The court martial of Enrico Mizzi, 1917 : an episode in his life and in the language question

Abstract

Malta and Sicily were to be found under the same sovereignty at least ten centuries ago, and remained so until Malta was given to the Order of St. John in 1530. Thus, it was only natural that the two should have a parallel development, especially in culture, with Malta, the smaller of the two, following in the steps of Sicily. Language was no exception. The Sicilian language or dialect may have been the language of Law in Malta, during the earliest J:Eriod of Sicilo-Maltese development. A British Royal Commissioner, Patrick Keenan, remarked in 1880 that Count Roger the Norman had published the Laws of Sicily in Malta, and stated that "the Sicilian vernacular was thus, doubtless, the precursor of the Italian, as the language of the law, between seven and eight centuries ago".