              ENTAILED PROPERTY (DISENTAILMENT)  [ CAP. 130.       1
CHAPTER 130
ENTAILED PROPERTY (DISENTAILMENT) ACT *
To provide for the disentailment of property held in tail.
(5th May, 1950) †
Enacted by ACT XII of 1950, as amended by Legal Notice 148 of 1975.
Short title.
(Disentailment) Act.
Interpretation.
"holder" means the person who on the material date is the lawful
holder in tail of things subject to a  fideicommissum ;
"material date" means the date of coming into force of this Act;
"movables", notwithstanding any other law to the contrary,
includes perpetual annuities in general and, without prejudice to
that generality, capitals for annuities  ad formam bullae  and credits
in respect of interest accruing from monies formerly invested in the
Massa   Frumentaria , and "immovables" shall be construed
accordingly;
"successor" means the person who, in accordance with the deed
of foundation of a  fideicommissum , would enter into the enjoyment
of the immovables subject to that  fideicommissum , with effect from
the decease of the holder thereof.
Revocation of 
fideicommissa.
3. As from the material date all  fideicommissa  of whatsoever
nature on movables and immovables, created at any time, whether
they be perpetual or temporary, shall be revoked and the property
theretofore affected thereby shall be held free from fetters by the
holder of such movables and immovables, subject, however, to
such burdens, hypothecs duly authorized and liabilities as affected
the fettered property:
  Provided that - 
Indivisible 
fideicommissa.
Cap.16.
( a ) in the case of the indivisible  fideicommissa  on
immovables, the immovables so disentailed shall vest
in ownership free from fetters in the holder thereof as
to one moiety only, subject to one moiety of the
burdens, hypothecs duly authorized and liabilities
which affected those immovables on the material date,
while the remaining moiety of the immovables so
disentailed and subject to the remaining moiety of the
aforesaid burdens, hypothecs and liabilities, shall vest
free from fetters in the successor (whether or not on
the material date the successor be alive) in respect of
the ownership subject to the enjoyment thereof for life
of the holder. Sub-title 1 of Title III of Part I of Book
Second of the Civil Code shall apply to the enjoyments
* See  also the Disentailment of Property (Extension to fiefs) Act (Chapter 212).
† See  Government Notice No.234 of 9th May, 1950.
  2        CAP. 130. ]         ENTAILED PROPERTY (DISENTAILMENT)  
for life thus established but sections 331, 350, 351,
sections from 354 to 362 both inclusive and subsection
(3) of section 352 thereof shall not be applicable.
Subsections (1) and (2) of section 352 the said Civil
Code shall not apply to the said life enjoyment while
owned by the holder but shall apply in respect of an
assignee of that life enjoyment under section 340 of
the said Civil Code;
Hypothecs on 
fettered property.
( b ) where property subject to any  fideicommissum  was,
while so subject, burdened by a hypothec on authority
granted by a competent court, any such hypothec shall
rank in relation to property freed from fetters in virtue
of this Act with priority over all other hypothecs;
Appointment of 
successors in 
fideicommissa .
( c ) in the case of indivisible  fideicommissa  on
immovables under which the holder is endowed with
the right appointing a successor, the holder thereof
shall be entitled to exercise that right of appointment
in respect of the successor in that moiety of the
property of which, in virtue of this Act, the bare
ownership vests in the successor.
Partition of estates 
in tail. 
Amended by: 
L.N.148 of 1975.
4. In any partition of immovable property subject to a
fideicommissum  on the material date and in any act or deed
concerning immovable property the successor shall be represented
by a curator appointed for that purpose by the Second Hall of the
Civil Court or by any competent court. The application praying for
the appointment of a curator shall be specially notified to the
presumptive successor, if known and if in Malta at the time the
application is filed:
  Provided that the successor to the property subject to a
fideicomissum  if known and in Malta shall always be a party to the
proceedings.
Directions given 
on disentailment. 
5. Any direction in the interest of persons called to succeed
under a  fideicommissum  given by any court on granting a
disentailment shall be deemed to be spent as from the material date:
  Provided that any such direction if and in so far as referable to
immovable property subject to an indivisible  fideicommissum  or
investment of monies in such immovables shall remain in force in
respect of the moiety of the immovables subject thereto of which in
accordance with the provisions of this Act the bare ownership
passes in terms of the deed of foundation until that passage takes
place.
Contracts 
concerning 
divisible 
fideicommissa .
6. No contract or other act  inter vivos  made or effected before
the material date may be annulled or varied by reason that it had for
its object things subject to a divisible  fideicommissum .
Prescription. 7. (1) Any extension of the period otherwise necessary for
the completion of prescription, ordained by any law in respect
particularly of things subject to  fideicommissum , is hereby declared
to be no longer applicable.
(2) The period requisite for the completion of any prescription
              ENTAILED PROPERTY (DISENTAILMENT)  [ CAP. 130.       3
which has commenced to run previously to the material date, shall
be either that specified by the law obtaining previously to the
material date or that applicable with effect from the material date in
accordance with subsection (1) of this section, whichever
application of law will lead to the earlier completion of the
prescription.
Right of 
administration and 
jus patronatus.
8. This Act shall not apply to rights of advowson or to any
form of  jus patronatus  in ecclesiastical benefices, or to rights,
temporary or perpetual, created either by a deed  inter vivos  or by a
testament, whereby one or more persons are appointed to exercise
or to enjoy those rights successively, and the laws now in force
concerning any such rights are maintained in respect of them.
Maintenance in 
force of section 
761 of the Civil 
Code. 
Cap. 16.
* 9. Nothing in this Act shall affect the provisions contained in
subsection (2) of section 761 of the Civil Code.
Transitory 
provisions.
10. All orders and decrees authorizing the sale of entailed
property pending on the material date shall lapse, and the property
becomes free on such date and this without prejudice to section 5 of
this Act.
*This section has been re-numbered in consequence of the omission of the original
section 9. That section provided for an exemption from the Succession and Donation
Duties Ordinance which was repealed by the Death and Donation Duty Act (Chapter
239). The latter law made different provision and the matter was regulated by the
proviso to paragraph ( b ) of subsection (4) of section 13 of that Chapter. That chapter
was repealed by the Duty on Documents and Transfers Act (Chapter 364).
