The Maltese statuti e ordinamenti of 1533

Abstract

The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, which had developed itself into a military power during the Crusades in the Near East, became once again master of the land or possessed the possibility to have similar power. Among its territories it had estates in the principality of Antioch and in the earldom of Tripoli. From the times of the Crusaders' states, no laws have been passed on to us that the Order issued for its domains. A lot of reasons that are not going to be mentioned here speak in favour of the fact that no laws were made. Evidently only in the Order's state of Rhodes, which the Knights founded in the late Middle Ages and were able to hold till the early Modem Times did the Order engaged itself in enacting laws. We know also of similar activities that the Order did for parts of its provinces, where it was able to obtain relative rights and provincial jurisdiction. Driven from Rhodes, the "Maltese" Order became the Ruler of Malta in 1530 when Charles V as King of Spain and a King of ( the Two) Sicilies gave them the Maltese Islands as a fief. Here the Order undertook law-giving functions and within three years of taking power it proclaimed these Statuti e Ordinamenti . Before transcribing and translating the text one should mention some legal and historical observations concerning this law and its origin.