How to research
Malta case law.
A practical guide for in-house lawyers, compliance officers and law students: where to find Maltese judgments, how to cite them, and how to combine them with regulator practice to get to the real state of the law.
See EuroLexAI for MaltaFive steps to reliable Malta case-law research.
1. Start with the primary sources
Maltese judgments are published on the Ministry for Justice's Sentenzi portal (justiceservices.gov.mt/courtservices). Filter by court (Constitutional, Court of Appeal, First Hall Civil, Criminal, specialist tribunals), date range and judge. Every judgment carries a unique reference (e.g. 28/2023 LM) — treat that as its citation.
2. Read the judgment in context
A Maltese judgment cites the Laws of Malta by chapter and article, plus any applicable EU regulation. Cross-reference the referenced provisions on legislation.mt to confirm you are reading the version in force at the time of the facts, not the current text.
3. Trace prior and later citations
Maltese courts increasingly cite earlier judgments by name (e.g. 'Mr Green Limited vs Kugler'). Building a citation web — what cited it, what it cited — is how you find the true state of the law rather than an isolated ruling.
4. Search across regulator practice
Case law is one half of the picture. Pair it with MGA, MFSA and FIAU published decisions, administrative measures and enforcement notices to see how the courts and regulators interact.
5. Watch for cross-border enforceability
Many Maltese judgments — especially in iGaming — turn on Brussels I bis (Regulation (EU) 1215/2012), public policy defences and enforcement of foreign judgments. Read those judgments alongside the CJEU authorities they cite.
Where Maltese judgments actually live.
Sentenzi Online (justiceservices.gov.mt)
Official Maltese court judgments portal — free, searchable by court, date and reference.
Legislation.mt
Consolidated Laws of Malta and Legal Notices with historic versions.
MGA, MFSA and FIAU websites
Regulator decisions, guidance and administrative measures often cited alongside case law.
CURIA (curia.europa.eu)
CJEU and General Court judgments that bind Maltese courts on EU-law questions.
EuroLexAI
All of the above unified, cited and AI-searchable in one place — with alerts when a judgment cites a source you follow.
How do I research Malta case law?
Where can I search Maltese case law online for free?+
The Ministry for Justice publishes Maltese court judgments on the Sentenzi Online portal at justiceservices.gov.mt/courtservices. You can filter by court, judge, date range and reference number. The service is free and covers the Constitutional Court, Court of Appeal, First Hall of the Civil Court, Criminal Court and most specialist tribunals.
How is a Maltese judgment cited?+
The standard citation format is the case reference number and year followed by an abbreviation for the presiding judge, e.g. '28/2023 LM'. Practitioners usually add the parties' names and the date of judgment, for example 'De Giovanni vs Bank of Valletta p.l.c., Court of Appeal (Inferior) 28/2023 LM, 23 October 2024'.
Which Maltese courts publish binding case law?+
The Constitutional Court, the Court of Appeal (Superior and Inferior), the First Hall of the Civil Court and the Criminal Court are the principal sources. Specialist tribunals — Administrative Review Tribunal, Financial Services Tribunal, Industrial Tribunal, Data Protection Appeals Tribunal — produce persuasive decisions that regulators and lower courts follow.
How do I know whether a Maltese judgment is still good law?+
Check whether it has been appealed, reversed or distinguished in a later judgment. The Sentenzi portal lists appellate history for many cases, but the safest approach is to search for the case name in later judgments. EuroLexAI automates this by flagging when a followed judgment is cited, distinguished or overturned in a new decision.
Do Maltese courts follow EU case law?+
Yes. On matters of EU law — including Brussels I bis, GDPR, MiCA, DORA and consumer protection directives — Maltese courts must apply CJEU rulings. Recent Maltese judgments in gaming and data protection extensively cite CJEU authorities, so any research plan should include CURIA (curia.europa.eu) alongside domestic sources.
Can I use ChatGPT to research Malta case law?+
General-purpose chatbots frequently hallucinate Maltese citations because Sentenzi content is not well represented in their training data. Use a legal AI system that retrieves from actual Maltese primary sources with verifiable links — EuroLexAI is built for exactly this use case in Maltese regulated industries.
Where does regulator practice fit into case law research?+
MGA, MFSA and FIAU publish administrative measures, decisions and guidance that shape how the courts interpret the underlying statutes. In regulated industries, always combine case-law research with the relevant regulator's public decisions and enforcement history to get an accurate picture of the applicable standard.
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