The 1961 constitution : the road to independence

Abstract

The present-day Constitution is typically referred to as the Constitution of Malta and this is the supreme law of the land, as it stands at the highest level of the hierarchy of laws. This Constitution, however, was not always in the drafted form as it is known today, and the achievement of obtaining an Independence Constitution was a long and arduous process. In this thesis, the historical events from the 1950s up until Independence will be analysed together with a brief examination on the link between the political sphere, the legal sphere, and also the religious one, and the extent to which these three spheres contributed to the development of this Independence Constitution. This thesis will conduct a politico-legal study of the 1950s and 1960s in Malta, with a focus on the texts and provisions of the Constitutions of the time. The main focus will be on the 1961 Constitution as well as the Independence Constitution. It is imperative to note that the 1961 Blood Constitution, as it was called, was the backbone for the 1964 Independence Constitution, and many of the provisions which were implemented in 1964 were adopted from the former, with some differences. This thesis also poses the following questions: to what extent did the 1961 Constitution affect the provisions of the 1964 Constitution? What were the legal provisions included in these Constitutions? What brought Malta to the end of the colonial era? There were many developments along the way which paved the way for the current Constitution of Malta. In order to understand the development of the Constitution as it stands today, it is important to understand and analyse the historical background of the Constitutions which preceded the Independence Constitution. In this thesis, these events will be briefly examined, together with the provisions adopted from the Constitution in 1961 to that under an independent Malta, and the changes which were made to them along the way.