Aspects of the Geneva Convention and Maltese Law on bills of exchange

Abstract

The title for my thesis which I first presented to the Faculty of Law Board for its approval was "The Geneva Convention and Maltese Law on Bills of Exchange”. However, when I commenced to plan my work, I obviously discovered that I could not continue with such a title, since to write on the whole of the Geneva Convention and Maltese Law relating to bills of exchange would run into hundreds of pages and would entail months upon months of work. Therefore, I changed the title by adding the words "Aspects of" and I chose to discuss the requisites of a bill, both external and internal, endorsement and "aval”, because I think that it is these areas which provide more ground for discussion, comparison and contrast. Of course, even in these few areas, I could not be exhaustive on each and every provision of the law. Nevertheless, I thought it opportune to quote the corresponding articles of. the Draft Commercial Code which Professor Carlo Mallia, then Minister for Justice, proposed to the Legislative Assembly in 1926. This I did for two reasons : firstly, it contains the only suggestions for amendment of the Maltese Commercial Code that are grouped in a draft law; secondly, the Draft Commercial Code was presented a few years before the coming into force in various European states of the Geneva Convention. The general method which has been adopted throughout this work is, firstly, the quotation of the relevant provisions of the Maltese Commercial Code, the Draft Commercial Code and the Geneva Convention, and then a commentary on them, pointing out comparisons, contrasts and suggestions. In this way the reader will already have an idea of the contents of the commentary even from the dispositions of the law themselves.