The role of the court of appeal (inferior jurisdiction) in Maltese development planning law

Abstract

Under the previous legislation, it was already an established principle that ‘the decisions of the Tribunal shall be final’ and an appeal from such decisions could be made by the appellant or any of the appellate parties to the appeal before the Court of Appeal (Inferior Jurisdiction) ‘on a point of law decided by the Tribunal or on any matter relating to an alleged breach of the right of a fair hearing before the Tribunal.’ Such an appeal had to be lodged within twenty days from when the decision of the Tribunal was delivered in public and the Court was in turn bound to conclude ‘in a timely manner’ even though no provision was made to enforce a timeframe within which the Court was required to deliver judgment. In the previous law, it was also established that ‘an appeal from a partial decision of the Tribunal may only be filed together with an appeal from the final decision of the Tribunal.’ Moreover, the Secretary of the Tribunal was vested with all legal and judicial representation of the Tribunal in all judicial proceedings instituted against the same Tribunal, including, of course, proceedings following a Tribunal decision.