A brief history of the development of the criminal justice system in Malta : from the Carthaginians to the French

Abstract

This study takes an overarching view of the development of criminal justice in the Maltese Islands from circa 480 BC to the 1800s. The concept of policing and prisons are taken in the widest sense possible, where such institutions were created by the state as a method of control over the population. The Maltese Islands have experienced a succession of occupiers during the period and little is known about the criminal justice system during the time. What is known is that the colonisers had as their priority the control of the locals. The Arabs with the laws of the Koran were substituted by the Normans who created the Castellan. The inquisition with its fight against heresy, witchcraft and incest, who together with the Knights of St. John, were responsible for controlling the people and finally the French who were responsible for separating the administrative function from the ruling body.