   JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS (REGULATION OF REPORTS)      _g CAP. 60.   1
CHAPTER 60
JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS 
(REGULATION OF REPORTS) ACT
To regulate the publication of reports of judicial proceedings in such
manner as to prevent injury to public morals.
(17th July, 1927) *
Enacted by ACT XXIX of 1927, as amended by Act XIII of 1948; Legal
Notice 46 of 1965; and Acts: LVIII of 1974, XXII of 1976 and XIII of 1983.
Short title.
(Regulation of Reports) Act.
Restriction on 
publication of 
reports of judicial 
proceedings
2. It shall not be lawful to print or publish, or cause or
procure to be printed or published  - 
( a ) in relation to any judicial proceedings, any indecent
matter or indecent medical, surgical or physiological
details being matter or details the publication of which
would be calculated to injure public morals;
( b ) in relation to any judicial proceedings for nullity of
marriage or for judicial separation, or touching the
effects arising from such nullity of marriage or judicial
separation, any particulars other than the following,
that is to say:
(i) the names, addresses and occupations of the
parties and witnesses;
(ii) a concise statement of the charge or charges,
statement of claim, defences or pleas and
counter-charges or counter-claims in support of
which evidence has been given;
(iii) submissions on any point of law arising in the
course of the proceedings, whether criminal or
civil, and the decision of the court thereon;
(iv) the summing-up of the judge and the finding of
the jury (if any), and the judgment of the court
and the reasons contained in the judgment:
  Provided that nothing in this part of this section shall be held to
permit the publication of anything contrary to the provisions of
paragraph ( a )   of this section.
Penalties. 
Amended by:
XIII. 1983.4.  
3. If any person acts in contravention of the provisions of this
Act, he shall in respect of each offence be liable, on conviction, to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine
( multa ) not exceeding one hundred liri (Lm100), or to both such
imprisonment and fine:
* See  Government Notice No. 230 of the 1st of July, 1927, and Act No. V of 1927
omitted under the Malta Statute Law Revision Ordinance, 1936, and the Statute Law
Revision Act, 1980.
  2        CAP. 60. _h        JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS (REGULATION OF REPORTS)
  Provided that no person, other than a proprietor of a newspaper
or printing establishment, master printer or publisher, shall be
liable to be convicted under this Act.
Prosecutions for 
offences under the 
Act.
Amended by: 
XIII. 1948.2; 
L.N. 46 of 1965; 
LVIII.1974.68.
4. No prosecution for an offence under this Act shall be
commenced in Malta by the Police without the sanction of the
Attorney General.
Exemptions. 5. The provisions of the foregoing sections shall not apply to
the printing of any pleading, note, application, transcript of
evidence or other document for use in connection with any judicial
proceedings or the communication thereof to persons concerned in
the proceedings or to their respective advocates or legal
procurators, or to the printing or publishing of any notice or report
in pursuance of the directions of the court; or to the printing or
publishing of any matter in any separate volume or part of any  bona
fide  series of law reports, or in any publication of a technical
character  bona fide  intended for circulation among members of the
legal or medical professions.
Saving as to other 
laws. 
Amended by: XXII. 
1976.4. 
Cap. 248.
6. Nothing in this Act shall operate so as to bar the
application, according to circumstances, of the Press Act where the
breach constitutes a more serious offence under the provisions of
that Act.
