Rights of an accused : section 39 (1) of the Constitution and Article 6 (1) of the European Convention on Human Rights

Abstract

The 1964 Constitution incorporates a number of basic human rights. These rights have always been declared fundamental to a democratic society. 'The paramount objective of human rights law' is 'to seek to protect individuals from man-made, and so avoidable, suffering inflicted on them through deprivation, exploitation, oppression, persecution, and other forms of maltreatment by organized and powerful groups of other human beings'. These fundamental guarantees, described as inherent in human nature and also as inalienable, have been provided for by the Maltese legislator in sections 32 to 47 of the Maltese Constitution.4 Since this thesis is limited to the rights of an accused, I shall be examining only section 39 of the Constitution and, more specifically, subsection (1) thereof. The provisions which safeguard the rights of an accused, are entrenched into the Constitution in such a manner that only a two-thirds majority of the members of Parliament is enabled to decide and implement any alteration. The procedure is evidently in conformity with the notion that these rights are indeed fundamental and this notion is further ingrained in the Constitutional provisions by means of section 46 and section 47. Section 46, which provides for the method of enforcement of section 32 to section 47 of the Constitution, ensures that the rights which are protected by the Constitution are not only guaranteed by the Constitution in the same way as the rights embodied within Chapter II (entitled the Declaration of Principles), but that they are given full force and effect by means of providing the aggrieved individual with a right to apply to the competent court for redress. Section 47 provides for the interpretation of Chapter IV itself and it is entrenched in the same way as those provisions which ensure the rights and freedoms of the individual. Entrenchment of this provision is an obvious consequence of the entrenchment of the provisions of the Constitution which guarantee the fundamental human rights of the individual. If section 47 were not safeguarded in such a manner, then it would be at the discretion of the majority of the members of the House of Representatives to provide for a different or limited interpretation of section 32 to section 46 of the Constitution.