In this article Judge Anthony Borg Barthet, publishes the full text of
the opinion given by him to the State Advocate in the question of
whether the State Advocate can institute or withdraw judicial action
on behalf of the state without being tasked to do so by the organ of
the executive to which responsibility for the matter has been assigned
by or under the constitution. The conclusions in the opinion have
largely been adopted by the Civil Court First Hall and the Court of
Appeal in their respective judgments in the case “Onor. Kap tal-
Oppożizzjoni u Kap tal-Partit Nazzjonalista Avukat Dr. Bernard Grech
et vs Avukat tal-Istat” in 2024.
Judge Anthony Borg Barthet, ‘Opinion by Judge A. Borg Barthet on the Powers of the State Advocate’ (Online Law Journal, 17 May 2025).
On the 15th November 2023, I gave my legal opinion to the State Advocate on whether, he as State Advocate was entitled to take judicial action motu propio against third parties to recover money that they have allegedly appropriated to the detriment of the State.
A copy of that opinion was exhibited in Court by the State Advocate Dr. Christopher Soler during his testimony on the 13th March 2024 in the case instituted by the Hon. Dr. Bernard Grech and the Hon. Dr. Adrian Delia against the State Advocate1 and is now in the public domain.
Reference has been made to that opinion in the judgments of the Civil Court2 and the Court of Appeal3. The matter discussed in the opinion has also been the subject of various contributions both in the academic press4 and in popular media.
The full text of the opinion, is not however easily available in either the printed or online media, and it would be useful for future engagement with the subject matter for the primary source to be readily accessible to students and scholars of law.
The following is the full text of my opinion:
References: [1] 1398/23 Onor Kap tal-Oppożizzjoni u Kap tal-Partit Nazzjonalista l-avukat Dottor Bernard Grech et vs Avukat tal-Istat et Civil Court First Hall 11 July 2024, Court of Appeal 2 December 2024. [2] 11th July 2024. [3] 2nd December 2024. [4] Particularly Tonio Borg, ‘The Office of the State Advocate and the Bernard Grech Case’ (Online Law Journal, 8 Feburary 2025) < https://www.ghsl.org/lawjournal/the-office-of-state-advocate-and-the-bernard-grech-case/ > accessed 21 March 2025.
