Reconciliation mechanisms in separation proceedings : the role of the Second Hall judge

Abstract

This short dissertation, which is a follow-up to a study carried out by third year BA/LP students regarding stress on the Maltese family life is being written at a time of debate in different fora and on the Media on the introduction of Divorce legislation in Malta. Undoubtedly an ever increasing number of marriages are revealing signs of stress, such that more people are having recourse to the courts for the remedy of judicial separation ( 80 new cases 1 filed per year ) whereas many are opting to have a consensual separation (circa 70 - 80 per year). Apart from this 3 if one were to give a cursory look at Table 4.5 of the same study which indicates the number of instances in which the Second Hall gave its authorization for personal Separation procedures, one can safely conclude that 10% of all Maltese families are at one time or another involved in some form of conflict. The unfolding of the debate itself proves rather interesting, with different pressure groups such as the Group for Men's Rights, Alternattiva Demokratika and also single individuals highlighting the contractual aspect of marriage and hence it dissolubility and the right to remarry granted by Divorce Legislation as a fundamental Human Right and Institutions such as the Catholic Church, organisations such as Kana, through some of their most eminent preachers and theologians upholding the sanctity and indissolubility of marriage, drawing also upon social and cultural arguments against the introduction of divorce, seeing in it a further potential weakening of marriage as an institution. Not surprisingly in the midst of all the discussion that ensued, the focus all of a sudden shifted on marriage protection, on marriage mending rather than marriage ending, with both sides proposing the setting up of legal structures along social measures that could potentially diffuse the conflict situation and even lead to reconciliation between the spouses.