The implications of the administrative justice act : chapter 490 of the laws of Malta

Abstract

This thesis is an attempt to analyse the implications of the introduction of the Administrative Justice Act, namely Chapter 490 of the Laws of Malta as part of our legal framework. The first chapter of this thesis entitled, "A brief history of Administrative Tribunals" is a preliminary Chapter or a limited summary about the development of Administrative Law in Malta. The second chapter entitled "Main features of the Administrative Justice Act" is a review of the "The Administrative Justice in Malta Act", assessing to what extent this Act is innovative and also whether the demise of the various boards is going to have any substantial effect or not. In particular, this chapter also deals with the qualifications that the chairpersons must have and the independence and role of the assistants if their appointment is truly to be in line with the requirements of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In fact, this was analysed in much further detail in the third chapter entitled, "Human Rights Features in the Administrative Justice Act". The fourth chapter entitled "Comparative aspects with some European countries" entails a comparative study of Administrative Justice in other European countries but mainly elaborates on the French and on the Dutch experience, the latter being the system from which our drafters drew most influence from. Finally the fifth chapter entitled "EU Administrative Law Principles and Maltese Administrative Law" concludes the thesis by examining the system of the European Union's Administrative Law Aquis.