Aspects of the legal status of minors under the Maltese civil and criminal codes

Abstract

The thesis examines aspects of the legal status of minors under the Maltese Civil and Criminal Codes. It determines which laws in the codifications affect minors by comparing their position, rights and obligations with those of adults. It aims at understanding whether the special laws which protect minors in the Civil and Criminal Code are justified, or whether they diminish their position and status and render their views insignificant before the courts of law. The dissertation is divided into four chapters. The first chapter analyses the concept of minority and examines the provisions in the Civil Code relating to minors in Family Law. The following chapter focuses on the legal standing of the minor in the provisions concerning Contract law, Tort law and Succession in the Civil Code. Next, the role of the minor in Civil proceedings is treated while listing a number of procedures deemed to enhance children's participation in court. The fourth chapter discusses the role of the minor in substantive and procedural Criminal Law, concentrating on the defence of infancy and the age of criminal responsibility, as well as on the provisions involving the protection of minors in the Criminal Code. By way of conclusion, shortcomings in the Maltese Civil and Criminal Law provisions are indicated while procedures and methods of treating minors appropriately during Civil and Criminal Law proceedings are mentioned.