A critical and comparative analysis of non-fatal offences against the person

Abstract

Scenario: A landlady, who suffers from anxiety, evicts her tenant for just reasons. The latter, infuriated, insults her severely, in one isolated incident, on matters which she is particularly sensitive about. This causes her anxiety condition to worsen considerably, degenerating into depression necessitating continuous psychiatric therapy. The tenant has not done so to force her to reconsider, as the landlady has already entered into a binding agreement to rent the tenement to a third party. The above scenario raises several questions which have served as the main inspiration behind this thesis. This study shows that in said scenario, the offender cannot be charged with private violence, blackmail, or the crime of threats under article 249 of the Criminal Code. Harassment is also excluded due to the absence of a course of conduct. Should this tenant be charged simply with the contravention under article 339(1)(e), or could s/he be charged with causing the landlady a mental derangement amounting to bodily harm, despite not using physical violence against her? Thus this thesis attempts to determine whether the protection granted to individuals by Maltese criminal law is adequate in modern times. By comparing Maltese substantive provisions with their counterparts under Italian law, and in the case of harassment also English law, this study enables the reader to identify the lacunae in the protection established by Maltese criminal law for the safety of individuals. Hence suggestions shall be put forth to seek to update Maltese criminal law in a manner which will enable it to grant protection which is acceptable in a modern-day context.