The Chamber of Advocates remains disappointed with the amendments that have been made to the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure after the enactment of the Legal Profession (Reform) Act. It reiterates that the few amendments made were merely a frail attempt to pay lip service to the regulation of the profession and the bill, as it is, remains unfit for purpose.
We are mostly aggrieved that, for reasons yet unknown and which remain inexplicable to the common sense of most, only a few of the chamber’s exhaustive list of proposals were taken on board, bits and pieces which were meshed in the law and created an outdated and redundant legislative framework, which not only goes absolutely nowhere, but leaves the profession in the same predicament.
A law students organisation has called for a new standalone act regulating the legal profession, saying that recently enacted legislation is not robust enough.
Għaqda Studenti Tal-Liġi launched a new policy document on Monday that examines the international regulatory framework of the legal profession, as well as rules regulating other warranted professionals. It proposes more robust legislation governing warranted legal professionals.
Bill 181, or the Lawyers Act, passed its third reading in parliament on Wednesday, expanding the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure and the Commission for the Administration of Justice Act.
However, critics of the legislation, including the Chamber of Advocates, have argued that the bill does not go far enough to properly regulate the legal profession and is primarily focused on achieving requirements set out in the Moneyval report.
During his last sitting in the Superior Courts of Malta on March 18, 2021, Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKeon delivered his last judgments, among which was one concerning the enforceability of a foreign judgment in Malta.
Judgments delivered by courts and tribunals in non-EU countries are not automatically enforceable in Malta and require a specific procedure to be recognised as such. The judgment delivered by the First Hall, Civil Court in the names ‘Avukat Dottor Carl Grech et v HSBC Bank Malta plc’ delved into this matter further.
The foreign judgment brought before the Maltese court was that delivered by the Supreme Fifth Civil Court in Bahrain on April 30, 2019, whereby the court (in Bahrain) ordered that a specific letter of credit issued by Standard Chartered Bank for the amount of US$952,600 in favour of HSBC was declared null. The judgment delivered by the court in Bahrain was not appealed and thus, the plaintiff sought enforceability in Malta.
Penalties imposed on who issues needless warrants is a question of public order maltatoday.com.mt - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from maltatoday.com.mt Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
There is no judicial review for decisions refusing citizenship applications
The granting of citizenship is the Minister’s discretion and therefore, cannot be subject to the Court’s judicial review
14 March 2021, 8:59am
by Malcolm Mifsud
The granting of citizenship is the Minister’s discretion and therefore, cannot be subject to the Court’s judicial review. This was held by the First Hall of the Civil Court, presided by Mr Justice Robert Mangion in Ena Shoby Zaky Ibrahim Attia -v- Direttur tac-Cittadinanza, Ministru ghall-Gustizzja, Kultura u Gvern Lokali.
The Plaintiff filed a sworn application asking the court to overturn a decision of the Director of the Citizenship which did not accept her application to become a Maltese citizen. There was no reason given to the decision taken in March 2017.