The history behind articles 1 to 6 in chapter 1 of the Constitution of Malta

Abstract

Constitutional development did not always run parallel to the Maltese Island's social and cultural development. Nevertheless, by time, legal and constitutional advancements made an effort to meet the exigencies of an ever changing society. The said pattern characterised the whole British rule, during which the Islanders developed the important notion of national identity which was ultimately magnificently expressed with the Maltese Islands becoming an independent sovereign state on the 21 st September, 1964. The dissertation aims at presenting a historical-legal narrative on the development of articles 1 to 6 of the 1964 Independence Constitution. It begins by highlighting the aim of the dissertation itself whilst it also sheds light on the sources and the method used. The First Chapter of the dissertation presents a general outline of Malta's complex constitutional development starting from the onset of British rule right down to 1964. The following Chapters deal with the history behind the first six articles of the 1964 Independence Constitution by illustrating the specific development of each article. Thus Chapter 2 focuses on The Republic and its Territories, Chapter 3 on the Religion of the Maltese Islands, Chapter 4 on the National Flag, Chapter 5 on the National Anthem, Chapter 6 on Language and Chapter 7 on the Supremacy of the Constitution. The closing Chapter provides a comparative exercise of the said articles and points out their nature.