The position and general organisation of the legal profession in Maltese islands throughout the domination of the knights of St. John and up to the third decade of British rule

Abstract

It is the modest purpose of this dissertation to inquire into the available material and establish as tangible a picture as possible of the Legal Profession, as it existed in the Maltese islands during the above mentioned periods. The function of this investigation has a juridical and also a historical interest, and should serve to provide a basis for further comparative research and a more enlightened outlook on this particular class of our society and on the Administration of Justice in general. In this thesis we try to reconstruct, not so much for the man in the street as for the scholar of juridical science, a picture of the legal hierarchy of the times, and the way it functioned in these islands. In so doing, we have left no stone unturned to inquire into the juridical, political, social and economic factors that may in one way or another have a bearing on our subject. We have tried to observe the Legal Profession from various angles, sticking as much as possible to the direct evidence of cooks and manuscripts, and giving to the term ‘Legal Profession’ a wide meaning in order to create as complete a picture as possible in the circumstances.