Aspects of crimes against the person in Maltese case law

Abstract

The object of this thesis is to review some of the decisions delivered by our Courts on certain Sections of the Criminal Code dealing with crimes against the person; viz those dealing with voluntary bodily harms (sections 228 to 233 and section 235), and those dealing with involuntary of fences (sections 239 and 240). The method used is analytical, in the sense that parts of decisions are quoted according to what part of the section under discussion they interpret or apply. It is true that this brings about fragmentation of both the law and the decisions, but it has been thought that it is better to bring together parts of decisions which deal with the same notion and with the same part of the law. In this way, each chapter begins with the quotation of the section of the Code under discussion (one section for each Chapter), and then the decisions are quoted under the heading of that particular part of the section to which each applies. It is not my intention to comment on the law directly, but to arrive at an understanding of the law through the decisions. So 9 I have tried to keep my own comments on the law itself to the least possible, prefering to comment, where possible, on what the Courts have said. Decisions of both the Superior Court and the Inferior Courts have been used. Since judicial precedent in Malta is not binding but only persuasive, the decision of an inferior Court is as binding (legally), on future cases as that of the Court of Criminal Appeal. Moreover, sometimes the decisions of the Court of Criminal Appeal (Inferior) merely confirm what the Magistrate has said, and so it is important to see the Magistrate 1 s decision. The same can be said with regard to those decisions which are not appealed against, and which sometimes contain valuable legal contributions.