The community of acquests : the story of a homegrown system

Abstract

The institute of the Community of Acquests between the spouses in Maltese law is of a very ancient age and dates back to the 12th Century. This thesis aims at presenting a historico-legal narrative on the development of the regime of the Community of Acquests in Maltese law, pinpointing major developments in the Institute and making reference to those factors that have played a role in the process. This thesis gives an account of the state of the relevant laws in the previous centuries, beginning circa from the 1530's. The introduction mentions the aims of this thesis, the sources tapped and the method used. The first chapter gives an outline of the origin of the institute of the Community of Acquests and goes into the Ancient and the medieval development of the institute with reference to Roman law and to the postmuslim period. The Second Chapter delves into the Hospitallers period, and an overview of the first laws being the Prammatiche is given. Reference is made to the first published codification being the De Vilhena Code and subsequently to the Code de Rohan commonly known as the 'Diritto Municipale di Malta.' Chapter III gives an overview of the codification of the Modern legal system. This marks a turning point in our legislation especially when referring to the Community of Acquests regime.It goes into Ordinance IV of 1867 which abolished the societa' coniugale, and established the Community of Acquests as the applicable legal regime between the spouses. An introduction as to the foundations of the Civil Code is also given in this chapter. In Chapter V, an analysis of the amendments brought about by Act XLVI of 1973 is carried out, which amendments seemed to be the first inclination towards trying to introduce equality of the spouses. Finally an analysis is made of the further major reforms brought about by Act XXI of 1993, which amendments led to a major reform of the provisions concerning the Community of Acquests regime. These amendments constitute the real and fundamental changes in the field of family law, especially in the field of the patrimonial relationship between the spouses. Chapter VI concludes this essay by giving an evaluation of the research carried out in formulating this thesis. The most important changes affecting the institute of the Community of Acquests and the factors which led to such reforms are highlighted in this concluding Chapter.