Law Blog

10. 11
2025

In planning law, the path matters

There is value in an appellate court that reaches the right destination under pressure; but in adjudication the route is not a detail. When, say, a court limits an appeal to a preliminary point, that boundary becomes part of the case’s legal architecture. It shapes what the parties prepare, what they argue, and what they […]
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04. 11
2025

Interpreting planning policies

Interpreting Maltese planning policy is not a contest of slogans. It begins with the words the instrument actually uses while refusing to read them in isolation; the ordinary meaning is the starting point, but never the finishing line, because text must be read in its immediate setting of definitions, provisos, annexes and schedules – interpretation […]
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01. 11
2025

The no liability rule in permit revocations

Article 80 of the Development Planning Act empowers the Planning Authority to revoke or modify a development permission where specific grounds exist and after a basic procedure: the Executive Chairperson prepares recommendations; the Planning Board hears the parties; and a decision follows. The statute narrows the revocation gateway by definition and materiality. A permit may […]
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29. 10
2025

Civil Courts do not decide planning applications

The recent Court of Appeal judgment in Godwin Gatt u Amanda Gatt v Awtorità tal-Ippjanar (App. Ċiv. 946/2021/1, 20 October 2025) re-affirms the rule-of-law settlement that separates administration, merits tribunals, and courts. The Court states the allocation crisply: “M’hemm l-ebda dubju li deċiżjonijiet dwar ippjanar huma fdati f’idejn l-Awtorità tal-Ippjanar bid-dritt ta’ appell quddiem it-Tribunal… […]
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