Legislation affecting the Maltese constitutional order

Abstract

This thesis researches a topic, that has been very minimally explored so far, either because of lack of knowledge of the subject matter or because it was taken for granted. It helps to understand how the constitutional machinery and structure of a country can become a complex task, especially if the country has a lot of legislation that has an import on the Constitutional Order of the country. The study sets out to identify such legislation present in Malta, that has in some way or another, an effect on the Constitution and Constitutional Order as whole. This is done to appreciate better certain features of the Maltese Constitutional Order such as the Electoral and the Parliamentary processes and the Executive performance. In order to understand better the context within which the study for each legislation that has been identified is done, an insight is taken into the parts of the Constitution that are affected, before moving on to the actual legislation. After the reader is put into context, he can understand better how the legislation is related to the Constitution itself, and furthermore understand the importance of such legislation within the whole Constitutional Order context. The study starts with a brief time line for the Maltese Constitution from 1959 up to 2004. It then further divides into the four main areas which have been determined as the ones mostly important for this study, each targeting a different theme such as the Electoral Process, The Parliamentary process, the Executive and other legislation that has a substantial effect on the Constitutional Order. After having studied the legislation and its effects, the author has identified the legislation as having an undeniable importance within the whole Constitutional Order. Each legislation identified provides the Constitution with a solid framework for the performance of what is found within the Articles of the Constitution itself. Also, some of these laws provide for a system of checks and balances, accountability and improvement in performance of the three division of powers according to the Westminister/Whitehall model, being the Legislative, Executive and the Judiciary.