904 specifically regulated the matter in question insofar as military property was concerned.1493 Indeed, the PN provided in Act XII (1932) for secrecy in message transmissions and for compensation to owners or occupiers suffering from property damages during the laying of lines.1494 London did not disallow the Act, which expressly referred only to the fixing of telegraph poles on civil property.1495 On 19/20 February 1933, the PN resolved to send Sir Ugo Mifsud to London to request formally the grant of Dominion

1488 See AHRPSCEB (1933) on the Expropriation Bill as resumed in 1932. 1489 See 164. 1490 NARMLGO-296/1932. 1491 NARMCD-Cunliffe-Lister/Campbell 18.vii.1933. 1492 NARMLGO-54/1933. 1493 See 69. 1494 NARMHM-119/1932. 1495 NARMLGO-54/1933.

221 constitutions and legislation in malta status to Malta.1496 It passed Acts III and IV (1933)1497 to amend Acts XXI and XXII (1929)1498 and re-entitle benefit societies, including the Società dei Piloti, to TUC membership.1499 The harsh criticism which Lord Strickland and his group launched against the two enactments was to no avail.1500 Simultaneously, the PN took the legislative initiative to liberalise the legal system of mortmain to the satisfaction of the local Church. It enacted Act VII (1933) to vest the bishops of Malta and Gozo with the competence to recommend exemption from mortmain law.1501 Governor Sir David Campbell said that Act VII (1933) created discrimination against the competent authorities for non-Catholic Churches and Institutes. Sir David admitted that since 1822 the Crown had approved 104 Mortmain Exemption Ordinances/Acts regarding Roman Catholic properties in contrast to five dealing with Anglican churches.1502 He drew attention to the fact that London had approved Act I (1922) to declare Roman Catholicism the religion of Malta.1503 However, Sir David assented to Act VII (1933) lest Ministers complained of being ‘prevented by the imperial authorities from passing laws affecting their churches and religion’.1504 Subsequently, the PN enacted environment and Church-related laws to increase ecclesiastical and popular support. The first statute was Act XX (1933) to preserve the beautiful Portes des Bombes avenue to Floriana.1505 Another was Act XXVIII (1933) to introduce into the Criminal Code a section, omitted in 1854 as controversial,1506 to punish vilification of the local Church.1507

1496 PDLA, 19.ii.1933 and PDS, 20.ii.1933. 1497 NARMLGO-289/1932. 1498 See 209. 1499 PDLA, 4.xi.1932. 1500 PDLA, 19.xii.1932. 1501 Bonnici (1975) 257-258. 1502 Scicluna 45. 1503 See 121, 122. 1504 NARMLGO-285/1932. 1505 NARMLGO-42/1933. 1506 See 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42. 1507 NARMLGO-291/1932.

222 the compact

By mid-1933 according to its political projections, the PN had enacted the most important laws. It was better poised to focus on its re-Italianisation policy while Mussolini expanded Fascism abroad1508 and Adolf Hitler inaugurated Nazi rule in Germany.1509 It opened special classes for teaching Italian, and granted bursaries to a Maltese cadre to study in Italy.1510 While banning the Għaqda tal-Malti Università,1511 it launched an Istituto di Cultura Italiana and Fascist scout groups (avanguardisti and balilla).1512 It encouraged pro-Fascist Italian businessmen to establish factories in Malta. Shirt trader Arnaldo Belardinelli was one such trader.1513 However, while giving a weekly rest to self-employed barbers and bakers as a first step towards fixing a general limitation on hours of work (Act XL 1933),1514 the PN managed to establish Italian as the only official language of deeds (Act XXXVII 1933).1515 Unlike the CP and LP, London took little notice of the fact that Act XXXVII (1933) neglected Maltese.1516 Its attention was focused on Malta’s position only 22 minutes away from the nearest bomber base on the continent where the Fascist movement progressed daily.1517 It wanted to avoid war with Italy, but Malta’s security was vital to imperial interests.1518 On 2 November 1933, London again suspended the 1921 Constitution Letters Patent, because the PN’s systematic programme to re- Italianise the county’s institutions was a ‘grave emergency’.1519 It re-vested the Governor with full executive and legislative powers.1520

1508 Monroe 43-44. 1509 Austin 13. 1510 Ganado (1977) v1, 464-467 and v2, 100. 1511 Sacco (1985/1) 116. 1512 Borg (1991) 76. 1513 NARMD-Campbell/Cunliffe-Lister 5.vii.1933. 1514 NARMLGO-163/1933. 1515 NARMLGO-149/1933. 1516 PDLA, 20.ii.1933. 1517 Hancock 406. 1518 Bugeja 117. 1519 MGG 7824, 2.xi.1933. 1520 NARMD-Cunliffe-Lister/Campbell 7.xii.1933.

223 constitutions and legislation in malta

Dr Mizzi called this event a ‘coup d’état’.1521 The return of paternal rule was,1522 for him, the most backward step in 100 years.1523 On the other side of the political fence, Lord Strickland, too, criticised London’s unilateral decision to withdraw self- government for the second time in three years.1524 Ironically, the PN had made itself less politically influential in government (1932-1933) than in opposition or in coalition (1921-1927). It legislatively achieved less, especially on fundamental matters such as language. When examined in retrospect, the legal system of Malta in 1933 was more comprehensive in comparison with 1914. In the midst of long-standing indigenous issues and great events about pari passu in education, the composition of the TUC and the supremacy of the State over the Church, it was better formed and more mature. In the context of self-government, the institutional, administrative and judicial systems were further re-organised or further arranged on British or colonial models. A statutory structure was given to Ministries. Government offices and public registries were overhauled to fit the Crown colony-to-semi-independence transition. Social legislation was put on solid foundations. Malta’s legal system began to adapt itself to a transformation of the commercial sector from laissez faire to State-governed. There was a breakthrough in education and language. The Maltese historical patrimony and aspects of the building environment were now regulated by statutes owing to a post- war construction boom. Large-scale public projects concerning urbanisation, population increase and motor traffic proliferation were authorised by law. Although the terms of government were short and, thus, political parties were discouraged from implementing taxation unsystematically owing to electoral repercussions, the financial regimes were expanded to provide State revenues. Despite opposition to labour legislation from the Admiralty, the largest employer, steps had been taken in

1521 QCL 99a-99l. 1522 Cassar (1992) 33. 1523 Cf 17 et seq. 1524 Collett 244.

224 the compact connection with employment and trade-union legislation. Imperial measures introduced novel areas in connection with aviation, wireless and other advanced technologies.

225

APPENDICES

227

APPENDIX A

GOVERNORS OF MALTA (1814-1964)

GOVERNORS AND DATE OF DATE OF COMMANDERS-IN-CHIEF ARRIVAL DEPARTURE

Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Maitland 16.vii.1813 17.i.1824

General Marquess of Hastings 6.v.1824 28.xi.1826 Major General Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby 27.xii.1826 30.ix.1836

Major General Sir Henry Frederick Bouverie 1.x.1836 14.vi.1843

Lieutenant General Patrick Stuart 14.vi.1843 24.vii.1847

CIVIL GOVERNORS

Sir Richard More O’Ferrall 27.x.1847 13.v.1851

Major General Sir William Reid 1.x.1851 29.iv.1858

Major General Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant 10.iv.1858 3.xi.1864

Lieutenant General Sir Henry Knight Storks 10.xi.1864 17.iv.1867

General Sir Patrick Grant 3.v.1867 2.vi.1872

General Sir Charles Thomas Straubenzee 22.v.1872 5.vi.1878

General Sir Arthur Borton 25.vi.1878 7.vi.1884

General Sir John Lintorn Arabin Simmons 10.iv.1884 27.ix.1888

Lieutenant General Sir Henry O’Oyley Torrens 26.xii.1887 1.xii.1889

229 constitutions and legislation in malta

Lieutenant General Sir Henry Augustus Smyth 11.i.1890 29.xii.1893

General Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle 9.xii.1893 31.xii.1898

General Lord Francis Wallace Grenfell of Kilvey 26.xi.1898 18.iii.1903

General Sir Charles Mansfield Clarke Bart 2.iii.1903 2.v.1907

Lieutenant General Sir Henry Fane Grant 9.viii.1907 8.viii.1909

General Sir Henry Macleod Leslie Rundle 3.viii.1909 12.ii.1915

Field-Marshal Lord Paul Stanford Methuen 27.i.1915 28.iv.1919

Field-Marshal Lord Herbert Onslow Plumer 16.iv.1919 15.v.1924

General Sir Walter Norris Congreve 20.v.1924 28.ii.1927

General Sir John Philip Du Cane 4.iv.1927 25.vi.1931

General Sir David Graham Muschet Campbell 27.vi.1931 6.ii.1936

General Sir Charles Bonham- 3.iii.1936 6.iv.1940 Carter

Lieutenant-General Sir William 15.iv.1940 7.v.1942 George Dobbie

General John Standish Surtees 4.v.1942 6.viii.1944

Lieutenant General Sir Edmond 19.ix.1944 4.iii.1946 Charles Schreiber

Sir Francis Campbell Ross Douglas 22.vi.1946 15.vi.1949

Sir Gerald Hallen Creasy 13.vii.1949 16.vii.1954

230 APPENDIX A

Sir 3.ix.1954 28.v.1959

Admiral Sir 7.v.1959 27.vi.1962

Sir Maurice Dorman 15.vi.1962 21.ix.1964

231

APPENDIX B

SECRETARIES OF STATE FOR (WAR AND) THE COLONIES (1814-1964)

SECRETARIES OF STATE FOR WAR AND APPOINTMENT THE COLONIES

Earl Bathurst 1812

FJ Robinson (Viscount Goderich) 1827

Sir George Murray 1828

FJ Robinson (Viscount Goderich) 1830

EG Stanley 1833

Thomas Spring Rice 1834

Charles Grant (Lord Glenelg) 1835

Lord John Russell 1839

Lord Stanley (Earl of Derby) 1841

William E Gladstone 1845

Earl Grey 1846

Sir John S Pakington 1852

Duke of Newcastle 1852

SECRETARIES OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES

Sir G Gray Bt 10.vi.1854

Sidney Herbert 1.ii.1855

Lord John Russell 1.iii.1855

Sir William Molesworth 21.vii.1855

233 constitutions and legislation in malta

Henry Labouchere 17.xi.1855

Lord Stanley (Earl of Derby) 26.ii.1858

Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton 31.v.1858

Duke of Newcastle 18.vi.1859

Edward Cardwell (Viscount Cardwell) 4.iv.1864

Earl of Carnarvon 6.ii.1866

Duke of Buckingham 8.iii.1867

Earl Granville 10.xii.1868

Earl of Kimberley 6.vii.1870

Earl of Carnarvon 21.ii.1874

Sir Michael E Hicks Beach 4.ii.1878

Earl of Kimberley 28.iv.1880

Earl of Derby 16.xii.1882

Colonel FA Stanley 24.vi.1885

Earl Glanville 6.ii.1886

Edward Stanhope 3.viii.1886

Sir Henry Holland (Baron Knutsford, Viscount Knutsford) 14.i.1887

Marquess of Ripon 17.viii.1892

Joseph Chamberlain 28.vi.1895

Alfred Lyttleton 9.x.1903

Earl of Elgin and Kincardine 11.xii.1905

Earl of Crewe 16.iv.1908

Lewis Harcourt (Viscount Harcourt) 7.xi.1910

A Bonar Law 27.v.1915

234 APPENDIX B

WH Long 11.xii.1916

Viscount Milner 14.i.1919

Winston Churchill 14.ii.1921

Duke of Devonshire 25.x.1922

JH Thomas 23.i.1924

Leo C Amery 7.xi.1924

Lord Passfield 8.vi.1929

JH Thomas 26.viii.1931

Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister 9.xi.1931

Malcolm MacDonald 7.vi.1935

JH Thomas 27.xi.1935

WGA Ormsby-Gore 29.v.1936

Malcolm MacDonald 16.v.1938

Lord Lloyd 13.v.1940

Lord Moyne 8.ii.1941

Viscount Cranborne (Marquess of Salisbury) 23.ii.1942

OFG Stanley 24.xi.1942

GH Hall (Viscount Hall) 3.viii.1945

A Creech Jones 7.x.1946

James Griffiths 2.iii.1950

Oliver Lyttelton () 27.x.1951

AT Lennox-Boyd (Viscount Boyd) 30.vii.1954

Ian Macleod 19.x.1959

Reginald Maudling 16.x.1961

Duncan Sandys 17.vii.1962

235

APPENDIX C

HEADS OF THE MINISTRY/PRIME MINISTERS OF MALTA (1921-1964)

HEADS OF THE MINISTRY OF MALTA TENURE

Joseph Howard OBE 1921-1923

Francesco Buhagiar LLD 1923-1924

Sir Ugo P Mifsud LLD KB 1924-1927

Sir (Lord) Gerald Strickland LLB (Cantab) GCMG 1927-1932

Sir Ugo P Mifsud LLD KB 1932-1933

PRIME MINISTERS OF MALTA

Dr Paul Boffa MD 1947-1950

Dr Enrico Mizzi JUD (Urbino) 1950

Dr Giorgio Borg Olivier LLD 1950-1955

Mr Dominic Mintoff BSc A&CE MSc (Oxon) 1955-1958

Dr Giorgio Borg Olivier LLD 1962-

237

APPENDIX D

CHIEF SECRETARIES TO GOVERNMENT AND LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORS (1814-1964)

CHIEF SECRETARIES TO GOVERNMENT APPOINTMENT

Reverend Francis Laing 5.x.1813

Alexander Wood 11.xi.1815

Sir Richard Plasket KCMG 12.ix.1817

Sir Frederick Hankey KCMG 12.vi.1824

Sir Hector Greig KCMG 23.x.1837

Henry Lushington 4.i.1848

Sir Victor Houlton GCMG 16.x.1855

Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson 27.iv.1883

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORS

Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson 3.vii.1884

CHIEF SECRETARIES TO GOVERNMENT

Gerald Strickland KCMG 1.xi.1889

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORS AND CHIEF SECRETARIES TO THE GOVERNMENT

Sir Edward Merewether KCVO CMG 21.viii.1902

Sir John Clauson KCMG 8.vii.1911

Horace Byatt CMG 27.xii.1914

William Charles Fleming Robertson CMG 8.v.1917

239 constitutions and legislation in malta

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORS

William Charles Fleming Robertson CMG 5.v.1921

Sir Thomas Vans Best KBE CMG 16.xi.1925

Sir Harry Luke CMG Hon LLD 10.x.1930

John Adams Hunter CMG 30.vii.1938

Sir Edward St John Jackson KCMG KBE 31.i.1940

Sir David Campbell KBE CMG 24.ii.1943

Trafford Smith CMG 6.iv.1953

240 APPENDIX E

PRINCIPAL LEGAL OFFICERS OF THE GOVERNMENT (1814-1964)

FISCAL ADVOCATES APPOINTMENT TERMINATION

Giuseppe Zerafa 1.vii.1807 13.vii.1814

Francesco T Bonanno 13.vii.1814

CROWN ADVOCATES

Robert Forrest 27.v.1815 2.ii.1816

Marchese Federico Alessi 2.ii.1816 13.x.1817

Claudio Vincenzo Bonnici 13.x.1817 1.iv.1825

JOINT CROWN ADVOCATES

Giovanni Vella 1.iv.1825 15.vii.1828

Giovanni Battista Satariano 1.iv.1825 1.vi.1829

Emmanuele Caruana 15.vii.1828 5.vii.1832

Benedetto Bardon 1.vi.1829 5.vii.1832

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Robert Langslow 5.vii.1832 31.xii.1838

KING’S COUNSEL

Emmanuele Caruana 5.vii.1832 31.i.1839

CROWN ADVOCATES

Giacomo Pantaleone Bruno 1.ii.1839 26.x.1842

241 constitutions and legislation in malta

Antonio Micallef 27.x.1842 27.xii.1853

Sir Adrian Dingli 1.i.1854 31.x.1880

Sir Giuseppe Carbone 2.xi.1880 31.xii.1894

Alfredo Naudi 1.i.1895 28.vi.1905

Sir Vincent Frendo Azopardi 18.viii.1905 14.xi.1915

Sir Michelangelo Refalo 15.xi.1915 25.viii.1919

Sir Arturo Mercieca 26.viii.1919 31.viii.1921

TREASURY COUNSEL

Major Victor Frendo Azopardi 1.vii.1921 11.i.1928

Sir Philip Pullicino 1.ii.1928 28.xii.1936

ATTORNEYS GENERAL

Sir Philip Pullicino 29.xii.1936 31.xii.1940

Louis Galea 1.i.1941 5.vii.1955

Sir QC OBE 10.vii.1955 7.xii.1957

John J Cremona 7.xii.1957

242 APPENDIX F

LEGAL ADVISERS TO THE GOVERNOR (1921-1964)

LEGAL ADVISERS APPOINTMENT TERMINATION

Robert Pentland Mahaffy 8.vi.1921 14.xi.1929

Robert Strother Stewart BCL MA 10.i.1930 27.xii.1933

Sir Alison Russell KT KC 29.xii.1933 9.v.1935

Charles Geraghty KC 10.v.1935 28.xii.1936

LEGAL SECRETARIES TO THE GOVERNOR

Charles C Geraghty KC 29.xii.1936 23.vi.1937

Sir Edward St John Jackson 5.x.1937

Geoffrey Valentine Cameron 3.iv.1940

Edward Peter Stubbs Bell 3.xi.1941

Patrick Francis Branigan 21.v.1946

Albert George Lowe 10.v.1949

Anthony Mordaunt Innis Austin 16.v.1953

Denis Synge Stephens 27.ii.1957

243

APPENDIX G

PRESIDENTS OF THE COURT OF APPEAL AND CHIEF JUSTICES (1814-1964)

PRESIDENTS OF THE COURT OF APPEAL APPOINTMENT

Sir Giuseppe Borg Olivier 27.v.1814

Walter Rodwell Wright 1.i.1819

Sir John Stoddart 2.vi.1826

Sir Ignazio Bonavita 2.i.1839

Sir Paolo Dingli 1.i.1854

Sir Antonio Micallef 1.vii.1859

CHIEF JUSTICES

Sir Adrian Dingli 2.xi.1880

Sir Giuseppe Carbone 1.i.1895

Sir Vincent Frendo Azopardi 15.xi.1915

Sir Michelangelo Refalo 26.viii.1919

Sir Arturo Mercieca 2.i.1924

Sir Luigi Camilleri 24.iv.1932

Sir George Borg 1.i.1941

Sir Anthony Mama QC OBE 7.xii.1957

245

APPENDIX H

POLITICAL PARTIES AND GROUPS IN MALTA (1880-1964)

Partito Anti-Riformista / Nazionale (1880)/ Democratico Nazionalista (1921) / Nazionalista (1926)

Reform Party (1880)

Partito Popolare (1895)

Associazione Politica Maltese (1910)

Comitato Patriottico (1911)

Labour Party (1921) / Malta Labour Party (1945)

Constitutional Party (1921)

Unione Politica Maltese (1921)

Partito Nazionalista Maltese (1927)

Jones Party (1945)

Gozo Party (1947)

Democratic Action Party (1947)

Malta Workers Party (1949)

Progressive Constitutional Party (1953)

Partito Democratico Nazionalista (1958)

Christian Workers Party (1962)

Christian (1962)

247

APPENDIX I

BRITISH PRIME MINISTERS (1914-1964)

Herbert Henry Asquith KC 1914-1916

David Lloyd George OM 1916-1922

Andrew Bonar Law 1922-1923

Stanley Baldwin 1923-1924

James Ramsey MacDonald 1924-1924

Stanley Baldwin 1924-1929

James Ramsey MacDonald 1929-1935

Stanley Baldwin 1935-1937

Arthur 1937-1940

Winston Churchill 1940-1945

Clement Richard Attlee OM CH 1945-1951

Sir Winston Churchill KG OM CH 1951-1955

Sir Robert Anthony Eden KG MC 1955-1957

Maurice Harold Macmillan 1957-1963

Sir Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home KT 1963-1964

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249

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(4) Archives of the House of Representatives, Valletta: (a) Original Minutes of Proceedings of the Council of Government (1835-1849) (1849-1878) (b) Papers relating to the Harper Award (1922) (c) Papers on the Select Committee on Use of Machines for Manufacturing Cigarettes (1922/1925) (d) Papers relating to the Select Committee on the Factories Regulation Act (1925) (e) Papers relating to the Select Committee on the Chamber of Commerce (1930) (f) Papers relating to the Select Committee on the Expropriation Bill (1933)

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(6) Chamber of Commerce Archives, Valletta: (a) Public Proceedings of Merchants Committees 1808- 1822 (b) Correspondence 1921-1930

251 constitutions and legislation in malta

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(10) National Archives, Rabat, Malta: (a) Circulars 1921-1930 (b) Despatches (including Secret and Confidential) 1801-1955 (c) General Miscellaneous Reports 1814-1964, 1363 Minutes of Evidence given before the Commission of Enquiry into the Events of the 7th and 8th June 1919 and the Circumstances which led up to them (1919) (d) Head of the Ministry Files 1921-1930 (e) Lieutenant Governor’s Office Files 1845-1964 (f) Minutes of the Symmetry Board 1926-1935 (g) Petitions 1850-1940 (h) Teasury Files 1935

(11) National Library, Valletta: (a) Sir Adrian Dingli’s Collection (i.e., the Dingli Collection) (b) Collection of Electoral Propaganda Pamphlets Br-2-24 (c) Libr.Ms.1526, Minuti ta’ l-Assemblea Nazzjonali 1945- 1947 (d) Libr.Ms.1528, Meeting of the Constitutional Committee of the National Assembly with Sir Harold MacMichael

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(14) Public Records Office, Kew, London: (a) Amery’s Report (1919) (b) Colonial Office Correspondence 1919-1921

(15) University of Durham (England): WA Charlton, The Development of the Maltese Economy (PhD 1961)

(16) University of Malta: (a) Melitensia Library (theses) (i) N Attard, Art Nouveau Architecture in Malta (A&CE 1977) (ii) TR Azopardi, The First Parliament 1921-24 and Some Aspects of Employment Legislation (BA 1968) (iii) P Bartolo, British Colonial Policy in Malta, 1812- 1838 (BA 1973) (iv) ______War and Social Change, Malta 1914-1918 (MA 1982) (v) JR Borg, Reggie Miller and his General Workers Union 1943-1955 (BA Hons 1979) (vi) M Borg, British Colonial Architecture, Malta 1800- 1900 (MA 1996) (vii) V Borg, Maltese Trade Unions and the First Years of the Trade Union Council (BA Hons 1976) (viii) N Busuttil, The Chamber of Commerce 1919-1921 (BA 1975) (ix) PG Camenzuli, Reforms in Local Education with

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(17) University of Oxford (theses): (a) WB Carpenter, The Development of the Intelligence Division and its Role in Aspects of Imperial Policy Making 1884-1901 (DPhil 1976) (b) D Fenech, Britain’s Relations with the Vatican, 1880-1922 (DPhil 1977)

(18) University of Reading (thesis): JM Pirotta, The Attempt to Integrate Malta with the United Kingdom 1955-1958 (PhD 1989)

Orders, Statutes and Treaties

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255 constitutions and legislation in malta

Codex Iuris Canonici (Roma 1917) Codice Penale Italiano (Torino 1889) Codice Per Il Regno Delle Due Sicilie (2nd edn, Napoli 1819) Collezione di Bandi (Malta 1840) Del Diritto Municipale di Malta (1st edn, Malta 1784) Instructions to the Governor of Malta 14th April 1921 (London 1921) Laws and Regulations of Police for the Island of Malta and its Dependencies (Malta 1853) Law, Letters Patent and other Papers in relation to the Constitution of the Council of Government of Malta (Malta 1889) Leggi di Organizzazzione e Procedura Penale per l’Isola di Malta e sue Dipendenze Con Rapporto dei Commissionari di Sua Maestà, per la formazione di Nuovi Codici di Legge per l’Isola di Malta e Sue Dipendenze, sui due progetti, l’uno di Leggi Penali e l’altro di Leggi di Organizzazione e Procedura Penale, 1835 (Malta 1836) Leggi di Organizzazione e Procedura Civile per L’Isola di Malta e Sue Dipendenze (Malta 1850) Leggi di Organizzazione e Procedura Civile per L’Isola di Malta e Sue Dipendenze (Malta 1855) Letters Patent providing for the constitution of the Reponsible Government in Malta 14th April 1921 (London 1921) Letters Patent constituting the Office of Governor and Commander in Chief of Malta 14th April 1921(London 1921) Malta (Order-in-Council) Constitution (Malta 1961) Malta Independence Constitution (London 1964) (Cmnd 2406) An Ordinance to amend and consolidate the laws concerning the rights relative to things and the different modes of acquiring and transmitting such rights (Malta 1870) Papers relating to the New (London 1921) (Cmd 1321) Papers relating to the Bill entitled the Malta Trade Union Council (Constitution) Act (Malta 1925)

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Debates

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GF Badger, Description of Malta and Gozo (Malta 1839) C Baldacchino, Goals, Cups and Tears (Malta 1993) v4 ______Il-Klabbs Maltin tal-Futbol (Malta 1999) v1 CB Ballard, The Development of Malta as a First-Class Naval Base Since its Inclusion in the British Empire (London 1917) T Balogh, D Seers, The Economic Problems of Malta, An Interim Report (Malta 1955) HW Bamford, ‘Report by Commissioner of Police on the efficiency, status and existing conditions of the Police Force (Malta 1919)’ in LHRPLCG 1919 dos 70 R Barbaro, Garibaldi A Malta (Malta 1868) WH Bartlett, Gleanings, Pictorial and Antiquarian on the Overland Route (London 1951) S Bartoli Galea, Mintoff and the Church, Mintoff’s Condemned

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L Cachia, L-Ilsien Malti: Il-Bieraħ u l-Lum (Malta 1994) S Cachia Zammit, I Membri Elettori al Sig F W Rowsell (Malta 1877) J Calleja, Paolo Debono 1848-1906, The Intelligent Judge (Malta 1996) ______Ugo P Mifsud (1889-1942) Prim Ministru u Patrijott (Malta 1997) ______Augustus Bartolo (1883-1937), Ġurnalist, Politiku, Imħallef (Malta 1999) ______Dizzjunarju tal-Misidjani (Malta 2000) F Camilleri, Women in the Labour Market: A Maltese Perspective (Malta 1997) J Cannon, The Oxford Companion to British History (Oxford 1997) M Caruana Curran, ‘The Legal Procurator’ in TLJ (Malta 1951) v3, n1, 13-46 C Casolani, The Sanitary Question in Malta, Remarks, Suggestions (Malta 1880) H Casolani, Immigration Laws and Regulations as applied in Malta under the Selective System in MGG 7051, 2.xii.1927, Suppl cxxxv, 1343-1357 A Cassar, Il-’Compact’ (Malta 1991) C Cassar, ‘Everyday Life in Malta in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries’ in V Mallia-Milanes (ed), British Colonial Experience 1800-1964: The Impact on Maltese Society (Malta 1988/1) 21-126 G Cassar, ‘Charles Dominic Plater SJ’ in TST, 10.vii.1988 (Malta 1988/2) 15

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PJ Naudi, Broadcasting in Malta (Malta 1959) S Nicholl, ‘The Empire Stadium of Gżira’ in TT 17.xi.1992, 38

BN Pandey, The Break-Up of British India (London 1969) P Parsloe, Juvenile Justice in Britain and the United States (London 1978) J Peretti, Les Aspects Linguistiques, Litteraires, Artistiques et Folkloristiques de l’Italianité de Malte (Tolentino 1965) S Perowne, The Siege Within the Walls (London 1970) G Peto, Malta and Cyprus (Malta 1927) GA Pirotta, The Maltese Public Service 1800-1940: An Administrative Politics of a Micro-State (Malta 1996) JM Pirotta, ‘Prelude to Restoration of Responsible Government: the National Assembly 1945-47’ in Melita Historica (Malta 1979) v7, 301-325 ______‘The Strategy of Unruffled Persistence’ in MH (Malta 1985) v9, 171-184 ______Fortress Colony: The Final Act (Malta 1987/1991/2001) v1/2/3 ______Relations Between Trade-Unions and Political Parties in the Immediate Post-War Years (Malta undated) F Pollock, The Land Laws (3rd edn, London 1896) A Ponsonby, Henry Ponsonby, Queen Victoria’s Private Secretary, His Life From His Letters (London 1942)

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Stencilled Papers

H Frendo, L-Evoluzzjoni tal-Partiti Politiċi fil-Gżejjer Maltin 1880-1921 (Malta 1977)

Interviews

(1) (Dr) Alexander Cachia Zammit MD (1924-2014) 3.iii.2001 (2) Carmelo Bartolo (1911-1997) 1.viii.1995 about his father Michele Bartolo (3) (Judge) Maurice Caruana Curran LLD (1918-2015) 22.iii.2001 (4) (Dr) Ġużè Cassar LLD (1918-2001) 10.xi.2000 (5) (Prof) Joseph John Cremona (1918-) LLD, PhD (London), DLitt (Firenze), DJur (Trieste) 24.viii.2000 (6) Consiglio D’Amato (1916-2016) 1.vii.2000 (7) Carmelo Ellul Galea (1914-2007) 5.x.2000 (8) Natal Falzon (1910-2000) 10.x.1996

282 INDEX (Volume 1) abstentionism/abstentionist 69, architecture/architects/land- 73, 79, 80 surveyors (periti/agrimensori) Adams, Harry P 204, 205, 209, 19, 24, 54, 73, 74, 49, 90, 100, 149, 240 161, 162, 163, 164, 204, 253, 274 Admiralty/Admiral 36, 48, 49, 54, Arena, Guglielmo 115 60, 63, 73, 82, 83, 110, 111, 115, Askwith, Baron George 215, 216, 122, 126, 144, 151, 156, 158, 165, 217 168, 224 Auditor General 35 advertisements 160 Austin, Sir John 5, 31, 33 Advisory Council 17, 26 aviation/airplanes 81, 101, 136, 205, aerodromes/airfields/airstrips 225 134, 136, 144, 159, 203, 212 Azzopardi, Francesco 80, 85, 90 aesthetics 89, 147 160, 163, 164, 221 bakers , 23, 127, 129, 130, 142, 223 Agius, Walter 166, 170, 203, 206, Baldwin, Stanley 150, 249 207, 208 Bamford, Colonel HW 91, 263 Air Council 203 band clubs (philharmonic Amery, Leopold (or Leo) 89, 94, societies) 23, 55, 56, 63, 71, 88, 95, 100, 101, 103, 107, 109, 111, 100, 129, 132, 133, 155 124, 125, 126, 138, 150, 151, 153, banking 30, 53, 82, 89, 267 156, 157, 158, 162, 165, 166, 169, bankruptcy 41 170, 172, 203, 207, 210, 235, 253, barbers 23, 127, 223 259, 262, 278 Bartolo, Michele 82, 282 Anglican Church 34, 36, 222 Bartolo, Professor (later Sir) anglicisation 42, 52, 53, 56, 64, Augustus 60, 92, 113, 131, 132, 109, 116 141, 186, 202, 208, 218, 266 Anglo-America Tobacco Co 140 Belardinelli, Arnaldo 223, 267 Anglo-Boer 66 Benedict XV, Pope 121 Anglo-Vatican 29, 212 Benedictines 86 anti-abstentionism/anti- Bentham, Jeremy 33, 35 abstentionist 82 Bezzina John, Sons 157 antiquities 6, 70, 72, 117, 121, 141, Boffa, Dr Paul 173, 198, 202, 207, 159, 160, 161, 163, 164, 251 210, 217, 219, 237, 255 Apap Bologna, Marquis Paolo 89, Bolshevik/Bolshevist 83, 128, 173, 119 210, 218 Apap Bologna, Monsignor Bonavita, Dr (later Sir) Ignazio Giuseppe 119, 140, 141 Gavino 30, 33, 34, 35, 38, 245, archeology/archeological 72, 251 257

283 constitutions and legislation in malta

Bonnici, Dr Claudio Vincenzo 30, Canon Law (Iuris Canonici) 144, 241 205, 256, Bono, Ettore (‘Terinu’) 173, 203 Canonical/sacramental Borg Olivier, Dr Giuseppe 211, Tridentine marriage 46, 114 245 Carbone, Dr (later Sir) Giuseppe Borg, Michelangelo 115, 204, 206 57, 60, 242, 245 Bouverie, Sir Henry 30, 33, 34, 35, 119, 162 229 Carta, Father Felice 212 boycotting 58, 85, 172, 211 Caruana Gatto, Dr Alfredo 118, breakwater 65, 69 119, 123, 128 British American Tobacco Caruana Gatto, Dr Federico 88, Company (BAT) 105, 140, 172 119 British Broadcasting Corporation Caruana, Archbishop Don Mauro (BBC) 167 86, 108, 195, 207, 212 British Chamber of Architects Caruana, Monsignor Francesco (RIBA) 154, 204 Saverio 30 British Motor charabancs 215 Cassar (Marsovin) 106 British Workers Union 100 census 40, 61, 62, 72, 73, 95, 105, broadcasting 167, 217 214, 257, 271 Bruce, Dr David 62, 63, 64, 70, Chadwick, Oswald 58 109 Chalmers, Sir Mackenzie 73 Bufarini 163 Chamber of Advocates 48, 56, 65, Bugeja, Marquis Vincenzo 60, 63, 73, 93, 99, 137, 211, 216 87, 281 Chamber of Architects 73, 90, Bugelli, Canon Carmelo 118, 130, 149, 163, 204 149, 153, 155, 164, 168 Chamber of Commerce 37, 1, 48, Buhagiar, Dr Francesco 88, 118, 57, 71, 79, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 138, 139, 141, 149, 187, 237 96, 99, 104, 111, 125, 130, 137, building(s)/construction 12, 13, 144, 149, 156, 157, 161, 166, 172, 28, 33, 42, 47, 50, 54, 60, 73, 205, 208, 215, 251, 253, 280 89, 90, 95, 118, 121, 127, 129, 130, Chamber of Pharmacists 67, 73 139, 146, 148, 149, 151, 152, 158, Chamberlain, Sir Joseph 64, 65, 160, 162, 163, 164, 165, 168, 169, 66, 67, 68, 234 171, 202, 204, 214, 216, 218, 220, charitable/philanthropic 224, 259, 263 institution 6, 23, 37, 58, 63, 86, burials/cemeteries/interments 88, 93, 116, 119, 122 276 47, 50, 169, 279 Charles V (Emperor of Spain) 22 buses/motor buses/bus service 2, Chief Government Medical 69, 127, 164, 213, 214, 215, 216, Officer 67, 73, 95 224 Chief Justice 31, 33, 52, 92, 113, 135, 165, 206, 208, 245, 275, 280

284 index

Chief Royal Engineer 121 277 Chief Secretary (or Public Clarke, Sir Charles (Mansfield) Secretary) 5, 26, 29, 31, 37, 43, 69, 230 58, 61, 92 Clearance Office 89 Chief Secretary to Government 5, Clement X, Pope 130 31, 59, 61, 92 coaling service 50, 97, 125 Church of England 121 Cobham, Sir Alan 203, 267 Churchill, Sir Winston 71, 97, 100, Code De Rohan/Municipal Code 103, 109, 110, 112, 121, 124, 135, (1784) 20, 30, 32, 51, 275 136, 235, 249, 268, 271 Code De Vilhena (1724) 20, 24, cigarettes 66, 95, 147, 150, 154, 171, 74 172, 206, 251 Code for the Kingdom of the cinema halls 85 Two Sicilies/Neapolitan Code Cini, Adelaide 63, 268 (1819) 32, 43, 135 Circolo ‘La Giovine Malta’ 169 Code Napoléon/Napoleonic Code citizenship/nationality/ (1804/1810) 32, 43 nationalisation/naturalisation Code of Canon Law (Codice 27, 95, 96, 105, 272 Benedittino) (1917) 160 civil engineering 90, 150, 163 Code of Organisation and Civil Civil Law 43, 44, 45, 46, 49, 50, Procedure (procedural) (1855) 51, 57 5, 29, 37, 41, 43, 74, 75, 98, 273 — Code (substantive/general, Code of Police Laws (or Police 1874) 5, 37, 39, 41, 42, 51, 62, Code) (1854) 29, 32, 33, 40, 42, 74, 128, 129, 160, 167 47 — adoption 51, 253 Coleiro 106 — community of acquests 21, 51 Comitato Patriottico 73, 80, 247 — domicile/residence 21, 51 Commercial Code (1857) 29, 37, — emphyteusis 21, 41, 46 41, 42, 44, 45, 75, 117, 147, 148, — entail (fideicommissum) 14, 21, 160, 171 23, 27, 28, 34, 48, 49, 50, 72, 86, — unfair competition 93, 141 (concorrenza sleale) 41, 161 — obligations 21, 28, 44 Commissioner of Police 87, 263 — ownership/easements/servitu- Commissions des 21, 46, 55, 58, 98, 166, 167 — Disturbances (‘Sette Giugno’, — succession/donation (causa Plumer) (1919) 91, 92, 132 mortis/inter vivos) 21, 61, 74, — Expert (1831, 1834, 1848) 5, 26, 84, 85, 86, 90, 94 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 37, 40, 41, 60, civil rights 105 135, 256, 259, 263 civil service/servant(s)/public — Leprosy (1919) 93 service 26, 31, 57, 64, 68, 82, — Royal (1812, 1838, 1879, 1912, 91, 100, 121, 144, 156, 167, 210, 1931) 52 53, 55, 216, 217, 251,

285 constitutions and legislation in malta

258, 259, 274 — Civil Court 43, 51, 158, 208 Common Law (or English — Commercial Court 26, 41, 63, Common Law) 5, 21 211 communications/ — Court of Appeal 13, 26, 29, 31, telecommunications 12, 47, 35, 41, 43, 51, 60, 62, 165, 167, 80, 81, 104, 123, 125, 219 168, 206, 207, 208, 213, 245, Communist 83 251 compensation 28, 54, 91, 134, 135, — Criminal Court 29, 32, 36, 49, 136, 221 154 compulsory attendance/ — Magistrate’s Court 32, 34, 36, education 53, 67, 73, 116, 124, 53, 60, 67, 94 131, 138, 139, 145, 147, 148, 151, — Supreme Court of Justice 26 152, 165, 170, 217 court-martial/military court 83, confraternity 55 84, 255 Congreve, Sir Walter Norris 109, Cremona, Antonio (‘Ninu’) 116 124, 125, 138, 148, 150, 151, 153, Criminal Code (1854) 5, 17, 29, 31, 156, 157, 158, 162, 165, 166, 169, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 40, 42, 48, 230, 267 49, 60, 66, 72, 74, 81, 92, 135, conservation 70, 147, 163 222, 258, 271 Conservatorio Vincenzo Bugeja Criminal Law/Penal Law 135, 237 60, 63, 87, 281 criminal offences, English law Consiglio Popolare (Legislative — felony 30, 125, 135 Council) 22, 26 — misdemeanour 125, 135 Consolidated Revenue Fund 109, — treason 30, 32, 35, 125, 135 133, 168 criminal offences, Maltese law Constitution(s) — contravention 30, 32, 81, 125, — Instructions/Letters Patent 135 — (1813); (1835); (1849); (1887); — crime 32, 33, 36, 42, 67, 69 (1903); (1921) 17, 39, 51, 55, 57, — ‘excess legitimate defence’ 72 59, 62, 64, 65, 69, 72, 103, 105, — bodily harm 32, 49, 92 107, 111, 122, 133, 150, 155, 157, — defamation 52 163, 165, 202, 207, 213, 223, 256 — homicide 32, 35, 49 Cornewall-Lewis, George 5, 19, — infanticide 32, 49 26, 33, 267 — insanity 32, 35, 36 cost of living 90, 92 — perjury 203 cotton spinning 20, 44 — sedition 143, 220 Courts, British Critien, Attilio 93, 95, 168, 268 — (Vice-) Admiralty 49 Crown Advocate/Public — Privy Council 63, 105, 207, 208, Prosecutor and Treasury 217, 265 Counsel 5, 34, 35, 29, 42, 44, Courts, Maltese 50, 52, 57, 59, 66, 72, 81, 84, 85,

286 index

87, 91, 92, 106, 112, 131, 138, 159, Stanley 57, 58, 233, 234 161, 166, 167, 203, 221, 241, 241 Dicey, Albert Venn 33, 47, 268 Crown/Empire 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 14, 17, Dimech, Manwel 67, 73, 81, 83, 24, 25, 41, 45, 49, 50, 52, 54, 55, 254, 263 59, 61, 63, 64, 65, 68, 70, 77, 80, Dingli, Sir Adrian 1, 5, 39, 42, 43, 88, 95, 95, 97, 90, 101, 104, 105, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 57, 58, 62, 106, 107, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 177, 242, 245, 252, 268, 275 124, 125, 126, 134, 143, 144, 150, divorce 114, 144 156, 158, 163, 165, 167, 173, 174, Dockyard 36, 40, 50, 54, 56, 60, 203, 212, 216, 220, 221, 222, 223, 67, 80, 83, 90, 92, 100, 112, 117, 224, 251, 255, 263, 264, 269,272, 118, 123, 126, 151, 209 273, 278, 279 Dominion status 218, 221, 277 Cuschieri, Professor Don Atanasju Door-to-door milkers 20, 22, 70, 119, 163 93, 95 cy-près doctrine 87 Drago, Alphonse 155 drainage/sewage 19, 53, 54, 62, Dacoutros 106 64, 65 damages 28, 221 drugs, dangerous 158, 165, 167 Dandria, Monsignor Professor ‘Dual Personality of the State’ Enrico 88, 141, 151, 152, 159, 165, Doctrine 163 192, 218, 219 Du Cane, General Sir John Philip de Havilland (aircraft) 136 162, 169, 170, 172, 203, 204, 207, De Rohan Poldhuc, Emanuel 30, 213, 214, 215, 216, 230 32, 51, 275 Duke of York Avenue (Floriana/ De Salis, Count John 215 Valletta) 212, 262 death penalty/capital punishment Duncan, Claude Woodroff 86, 87, 23, 32, 278 268 Debono, Dr Paolo 67, 111, 266, Dundon, Colonel Michael 119, Declaration and Confirmation of 139, 204, 207 Faith 120 Declaration of Rights of the Eastern Telegraph Company 80 Inhabitants (1802) 18 editor(s) 12, 60, 205, 208, 209, 211 defence/security 4, 6, 14, 32, 64, Egerton, Walter 215 72, 75, 80, 81, 82, 83, 94, 95, eight hours’ work 122, 123, 138, 104, 115, 125, 134, 138, 149, 158, 157 207, 223 election(s)/electoral/elective/ Degiovanni, Giuseppe 205 polls 33, 58, 59, 69, 80, 83, 100, Delicata 106 103, 105, 110, 112, 113, 115, 116, 117, dentists 67 118, 119, 120, 122, 130, 138, 139, Depression (1930) 212 143, 144, 146, 148, 151, 155, 165, Derby, Earl of, Edward Smith- 167, 168, 169, 170, 172, 173, 174,

287 constitutions and legislation in malta

201, 202, 203, 205, 206, 207, excommunication 73 208, 212, 213, 217, 218, 224, 252, export(s) 20, 82 257, 258, 259, 273 expropriation/appropriation/ electric tram 69, 128, 214, 215 encroachment (compulsory electricity/electrical 53, 64 acquisition) 12, 20, 46, 54, 55, elezioni ridicole (foolish elections) 72, 134, 159, 203, 204, 211, 220, 58 251 emancipation 29, 83, 130, 157, 163, 259, 263 factories 5, 6, 118, 122, 123, 124, emigration/emigrants/ 126, 127, 138, 153, 155, 156, 157, repatriation 40, 59, 61, 87, 90, 168, 173, 223, 251 93, 104, 105, 108, 115, 123, 129, farmers/peasants 5, 6, 19, 22, 23, 141 28, 45, 46, 53, 50, 108, 127, 134, Empire Sports Ground 127 150, 159, 166 employment/labour 6, 14, 40, 54, Farrugia Lewis and Sons (Farsons) 56, 60, 61, 65, 59, 67, 73, 75, 80, 157 82, 83, 87, 92, 97, 110, 111, 114, Fascism/Fascist(s) 149, 121, 217, 116, 117, 118, 121, 122, 123, 126, 223 129, 144, 146, 150, 152, 154, 156, Ferris, Godfrey 84, 270 158, 165, 173, 174, 224, 251, 253, Ferris, Monsignor Francesco 88, 259, 266, 272 130, 133, 152 encouragement of new industries filigree 84 66, 93, 95, 96, 97 flag 22, 132, 141 enemy trader 81, 89 flogging (or whipping) 75, 87, 97 enforcement of foreign judgments football matches 55, 85, 127, 133, 40, 52, 97, 143 278 English Liberalism 26, 33, 44, 52 Fort Saint Michael 141 entrepreneur 82, 127, 157 Fortress Compensation Officer environment/environmental 53, 28, 54, 135 57, 128, 149, 159, 168, 222, 224 Fox, Henderson, Co. 41 equal facilities/languages policy Fox, John 93 109, 115, 133, 137, 139 Franciscan Minor Conventuals equal opportunity 83 141, 212 equality of rights 83 free choice policy (impari passu) espionage (or official secrets) 66, 75, 115, 116, 139 80, 81, 135 freedom of conscience 107 Establishment 33, 273 freedom of speech 57 estimates (annual or Fremantle, Sir Arthur 64, 65, supplementary) (or budget) 230 26, 34, 37, 107, 110, 120, 124, 125, Frendo Azopardi, Dr (later) Sir 128, 137, 166, 206, 207, 264 Vincent 72, 135, 179, 242, 245

288 index

Frendo Azopardi, Dr Victor 156, 141, 143, 145, 146, 159, 165, 167, 157, 158, 165, 167, 174, 191, 203, 202 242 — gubernatorial (by Governor) Frendo, Dr Pier Giuseppe 113, 17, 52 193 — ‘Maltese Government’ 104, 106, 110, 111, 125, 129, 134 Gabba, Bassano 128 — ‘Maltese Imperial Government’ Galea, Alfons Maria 116, 119, 162 104, 107, 111, 112, 125, 129, 134 Galea, Robert V 149, 168 — Ministry/Ministerial/Cabinet Garibaldi, Giuseppe 36, 48, 263, 6, 104, 106, 107, 110, 111, 125, 131, 273 158, 163 gas service(s) 41 — representative 5, 39, 48, 49, Gatt, Lawrence 149, 163, 209, 271 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 65, 79, 84 Gatt, Moses 209 — responsible 35, 77, 90, 94, 103, gender equality 157 104, 109, 114, 119, 120, 122, 123, gender/sex discrimination 83 131, 132, 138, 140, 142, 143, 146, Gerada, Felice 127 149, 153, 157, 170, 277 German Civil Code 138 Gozo/Gozitans (Għawdex/ Għaqda Proletarja Maltija (Society Ghawdxin) 65, 72, 131, 218, 219, for Maltese Workers) 218 261, 279, 281 Għaqda tal-Kittieba tal-Malti Grand Harbour/Port 19, 23, 24, (Society for Maltese Writers) 50, 171 116, 162 Grant, Sir Henry 71 Giles, Matthew 100 Grenfell, Baron General Francis Gladstone, William Ewart 233 64, 66, 67, 69 goldsmiths/silversmiths 23, 44, Grey, Earl, Henry George 37, 40, 96, 127 233, 272 Gonzi, Archbishop Dr (later Sir) grey-hound races 127, 133 Michael 4, 114, 119, 146, 180, grog-shops 33, 55 197, 180, 269 guilds 23 government/governmental — ‘compact’/compactists 6, 164, Hamilton, Robert 119, 129, 139 201, 202, 203, 205, 207, 208, hand-rollers 123, 150, 154, 170 209, 211, 213, 215, 217, 219, 221, Hankey, Sir Frederick 29, 239 223, 266 Harper Area 133, 154, 160, 166, 168, — diarchy/diarchical/condom- 169, 204, 212, 220, 251 inium (division of power Harper, Sir Edgar 121, 129, 251 between local and imperial) Harrison, Major Guy 134 77, 79, 103, 104, 105, 107, 109, Hastings, Marquess, Francis 111, 115, 117, 118, 119, 121, 123, 125, Rawdon 25, 28, 29, 229 127, 129, 131, 133, 135, 137, 139, Head of the Ministry, see Prime

289 constitutions and legislation in malta

Minister 104, 151, 219, 237, 249, interest rate 46 252 Irredentist/Italophile 56, 89, 113, Hely-Hutchinson, Sir Walter 58, 114 239 Italian law 72, 85, 128, 129, 161, heritage/patrimony 72, 129, 147, 206 224 Italian literati 36 Hili, Monsignor Alfonso Maria Italianate/Italianisation 37, 64, 114 56, 108, 115, 137, 201, 217, 219, Hitler, Adolf 222 222, 223 horse races 127 Iure Gestionis (State’s act of civil, Hospital General (St Luke’s ordinary capacity) 62 Hospital) 204, 209, 214 Iure Imperii (State’s act of political hotels/hoteliers 30, 47, 147 capacity) 62 Houlton, Sir Victor 43, 239 Ius Commune 21, 30, 32, 35, 41, 43, hours of work 122, 123, 153, 155, 45, 51, 57 157, 219, 223, 237 House of Commons (see United Jameson, Andrew 31, 32, 35, 36, Kingdom) 37, 40, 41, 273, 274 Howard, Joseph 89, 118, 119, 120, jewellery/jewels 84, 93, 95, 96 122, 124, 182 judicial/judiciary/judicature 13, humanitarianism 25, 35 20, 21, 29, 44, 46, 62, 73, 75, 87, 153, 163, 205, 206, 22, 224, 258, immigration/immigrants 104, 265 123, 141, 266 Julyan, Sir Penrose G 52, 53, 98, Imperial Government Workers 273, 277 Union (IGWU) 83 jurisdiction/territory 4, 18, 21, 35, import(s) 26, 147, 157 32, 35, 41, 45, 63, 81, 94, 97, 105, Indian law 156 110, 120, 122, 146, 165, 167, 169, industrial action 83, 216 212, industrial occupation 156, 157, jurisprudence/text-writer(s) 31, 208, 209 35, 85 industrial relations 100, 110, 263 jury system 29, 35, 40, 268, 280 infectious disease 47, 71 justice/interior 13, 26, 73, 109, inflation 82, 90 278 infrastructure/infrastructural 4, Justinian (Emperor of Rome) 21 19, 47, 50, 53, 54, 60, 62, 69, 70, juvenile delinquency 69, 53, 93, 121, 127, 129, 130, 146, 164, 219 97, 273 Innocent XIII, Pope 130 Institute of Actuaries 70 Keenan, Sir Patrick J 42, 52 intellectual property 66 Keith, Sir Berriedale 212 intelligence service 94, 255 kerrejja (plural: kerrejjiet)

290 index

(common tenement house/s) — penal 135 50, 89 — private 21, 30, 35, 75 Knight of St Michael and St — procedural 35 George 27, 262 — public 21, 62, 144 — substantive 125 La Valette Philharmonic Society — unwritten 92 and Band Club 56, 132 lawyers , English Labour Bureau 145, 147, 150, 151, — barristers 24 173 — solicitors 24 lace 41, 66, 93, 95, 172, 173 lawyers, Maltese Laferla, Dr Albert 19, 28, 48, 68, — advocates 21, 24, 74, 162 80, 101, 273 — judges 24, 26, 27, 40, 51, 106, laissez faire/ free trade 14, 52, 54, 134 99, 117, 130, 224, 280 — legal procurators (curiali) 22, Land Forces Senior Commander 24, 73, 74, 90, 119, 131, 161, 165, 31 166 Language Question 6, 56, 61, 65, — notaries 22, 24, 44, 51, 66, 71, 128, 254, 273 73, 75, 102, 109, 131, 138, 162, languages (official or spoken) 170, 208, 278 — English 6, 26, 30, 44, 52, 53, Legal Adviser 12, 104, 106, 111, 112, 56, 61, 65, 66, 68, 71, 90, 99, 125, 131, 135, 149, 158, 161, 167, 108, 109, 113, 114, 115, 118, 123, 171, 214, 221, 243 140, 142, 161, 210 Legal Officer 106, 241 — Italian 5, 6, 14, 19, 20, 22, 29, legislation 30, 33, 36, 37, 44, 56, 61, 64, 68, — Maltese 20, 52, 125, 135, 156, 72, 89, 99, 108, 109, 113, 115, 149, 157, 167, 272 153, 154, 161, 210, 216, 217, 219, — Acts 3, 14, 22, 25, 75, 106, 116, 223, 265, 277 122, 142, 169, 211, 219, 222 — Latin 19, 20, 22, 44 — Bandi (Edicts) 21 — Maltese 4, 5, 19, 20, 24, 30, 37, — delegated 29, 204 53, 56, 61, 65, 67, 75, 99, 108, — failed 3, 30, 105, 144, 146, 109, 115, 116, 154, 162, 207, 210, 147, 150, 155, 160, 169, 174, 211, 216, 217, 219, 222, 254, 262, 206 264, 265, 268, 269 — Minutes 12, 25, 251, 252, 275 law(s)/enactment(s)/statute(s) — Notices 25, 257 — austere 5, 79, 91, 92 — Ordinances 3, 14, 22, 31, 37, — benevolent 5, 70, 88, 91, 92 59, 72, 75, 103, 106, 111, 134, 145, — colonial 49, 58, 65, 278 222 — enabling 160 — Proclamations 25, 27, 257 — general 17 — social 117, 120, 129, 124, 224 — imperial 25, 49, 63, 97 Legislature/Legislator

291 constitutions and legislation in malta

— adjournment 203 — Senate (Second Chamber; — allowance 59, 99, 109, 117, 124, Upper Chamber/House) 99, 125, 140 100, 104, 106, 107, 109, 110, 111, — bicameral/two Chambers/ 114, 116, 118, 119, 124, 144, 146, Houses 77, 104, 106, 111, 202, 148, 149, 155, 163, 164, 169, 170, 205, 201, 202, 203, 206, 207, 218, — Council of Government/ 252, 257, 260, 273 councillors 5, 23, 31, 34, 37, 39, — President 109 45, 51, 54, 55, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, — senators 77, 99, 104, 105, 107, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 71, 110, 111, 115, 118, 119, 124, 130, 137, 72, 85, 87, 90, 92, 95, 98, 124 141, 143, 155, 161, 204, 205, 206, — Executive Council 5, 55, 59, 62, 207, 208, 210, 211, 213, 218 69, 71, 194, 214, 220 — sextennial (six-years duration) — Legislative Assembly (First 104, 146 Chamber; Lower Chamber/ — Speech from the Throne 148, House) 7, 99, 104, 105, 106, 204 109, 110, 111, 113, 116, 118, 119, 128, — Standing Orders 129, 131, 137, 139, 144, 149, 152, — Malta (1922) 125, 138, 143, 257 153, 164, 166, 179, 201, 204, 205, — New Zealand (1861) 138 207, 212, 218, 252, 257, 260, 272, — South Australian (1888) 138 275 — Supremacy of Parliament 205 — Chief Clerk 109 — unicameral 6, 99 — members 140, 143, 149, 153, 162, Le Marchant, Sir John Gaspard 170, 207, 218, 222, 273 47, 48, 229 — Speaker 109, 275 Liberalism 26, 33, 44, 52 — three-years duration 77, 103, Lieutenant-Governor 12, 26, 92, 104, 145, 154, 201 104, 239, 240, 252 — Nominated Council/councillors limits of competition 41 104, 167, 169, 220 lotteries , xl, xli, 58, 63 — Parliament/parliamentary 11, Lushington, Sir Henry 37, 239, 17, 25, 48, 74, 75, 93, 99, 104, 258 116, 117, 133, 138, 139, 142, 144, Lyceum 33, 257 151, 158, 161, 169, 202, 203, 205, 207, 218, 219, 253, 259, 260, MacNeill, John 69, 108 275 Maddocks, Robert Napier 135 — privileges and immunities 110, Mahaffy, Robert Pentland 112, 138, 142, 144, 151, 153, 205, 210 124, 125, 131, 133, 134, 135, 136, — Privy Council (Executive 138, 140, 142, 149, 150, 151, 157, Council and Nominated 158, 161, 163, 167, 169, 171, 172, Council) 27, 63, 105, 207, 208, 203, 210, 221, 243 218, 265 maintenance order 97, 98

292 index

Maitland, Sir Thomas 5, 25, 26, megalithic temples 92, 274 229, 268, 273, 274 merchant ships 41, 43, 97, 125, Mallia, Dr (later Professor) Carlo 130, 134, 140 89, 149, 155, 157, 160, 161, 162, Mercieca, Dr (later Sir) Arturo 42, 163, 164, 166, 170, 171, 172, 189 65, 72, 80, 91, 95, 96, 97, 103, Malta (Gozo and Comino) 106, 112, 132, 161, 165, 188, 206, — Crown-colony-cum-fortress 242, 245, 275 (strategic outpost) 55, 103 Methuen, Lord Paul 80, 81, 82, — Dominion status 218, 221, 277 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 91, 230 — holiday centre 158 Mitrovich, Giorgio 31 —‘Nurse of the Mediterranean’ Micallef De Caro, Carlo 71, 161, 81, 274 276 Malta Broadcasting Authority Micallef Goggi, Giuseppe 211, 213 167, 277 Micallef, Dr (later Sir) Antonio 31, Malta Civil Service Clerical 35, 51, 178, 242, 245, 271, 275 Association 100, 145 Micallef, Dr Giuseppe 218, 219 Malta Government Gazette 260 Mifsud Bonnici, Dr (later Malta Telephone Company 53, Professor) Carmelo 89, 150, 220 161, 167, 169, 190, 208, 209, 210, Maltese Regimental Corps i, 81 219, 220, 276 Manoel de Vilhena, Antonio 20, Mifsud, Armando 119, 206 24, 74 Mifsud, Dr (later Sir) Ugo 74, 88, Marconi, Gugliermo 64, 80 108, 118, 121, 127, 148, 164, 173, marine/maritime/naval 23, 30, 174, 183, 219, 221, 237, 266, 33, 35, 41, 42, 47, 50, 56, 70, 125, Mile-End Sports Ground 85, 127 127, 263 military occupation/training 134 marriage legacies 21, 23, 29, 46, 61 military services/servicemen 3, mass meeting(s) 24, 41, 50 25, 30, 40, 87, 98, 166 master mariners/sea pilots 118, Milner, Viscount Alfred 91, 92, 93, 130, 149, 164 94, 95, 97, 100, 120, 235 Mattei, Dr Alfredo 118, 119, 130, minority/minors/children 49, 82, 149, 165 123, 129, 152, 156, 157, 166 May, Sir Thomas Erskine 142 Mizzi (De Luna), Maria Sofia medical/sanitary/health 24, 27, Folliero 55, 56 31, 47, 54, 62, 67, 70, 71, 75, 89, Mizzi, Dr Enrico 55, 61, 65, 83, 93, 95, 100, 110, 144, 147, 156, 88, 94, 96, 97, 99, 103, 113, 114, 163, 174, 203, 217, 250, 266, 267, 130, 131, 133, 137, 138, 139, 142, 271, 279, 143, 144, 148, 153, 154, 164, 169, Mediterranean Sea (Mare 209, 216, 220, 223, 237, 255 Nostrum) 4, 18, 52, 53, 68, 74, Mizzi, Dr Fortunato (son of 82, 94, 96, 98, 136 Francesco) 55, 84, 114, 131, 132

293 constitutions and legislation in malta

Mizzi, Dr Giuseppe 82 representation’ 84, 85 monarch/monarchical/royal 31, Nobility/nobles/noblemen 22, 23, 55, 132 26, 27, 28, 31, 34, 48, 49, 51, 54, monetary system 30 57, 61, 72, 79, 85, 86, 89, 93, 100, money bill/vote 48, 58, 62, 64, 111, 116, 119, 141, 144, 202, 277 202, 207 Notarial Council 71, 131 monopoly/monopolisation (exclusive right) 27, 66, 74, 81, Oath Question 37 82, 95, 96, 97, 154, 157, 167, 215 oil-field 89 More O’Ferrall, Richard 229, 37, old age 100, 217 40 Order of St John (Knights mortmain 27, 28, 37, 108, 122, 149, Hospitallers) 20, 22, 131, 270, 160, 218, 222, 255 274 Mowatt, Francis 73, 74, 81, 82 Order-in-Council 25, 40, 63, 64, Moyne, Lord, Walter Guinness 65, 124, 136, 212, 213, 256 235 Orlando, Ġużè 25, 86, 69, 116, 136, MUSEUM 73, 207 212, 213, 256 Mussolini, Benito 148, 219, 222 Otto Settembre (Great Siege Victory) 56, 84, 131, 132 NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institute) 129, 142, 173 Pace, Archbishop Pietro 45, 61 National Assembly 79, 88, 89, 94, Panzavecchia, Canon Fortunato 98, 99, 104, 111, 202, 208, 252, 33, 42 277 Panzavecchia, Monsignor Ignazio National Farmers Union 127 88, 116, 160, 184 National Museum of Archeology Parnis, Dr Alfredo 91, 202 70 Paul, Saint 22, 132 Naudi, Dr Alfredo 66, 242 Peel, Viscount, William Robert negative clause 163, 221 170 newspapers pension(s) 6, 60, 71, 89, 116, 117, — Corriere Mercantile Maltese 123, 124, 126, 127, 144, 153, 155, 56 156, 167, 171, 173, 217 — Daily Malta Chronicle 60, 90, periodicals, ‘pornographic’ 143, 113, 260 260, 278 — L’Eco di Malta e Gozo 113, 260 person/subject of law — La Voce del Popolo 113, 261 — juridical/legal 21, 28, 47, 46, — Labour Opinion 113 62, 161, 171 — Leħen is-Sewwa 207, 261 — physical 21 — Malta 215, 218 Peto, Gladys 108, 277 — Public Opinion 56 Petroleum/petrol 74, 95, 97, 98 ‘no taxation without pharmaceutical 144

294 index photography/photographic 6, 115 115, 136 — Unione Politica Maltese (UPM)/ pious burden(s) 23 Unionists/Panzavecchiani 77, pious foundations 36 100, 103, 111, 112, 114, 127, 128, Pius V, Pope 132 129, 137, 141, 152, 247 Pius IX, Pope 116 Ponsonby, Sir Frederick 25, 28, 29 Pius X, Pope 121 30, 32, 33, 229, 277 Plater, Father Charles SJ 100, 266 pontifical titles 144, 149 Plumer, Lord Herbert 91, 92, 93, Poor Law 23 94, 95, 97, 98, 100, 103, 107, Port Workers Association 171 112, 119, 120, 121, 122, 124, 125, Portanier, Francis 158 126, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 139, Portelli, Monsignor Angelo 86, 140, 141, 143, 146, 155, 203, 209, 91, 174 230 Post department/office 27 58, 109, Police Corps/Force/Constabulary 117, 138, 140, 143, 145, 271 26, 82, 87, 91, 259, 263, 277 Postmaster General 143 political parties/formations/ Preca, Don (later Saint) Ġorġ 73, ideologies 265 — Anglo-Maltese Party (AMP) preferential treatment policy 95, 113 215 — Anti-Reformists 56, 58, 114 prehistoric remains 70, 72 — Constitutional Party Presbyterian 68 (CP)/Constitutionalists/ Prescott, William Hickling 132, Stricklandiani 77, 113, 121, 153, 278 212, 247 Press 12, 17, 19, 25, 30, 31, 34, 35, — Malta Labour Party/(MLP/ 37, 38, 43, 52, 57, 60, 67, 90, 92, LP)/La Camera del Lavoro/ 93, 96, 108, 112, 118, 134, 208, Labourites/Savonjani/Boffisti 209, 210, 211, 215, 255, 264 77, 113, 133, 137, 217, 247, 255, primus inter pares (first among 275 equals) 138 — Partito Democratico prison/penitentiary/reformatory Nazionalista / P a r t i t o 40, 97, 101 N a z i o n a l e / P a r t i t o privileged classes 116 Nazionalista (PDN/PN)/ professions/professionals 22, 75 Gozitan Party/Nationalists/ profiteering 82, 94 Mizziani 56, 59, 60, 65, 69, 71, prohibitory injunction 137 77, 79, 84, 111, 113, 114, 131, 137, Proportional Representation 146, 164, 247 System (PRS) 105, 264 — Partito Popolare (PP) 63, 65, prostitution/white slavery 69, 75, 66, 112, 247 80, 87, 214, — Reformists 56, 57, 58, 61, 114, protectionism/protectionist 74,

295 constitutions and legislation in malta

93, 95, 170, 173 116, 117, 127, 128, 138, 145, 147, Protestantism/Protestant(s)/ 148, 153, 154, 174, 204, 205, 209, proselytising 28, 46, 61, 69, 72, 210 108, 109, 121, 140, 267 — re-letting 128 public health 27, 47, 67 — right of preference 45, 128 public interest 98, 126, 167 Rerum Novarum (1891) 64, 83, public lotto 129, 130 132, 133, 144 100, 129, 262 public meetings 65, 216 reserved matters 6, 22, 104, 106, public officer 24, 43, 71, 168 107, 125, 151, 158, 165, 221, 265 public opinion 26, 29, 47, 54, 56, Richardson, James 34, 271 220, 255, 265 Richardson, Sir John 28, 29, 271, public order 69, 143 278 public purpose 220 right of accession 158 public registry 161, 170 right of nomination 107 public roads/streets 42, 214, 216 Risorgimento 36, 275 public utility 46, 74 Robertson, William Charles H 93, public works 47, 62, 65, 104, 154, 95, 110, 112, 148, 239, 240 163, 200 Robinson, Monsignor Pasquale public/elementary schools 33, 68, 211, 233 116, 133, 167, 259 Roman Catholic Pullicino, Dr Paolo 42, 271 — Apostolic Religion 120, 121 Pullicino, Dr Philip 194, 203, 221, — ‘moral injuries’/‘mortal sin’/ 242 ’spiritual penalties’ 213, 217 — vilification 212 quarantine 27, 47, 265 — Church/Curia/ecclesiastical 22, quarries 152 23, 24, 27, 34, 36, 37, 38, 43, 45, 86, 107, 152, 159, 160, 162, 163, railway 55, 69, 127, 214, 215, 278 173, 205, 222, 260, 267 Rampolla, Cardinal Mariano 61, — immunities 267, 38 63, 269 — native rights 160 Randon, Professor Luigi Arnaldo — property owner 23, 86 210 — clergy/clerical/clerics 22, 63, Rapinet, Dr Gugliermo 60 69, 108, 114, 140, 141, 143, 213 Rea, Russell 73 — Cathedral Chapter 88, 98, 122 Refalo, Dr (later Sir) Michelangelo — College of Parish Priests 22, 83, 85, 86, 87, 89, 9, 92, 113, 125, 88 135, 142, 161, 163, 181, 242, 245 — councillors/deputies/politi- Reid, Sir William 41, 43, 91, 229 cians 30, 88, 114, 127, 139, 157, rent 273 — casa-bottega 152 Rosenbusch, Edward 53 — control/regulation/restriction Rowsell, Francis W 50, 52, 53,

296 index

266, 278 Simmons, Sir John Lintorn 58, 61, Royal Air Force 6, 88, 159 63, 229, 269 Royal Army/Armed Forces of the simultaneous teaching of English Crown 3, 4, 6, 14, 24, 28, 54, and Italian (pari passu policy) 68, 75, 77, 92, 134, 159, 167 56, 61, 75, 99, 113, 114, 133, 137, Royal Commissioner(s) 139, 140 141, 142, 143, 145, 224 — Askwith-Egerton/De Salis Single Transferable Vote (STV) (1931) 215, 216, 217 105 — Austin-Cornewall-Lewis (1836- slums 169 1838) 5, 31, 33 socialist (or collectivist) 47, 52, — Julyan-Keenan-Rowsell (1879) 64, 67, 74, 124, 218, 264 42, 52, 53, 176 Società dei Piloti (Society of — Mowatt-Rea-Chalmers (1911) Marine Drivers) 50, 127, 168, 73, 74, 80, 82 204, 206, 222, 281 Royal Navy 6, 80, 126 Società Medica (Medical Society) Rundle, Sir Leslie 72, 74, 80, 230 32, 54, 67, 257 Società Operaia Cattolica 60, 211 Said, Emanuel 157 sports 85, 127, 133 Salisbury, Lord Robert Cecil 61 Stoddart, Sir John 29, 30, 245, Salomone, Monsignor Don Edgar 280 91 stone throwing 86 Savona, Dr William 89, 99, 111, 113, Storks, Sir Henry 47, 48, 49, 229 119, 124, 129, 138, 140, 149, 154, stowaways 40, 59, 123, 141 203, 204 Strickland, Gerald 1, 4, 5, 58, 60, Savona, Sigismondo 51, 56, 63, 65, 61, 62, 64, 68, 72, 75, 83, 84, 86, 75, 89, 115, 262 106, 111, 113, 116, 119, 121, 132, 174, Sceberras, Camillo 30, 88, 269, 185, 203, 206, 211, 212, 217, 218, 270, 271 222, 223, 237, 239, 279, 28o Sceberras, Dr (later Sir) Filippo Strother Stewart, Robert 214, 215, 88, 113, 180, 208, 269 221, 243 Schreiber, Edmond 230 Stuart, Sir Patrick 36, 229 Schuster, George 279 Suez Canal 4, 7, 50, 59, 216 Scicluna, Meme 127 Symmetry Board 163, 164, 252 Scorey, John Joseph 167, 220 Syndics 34, 53, 57, 64 Scottish Minister 69 secularism/secularist 108 taxation/duty Sette Giugno (7th June 1919) 92, — ad valorem 73, 84 132, 255, 278 — direct 53, 73, 81, 84, 85, 86, 101 Shepherd, Eric 108, 279 — double 140 shipping ii, 41, 45, 96, 134, 140 — entertainment 84, 85 Sicilian law 135 — excess profits 93, 140

297 constitutions and legislation in malta

— income 116, 202 traffic/transport/motor cars/ — indirect 27, 57, 73, 84 motor vehicles 33, 35, 42, 53, — stamp 85 60, 61, 127, 164, 213, 214, 215, — succession and donation 84, 216, 224, 254 85, 86, 90, 94 treasury and audit 117, 120, 131, teachers/students 24, 61, 65, 89, 138, 160, 166, 171 90, 92, 94, 99, 100, 104, 116, 137, trespass (permissive or 139, 162, 202, 217, 254, 261 prohibitive) 28, 55, 64, 134, technological 53, 70, 94 150, 157, 158 telegraph/telegraphic (cabled or wireless) 45, 47, 65, 70, 80, 94, unification of Italy 36, 48, 49, 50 97, 104, 108, 123, 125, 126, 130, Union of Motor Omnibus Owners 134, 140, 161, 221 (UMO) 215 telephone/telephony 53, 64, 220, Union of Teachers (1919) 139 221 United Kingdom/Britain/ territoriality/territorial waters 4, England 18, 21, 35, 81, 97, 110, 165, 169 — British Parliament 49, 74, 142, Theatre Royal (Opera House) 53, 218, 219 57 — Colonial (and War) Office 25, Thornton, William Henry 44 28, 41, 45, 51, 64, 80, 86, 110, throwing of stones 87 124, 142, 161, 166, 221, 253, 267 titolati (titled bearers of estates) — Colonial Regulations 26, 34, 23 37, 70, 71 tobacco 105, 140, 172 — English Public Law 62 tourism/tourist 4, 130, 147, 158, — House of Commons 36, 100, 254 109, 138, 142, 205, 260, 269 Trade Union Council (TUC) 100, — House of Lords 36, 174, 260 253, 256, 258 — Judicial Committee of the — benefit societies (trade unions Privy Council 63, 265 improper) 23, 60, 88, 100, 116, — M’Naghten Rules (1843) 36 117, 127, 138, 139, 155, 168, 170, — Secretary of State for (War 204, 206, 211, 221 and) the Colonies 57, 65, 68, — trade unions (proper) 4, 14, 54, 89, 94, 101, 103, 111, 150, 158, 165, 61, 67, 74, 83, 100, 116, 117, 127, 207, 277 155, 168, 171, 204, 253, 254 — Treasury Regulations 166 trader(s)/merchant(s)(or — Undersecretary of State for the businessmen) 23, 27, 30, 31, Colonies 71, 89 34, 37, 50, 70, 79, 90, 96, 97, Università degli Studi (University 99, 106, 116, 126, 161, 173, 202, of Literature)/University of 223, 251 Malta 8, 20, 24, 90, 149, 157, trading with enemy 81, 89 253, 275

298 index

— Għaqda tal-Malti Università 122, 145, 147, 151, 173, 203, 208, (the University Maltese 209, 213, 219 Language Society) 217 workmen’s dwellings/housing — Istituto di Cultura Italiana estates 89, 117, 150, 168, 169, (Institute of Italian culture) 174, 212 223 Università dei Grani (Grain Zabarella, Carlo Saminiatelli 132, Monopoly) 27 281 Zammit Hammet, Salvatore 115, Valletta (capital city) 119, 149, 153 Vassalli, Mikiel Anton 24, 30, 162, Zammit, Dr (later Sir) Temi 70, 267, 270 159 Vatican/Holy See 22, 29, 45, 49, Zammit, Dr Nicola 54, 267 75, 86, 206, 211, 212, 213, 255, 257, 258, 272, 278 venereal disease(s) 47, 214 vessels (sea-going) 33, 50, 124, 140 Vincenzo Bugeja Emigration Fund 60, 87 Vivante, Cesare 162

Warner, SG 57, 71 wars 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 75, 78, 88, 254 water distribution system 19, 53, 58 Wedgwood, Josiah 100 Wesleyan, British , 68 widows and orphans 71, 89, 116, 117, 122, 123, 124, 126, 145, 153, 155, 156, 171 woman/women 22, 44, 49, 82, 83, 98, 100, 105, 106, 123, 156, 157, 162, 170, 171, 209 266, 272, 265 workforce/labour structure 36, 54, 83, 123, 157 working classes (proletariat) 63, 82, 86, 94, 111, 115, 116, 127, 129, 154 workmen’s compensation 117, 120,

299