Constitutionalism has been a characteristic of the political development of Malta over the last two centuries, thus sparing the country drastic, fratricidal upheavals. It is true that we have had a number of violent incidents along the way, sometimes involving loss of life like the Sette Giunio episode, but nothing resembling a protracted rebellion or a civil war.

In fact one of the main parties at a time of significant political development between 1921 and 1933 was called the Constitutional Party and when the wind of change began to blow throughout the British Empire we did not resort to armed rebellion as in some British colonies but sought to achieve our self-determination by patient negotiation.

So it is we hold our Constitution very dearly and are constantly debating in our minds whether it is still serving our political needs adequately or perhaps the time has come for a touch-up or a major revision.

The recent seminar held by the President is evidence of this concern.

An article by Judge Giovanni Bonello entitled “Bad law? Worse remedy” (ToM, 2 May), throws light on a recurring anomaly where a Constitutional Court rules that a law is “anti-constitutional” and bids the government to remove it from the Statute Book, which advice is not acted on by the legislature.

What if anything should be done about this state of affairs?

The advice received is equivocal. On the one hand the supremacy of the Constitution is vehemently affirmed and on the other the Constitutional Court is taken to task for colluding with Parliament to ‘abort’ this supremacy.

Which reminds me of one of Omar Khayyam’s poems:

“Myself when young did eagerly frequent

“Doctor and saint, and heard great argument

“About it and about, but evermore

“Came out by the same door as in I went.”

It is evident we are not sure what changes, if any, our Constitution needs, and much more discussion is called for to clear our minds before we tamper with it.

Joseph A. Muscat

TA’ XBIEX