The accused in Maltese law

Abstract

THE spirit underlying the Maltese Criminal system is substantially contained in the rebuttable presumption that every man is presumed to be innocent until he is proved to be guilty: semper praesumitur pro negante. This presumption, which, in the words of Taylor, rests on ''the right which every man has to his character, the value of that character to himself and to his family, and the evil consequences that would result to society if charges of guilt were lightly entertained or readily established in courts of justice" protects the accused throughout the whale course of criminal proceedings,- from the very moment of arrest up to the moment of conviction or acquittal.