Legislative drafting and statutory interpretation in the Maltese mixed legal system

Abstract

As a mixed legal system, Maltese law poses a number of tricky challenges to the draftsperson, legislator and judge in relation to legislative drafting and statutory interpretation. In order not to succumb miserably to these unpropitious difficulties, the persons involved in the drafting, enacting and interpreting Maltese Law have to be exceptionally conversant with the sources of the Maltese legal system. These myriad sources are far from being uniform in legal content and therefore it is up to the said persons to ensure that these dissimilar sources are grafted in such a way as not to create conflicts and tensions within one and the same legal system. The legal sources of the Maltese legal system comprise both legislative and non-legislative sources. The former are complex and intricate in so far as Maltese Law draws upon the ius civile, canon law, common law, European Union law, public international law, foreign law and autochthonous law. This multiform complication is further compounded by recourse to non-legislative sources of the Maltese legal system such as customary law with its inherent variegated sources, case law emanating from a multiplicity of sources hailing from diverse legal systems, the writings of jurists setting out the characteristic features of plural legal systems and other supplementary sources of law. Due to the Maltese legal system's essential intricacy, the interminable pitfalls faced by the persons involved in drafting, enacting and interpreting law make them more prone to commit mistakes should they wrongly identify the precise source of the law. The solution to this quandary appears to be a comprehensive insight and knowledge of all the sources which compose the Maltese legal system, a gargantuan task in its own right not without its severe toils and serpentine perils.