The defence of conjugal subjection in the criminal law of Malta

Abstract

SECTION 34 of the Criminal Code of Malta lays down as follows: ''No person shall be liable to punishment if at the time of the act or omission complained of, such person- (a) was in a state of in sanity or frenzy; or (b) was constrained thereto by an external force which he could not resist.'' The external force mentioned in the last paragraph of this provision of law may be either physical or moral, and a form of moral coercion improperly so called is civil subjection, which may be either public or private. Our Criminal Code , like the French Code and unlike the Italian Code, does not contain an express provision on the subject of civil subjection. It is proposed, however, to consider here the position of private civil subjection with regard to the married women in the Criminal law of Malta.