Law Blog

04. 03
2026

Is Annex 2 of DC15 illegal?

At first sight, those who argue that Annex 2 of DC15 is legally problematic cannot simply be dismissed as irrational. Their reasoning is easy to understand. If a Local Plan states that development is limited to a specific number of floors — for example four floors— it seems natural to assume that the planning framework […]
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02. 03
2026

“Neutrality” in Malta Constitution if Orban is gone

Malta’s constitutional neutrality has long been treated as a settled domestic compromise. Yet, as the European Union recalibrates its external posture in response to shifting geopolitical pressures, that compromise is no longer insulated from supranational dynamics. The interaction between unanimity in the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the possible reconfiguration of political alignments within the […]
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24. 02
2026

Wednesbury unreasonableness in planning & environmental law

Wednesbury unreasonableness takes its name from Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corporation [1948] 1 KB 223, a case arising from an everyday form of local regulatory power in the UK: the grant of a cinema licence subject to conditions. The local authority permitted a cinema to open on Sundays but attached a condition […]
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21. 02
2026

Evidential Onus in Maltese Planning Law

The question whether “evidential onus” to justify a development proposal is placed upon an applicant in planning law cannot be answered without first clarifying what is meant by onus in a doctrinal sense. In classical common law theory, as developed in classical administrative and evidentiary jurisprudence, a distinction is drawn between the legal burden of […]
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18. 02
2026

Forced Sales in Co-Ownership: Article 495A Cases Gone Wrong

Co-ownership disputes often become difficult not because the law is unclear, but because parties treat a statutory route as if it were a broad discretion. Article 495A of the Civil Code (Chapter 16 of the Laws of Malta) is not an equitable shortcut. It is a tightly framed mechanism: it contains a jurisdictional gateway, it […]
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09. 02
2026

Halland Judgment: A recast approach to Conflicting Planning Policies

The Halland case is best read as a Court-led re-statement of what the Planning Authority and the Tribunal may lawfully do when a Local Plan contains two site-relevant provisions that cannot sit comfortably together. The site lay within the North Harbours Local Plan area and was tied to two competing map-driven signals: the zoning treatment […]
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