Managing legal pluralism in the Maltese legal system : processes, driving forces and effects - a ‘loving’ marriage of legal systems or a curse?

Abstract

This article seeks to discover whether a state that has ended up with a hybrid legal system, whether by choice or by history over time, is in a better position to face the new legal challenge posed by economics and politics or whether it makes sense to opt for a legal system that more or less follows one of the legal families which historically is a source of the current legal system. The approach is taken from a private law perspective. Hence, reference is made to both constitutional law and private law, and in the case of Malta, the former is mainly derived from the English common law while the latter applies to the main civil law and private law systems. The article refers to the Maltese legal system as a case-study. After independence, Malta opted out of a free choice to consolidate the mixedness in its system, and common law’s influence became stronger than before. For the past two decades, there has been a strong influence from the European Union (EU) legal system, with Malta being the smallest among the EU Member States. Reference is also made to how the Maltese legal system adapted itself to its ‘marriage’ with the EU legal order and how Malta reconciled the Westminster model of parliamentary supremacy with constitutional supremacy and later with EU law supremacy.