Private Writings And Recent Court Judgements

Maltese civil law traditionally distinguishes between agreements or acts that need to be done

(a) by means of a public deed before a notary public (e.g. transfers of immovable property),

(b) by means of a 'private writing' ("skrittura privata"),

(c) by means of a simple document 'in writing' ("is-semplici kitba") and

(d) verbally.

Recent laws have introduced some novel concepts, but the latter are beyond the scope of this article. The subject of this article relates specifically to the 'private writing' (skrittura privata).

Some documents under Maltese law need to be expressed, on pain of nullity, in a public deed or a 'private writing', whilst in other cases it is sufficient if these documents are simply expressed 'in writing'. For example, whereas an agreement to transfer shares needs to be 'in writing', a 'konvenju' or a pledge over rights must be made