Circuit Trip to Malta
By Melissa Coutinho
The South Eastern Circuit trip this year was to Malta; a land renowned for its remarkable political and ecclesiastic history and for its fusion of cultures, combining Western and Eastern influences. For at least half of the group, this was to be our first experience of Malta and so it was that on a rather overcast May but warm Bank Holiday weekend, 18 Circuiteers with their partners and friends met up at Heathrow Airport. The Black Card Lounge was the scene of suppressed revelry as most of us got into the holiday spirit in the traditional way but it was only after a 3-hour flight and a jump of 10 degrees centigrade and considerable humidity that the sense of truly being on holiday was born.
We were very hospitably met at the airport by Nadine and Victor Sant. The former is a prosecutor at the Attorney General’s Office in Malta as well as a qualified barrister in England; the latter, now retired, was the Maltese Deputy High Commissioner to the UK during 1987-1993. Both gave up much of their time escorting us on our trips and making our stay so memorable.
Whisked away in smart cars, we were ferried to the Xara Palace Hotel, situated in old Mdina, a medieval walled city and the first capital city of Malta. Our skilful drivers expertly navigated the narrow cobbled roads, romantically lit by torches, but presenting something of a Krypton Factor challenge for the average motorist. Deposited at what looked like a castle from the pages of a fairytale, we explored the hotel, chosen by Giles Colin, as one of Malta’s finest. It was an impressive setting, with modern suites retaining many original features and artefacts dating back to the 17th Century. Our Leader generously treated us all to champagne as he retired to read up on the Maltese legal system. So ended our first day in Malta.
The next day, after a champagne breakfast enjoyed overlooking breathtaking landscapes bathed in dazzling sunlight, our party, dressed only as smartly as the heat permitted, met up with Nadine Sant to be introduced to a number of High Court judges and Stipendiary Magistrates. We were permitted a tour of their courts, all situated within the one imposing modern but very sympathetically designed building. Learning that it was only built in the 1970s explained that while it was perfectly in keeping with neighbouring buildings dating back to the 1500s, it also had every modern feature necessary for a court, including the essential hidden air conditioning.
The Magistrates, whom we would call District Judges, spoke of the convenience of having their courtrooms in the same building as the higher courts in the event that matters needed to be transferred. High Court judges also approved of the system which allowed judges at lower levels to learn from more senior judges. There is no lay magistracy in Malta but lawyers can apply to sit as a Magistrate after 7 years practice or as High Court judge after 12 years.
The judges and magistrates joined us for a seminar chaired by the SEC Leader and Nadine Sant. During the course of this, many similarities and differences between our respective professions and justice systems were revealed. Police inspectors, assisted by lawyers from the Attorney General’s office, decide whether a reported matter is within the competence of the police in a system not dissimilar to the UK pre Crown Prosecution Service. There are nearly 2,000 police officers in Malta, for a population of 400,000 citizens spread across a landmass that measures 60 x 15 miles. For offences with penalties of up to 4 years’ imprisonment, the police have complete responsibility for case and trial preparation. For more serious offences, the police are assisted by the Attorney General’s office. Matters where a maximum penalty is less than 10 years imprisonment are dealt with by Magistrates, which makes their powers considerably more powerful in sentencing terms than our own District Judges.
While there are 2,000 practising lawyers in Malta, with 100 new practitioners joining their ranks each year, there is a criminal team of 6 lawyers in the Attorney General’s office responsible for prosecuting all serious criminal cases. With such a compact team responsible for both casework advocacy, it is not uncommon for there to be a 3 year gap between summons and trial. However, the average trial length is 3 days, with even murder and frauds taking no longer than a week on average. Our Maltese friends explained that their courts sit at 9am and can sit as late as 9pm to expedite matters. When they saw our incredulity at the speed with which they conduct proceedings even in cases with penalties of life imprisonment, they shared their own bafflement as to how any trial in the UK could possibly take months!
Qualifying as a lawyer in Malta is done by academic training rather than vocational, with completion of a doctorate in law, earning one the title of ‘Lawyer’ (which must be followed by passing a warrant of practice). This explained why all of the hotel staff kept addressing us as ‘Doctor’; something which had mystified us before. While the academic work is rigorous, practical training for advocacy is not part of the actual course preparation. Nonetheless, less than six years after completing a Doctorate in Law (LL.D), a young lawyer can technically find themselves prosecuting murders - however, this is not the norm! Maltese lawyers are very impressed by the emphasis the UK put on advocacy training and there are hopes of the SEC bringing the Hampel Method to Malta.
Other differences in our legal systems were highlighted by the fact that Malta does not permit divorce; a feature shared only with one other country: the Philippines. If marriage is not annulled, judicial separation can be granted, but re-marriage is then not possible. The right to divorce and re-marry has not been successfully challenged in Malta but a case has determined that divorce is not a human right. Other differences included adoption being barred to unmarried/gay couples or individuals.
Having earned our CPD points, we toured the city, seeing Venetian influences in the many merino glass exhibitions and Moorish influences in the architecture and language. A local police station with the sign “PULIZIJA” brought home the extraordinary mix of ancient and Romance languages but even those of us conversant in Arabic or Italian commented on the unique melding of cultures. More prosaically, having been warned that the Maltese favourite three topics of conversation were politics, religion and football, we found that we could, to some extent, hold our own on the first two topics only…
We were privileged to meet the Attorney General, Dr. Silvio Camilleri M.O.M, LL.D who has since taken up the role of the Chief justice, and the Minister of Justice, Dr. Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, LL.D, MP. Both were well informed about our system of law and shared their thoughts with us on the key differences, as well as their shared acquaintance with our own Chief Justice, Igor Judge, who is of Maltese descent. While there already appear to be the equivalent of multi-disciplinary partnerships in Malta, with other professionals working alongside lawyers without any problem, the vocational training aspect of our system was one they considered had merit and were keen to know more about.
We participated in the organised trips given to us on a complimentary basis, courtesy of the Ministry of Tourism. A guide took us around Hagar Qim and Mnajdar, ancient freestanding structures carbon-dated as older than the pyramids. We also saw the President’s Palace and Chambers as well as the Maltese Parliament and the Valletta Waterfront. We learnt about the Knights of Malta, who continue today, and snuck into St John’s Cathedral to see two stunningly beautiful Caravaggio paintings. We were given tours of the country, memorably visiting the Mosta Domed Church, which has the third largest dome in Europe (and stands despite being hit by a bomb, as it never exploded) as well as being treated to traditional Maltese hospitality.
All in all, our impressions of Malta were of a devout country, with some very generous people and beautiful buildings. We spoke to priests who had witnessed miracles and lawyers who saw a time in the next 40 years when many laws would change, despite their political nature and religious implications. The time and effort that our Maltese friends put into entertaining us saw even more friendships blossom and there were promises of return trips. We came back eager to import at least one of their customs: summer hours, in which a working day starts at 7.45am and ends at 1.30pm, allowing non-court work to be done at the beach...