ACT No. Xi of 1980 AN ACT /urther to amend the Code of Organisation and Civil Proce­ dure, Capo 15.

1 assent.

(L.s.)

ANTON BUTTIGIEG

President

18th March, 1980

ACT No. Xi of 1980

AN ACT /urther to amend the Code of Organisation and Civil Proce­

dure, Capo 15.

BE 11' ENACTED by the President, by and with the advice and

consent of the House of Representatives, in this present P3r1iament

assembled, a n d by the authority of the same, as follows:--

This Act may be cited as the Code of O r gan i sation and Civil

Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1980, and shall be read and cOIlstrued ::ts

one with the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure, hereinafter

referred to as "the principal law".

In section 183 of the p r i n c i p a l law, immediately after sub­

section (1) thereof, there sha11 be inserted the following new subsection

"(lA) The provisions of section 993 shall apply to all written

pleadings, and the Registrar shall refuse, with the approval of the

Court, to receive any written pleading which contains any insulting

or offensive expression Of any expression which is otherwise

objectionable, unless such expression is necessary for the purposes

for which the written pleading is by law intended or for the cause

in which it is used; and the Registrar shall also refuse to receive

any document which it is forbidden by section 993 to produce

without the permission of the Court unless such permission has

been granted

.".

In section 593 of the principal law, at the end of subsection

(l) thereof, there shall be inserted the following proviso to that sub­

section

"Provided that in the Inferior Courts, it shall be sufficient that

notes of the evidence of the witnesses be taken down in brief.".

Immediately after section 915 of the principal law there shall

be added the fol1owing new section

"915A. (l) The provisions of the last preceding section shall

not apply to the granting of legal aid to any person for bringing

an action for the correction or canceIlation of any registration, or

for the registration, of any act of birth, marriage or death.

(2) Where any such action is disallowed the Court

shall deprive of such benefit the person admitted to proceed with

the benefit of legal aid and unless it sees good cause to the contrary,

order him to pay all costs of the suit.".

For section 993 of the principal law there shall be substituted

the following

993. (1) It is forbidden to use in any written p1eading

or during the hearing of a cause any insulting or offensive

expressions

expression or any expression which is otherwise objectionable,

unless such expression is necessary for the purposes for which

the written pleading is by law intended or for the cause in

which it is used, or to produce without the previous permission

of the Court, any document which contains any such expres­

sion.

(2) Any person who acts in contravention of the

foregoing provisions of this section or who presents or pro­

duces or attemps to present or to produce any written plead­

ing or document which contains an expression forbidden by

this section, and any person who has signed any such written

pleading, shall be guiIty of contempt of Court and shall be

sentenced by the Court to re prim and or to a fine (ammenda

or multa) or to detention in terms of the Criminal Code

(Chapter 12).

(3) Where notwithstanding the provisions of sec­

tion 183 a written pleading has been filed or a document has

been produced which contains expressions forbidden by this

section, the Court shalI, on its own motion or on the demand

of the aggrieved party, order the whole of the written plead­

ing or of the document to be expunged from the Registry of

the Court or from the records of the proceedings, and the

written pleading or document shall for all purposes be deemed

never to have been filed or produced

(4) Where it can be shown to the Court that

the

contravention is slight and was not wilful and can

be remedied adequately by the striking out of the forbidden

expression, the Court may in lieu of applying the foregoing

provisions of this section order that the said expressions be

struck out.".

368 of the 11th March,

Passed by the House of Representative s at Sitting No.

1980. C. AGIUS

Speaker

C. MIFSUD

Clerk to the House of Representatives

Tppubblikat mid-Dipartime.nt ta' l-Informazzjoni

af

Il)formation

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the

Department

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Published

C.D.S.

Stamperija tal-Gvern

Stampat fl-U Ċ.S

Govemment PrilltilJlI P"ess

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the

Prillted at

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