ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS (CONSTITUTION AND JURISDICTION)   ġ CAP. 1.       1
CHAPTER 1 
ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS 
(CONSTITUTION AND JURISDICTION) LAW *
A law regulating the constitution and the jurisdiction of the
ecclesiastical courts and subjecting all classes of citizens, in temporal
matters, to the jurisdiction of the lay tribunals.
(10th April, 1828) †
Enacted by PROCLAMATION No. V. of 1828, as amended by Legal
Notice 46 of 1965; Acts: XXXI of 1966, LVIII of 1974 and XXIV of 1975;
Legal Notice 148 of 1975; and Acts I and XXIV of 1995.
Short title.
(Constitution and Jurisdiction) Law.
Jurisdiction of 
ecclesiastical 
courts and judges. 
Substituted by: 
I.1995.16.
2. Ecclesiastical courts and judges established or appointed, or
that may be established or appointed in Malta, to decide cases
regarding the laws of the Roman Catholic Church shall have no
jurisdiction and shall not make, or attempt to make any judicial act
having civil, other than purely spiritual, effect except as may be
provided by law.
Documents of 
Ecclesiastical 
Courts. 
Amended by: 
L.N. 46 of 1965; 
XXXI.1966.2; 
LVIII.1974.68. 
Substituted by: 
I.1995.16. 
Cap. 12.
3. Documents and Acts of Ecclesiastical Courts where the
same may, as provided in section 2 of this law, have civil effect are
admissible as proof in the same manner as provided in section 627
of the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure, provided that the
same are authenticated as provided from time to time by the
ecclesiastical law regulating such courts. Personal immunity
abolished.
Amended by: 
XXXI. l966.2; 
XXIV. 1975.2; 
I.1995.16; 
XXIV.1995.360 .
4. From and after the date of this Proclamation, no person
living or residing in Malta shall be exempt, by reason of his or her
rank, station, or profession, whether civil or ecclesiastical, military
or naval, or by or on account of any other privilege whatsoever,
from suing or being sued in the lay courts, in respect of any
temporal right, or from prosecuting or being prosecuted in the lay
courts, in respect of any temporal offence, or from being in all
other respects whatsoever subject to the jurisdiction of the said
courts: provided that such suit, prosecution, or other proceeding be
instituted before a lay court, judge or magistrate, competent in the
subject-matter of such suit, prosecution or proceeding.
* See  the Bishop of Gozo (Extension of Privileges) Ordinance (Chapter 15). 
† See  Government Gazette No. 896 of the 16th April, 1828.
