Usher’s zone : an ethnographic and legal study of the system of notification of judicial acts in the Maltese law-courts

Abstract

The court officials who are in charge of serving various types of judicial acts (notifications) onto the persons concerned are called ushers (in Maltese "purtiera"). Their work consists in delivering copies of the said written pleadings or any judicial acts personally to the persons who must be notified, and then to report back to court and state whether such service has been effected or not. When the particular copy of the act is successfully delivered to the person concerned. The usher makes on the original act what is in Maltese called a "riferta pozittiva". That is a black stamp on which the usher writes that the service has been effected. The date on which such service was effected, and the name of the person to whom the delivery of the act was made. Here one must note that the delivery of the particular notification need not necessarily be made directly to the person who must be notified. [Excerpt]