    MANOEL ISLAND (SPECIAL PROVISION)  gCAP. 259.         1
CHAPTER 259
MANOEL ISLAND (SPECIAL PROVISION) ACT 
To provide for the dissolution of the emphyteusis of parts of Manoel
Island granted to the Manoel Island and Malta Marina Company Limited
and to provide for matters connected therewith or ancillary thereto.
(5th March, 1976) *
Enacted by ACT IV of 1976, as amended by Act XIII of 1983.
Short title.
Provision) Act.
Interpretation.
"the Company" means the company known by the name of
"Manoel Island and Malta Marina Company Limited" constituted
by a deed dated 25th November, 1969, in the records of notary
Victor Miller;
"the emphyteusis" means the temporary emphyteusis granted by
a deed dated 5th September, 1970, in the records of notary Anthony
Attard of lands and buildings and other immovables at Manoel
Island, Gzira, including part of the sea-bed adjoining the said
island, described in the deed aforesaid and shown on a plan
attached thereto, and therein collectively described as the
emphyteutical land.
Dissolution of 
emphyteusis and 
reversion of 
emphyteutical 
land.
3. The emphyteusis shall, by virtue of this Act and without
further assurance, be dissolved with effect from 1st September,
1973, in consequence of defaults of the Company and any other
event occurring before the date aforesaid entitling the Government,
as the direct owner, to dissolve the emphyteusis, and all lands and
buildings and other immovables comprised in the emphyteusis
shall, likewise and with effect from the said date, revert to the
Government, as the direct owner, free from any privilege,
hypothec, lease, encumbrance and any other burden whatsoever.
Compensation. 
Amended by: 
XIII. 1983.4,5. 
Cap. 12.
4. (1) If any person considers that he ought to receive
compensation on the ground that he had possession of, or an
interest in or a right over, any property of any description, and that
that property, interest or right has been compulsorily taken
possession of or acquired under this Act, he may institute
proceedings before the First Hall of the Civil Court for the purpose
of determining his interest in or right over the property and the
amount of any compensation to which he may be entitled, and for
the purpose of obtaining payment of that compensation; and any
determination on any such proceedings shall be subject to appeal to
the Court of Appeal in accordance with the provisions of the Code
of Organization and Civil Procedure.
(2) For the purposes of the determination of the compensation
(if any) payable in respect of property, interest or right (if any)
* See  Government Notice No. 124 of 5th March, 1976.
  2      CAP. 259. h         MANOEL ISLAND (SPECIAL PROVISION)  
compulsorily taken possession of or acquired under this Act, this
case shall be treated as a special case in which Parliament deems it
appropriate, in the national interest, to establish the criteria to be
followed, including the factors and other circumstances to be taken
into account, for that purpose.
(3) The criteria to be followed, and the factors and other
circumstances to be taken into account, in the determination of any
compensation that may be payable in consequence of any provision
of this Act shall be the following:
( a ) the Company had, on the date specified in section 3 of
this Act, failed to observe and fulfil the terms and
conditions of the emphyteusis and such defaults
entitled the Government, as the direct owner, to
dissolve the emphyteusis;
( b ) it is in the national interest that the emphyteusis shall
be dissolved and that the emphyteutical land shall
revert to the Government not only without the delays
inherent in judicial proceedings but also with effect
from a date nearer to that of the default of the
Company;
( c ) there is no justification for the payment of
compensation by reason only that the emphyteusis is
dissolved  ope legis  and with effect retrospective to a
date subsequent to the default by the Company
entitling the direct owner to dissolve the emphyteusis;
( d ) there were circumstances which (independently of any
institutional, procedural or other circumstances of a
similar nature, including vacancies among the
directors of the Company) made it impossible for the
Company to honour its commitments under the
emphyteusis and which led to the default of the
Company; in particular, but without prejudice to the
generality of the foregoing, these included:
(i) the condition in the emphyteusis requiring either
that the Company should construct a breakwater
and deliver it to the Government or that the
duration of the emphyteusis be reduced from
ninety-nine to fifty years, and the following
consequent dilemma: the construction of the
breakwater could not be financed by the
Company except from proceeds to be derived
from the rest of the project; this inability of
constructing the breakwater at an early stage of
the project reduced the security the Company
could offer to a fifty year emphyteusis, and the
Company found it impossible to raise any
finance whatsoever;
(ii) the nature and extent of the development the
Company had committed itself to complete and
the expenditure (amounting to not less than three
million liri excluding the cost of the breakwater)
    MANOEL ISLAND (SPECIAL PROVISION)  gCAP. 259.         3
it had undertaken to incur: these were
commitments which the Company, long before
its defaults, did not have any real prospects of
honouring and which were made even more
impossible by the very considerable drop in
demand for the construction and purchase of
villas in Malta on which depended the success of
the Company’s project.
