How to find Maltese court judgments: a practical guide
Maltese court judgments (often spelt judgements) are published free of charge on eCourts, the Courts of Malta's online service, where anyone can search and download them. If you already know the case, eCourts will find it in a minute. If you are looking for case law on a point and don't know which cases exist, you need a different approach, and that is where most of the time in legal research goes.
This guide covers both: where judgments are published, how to find a specific case, and how to find the cases you don't yet know about.
Where are Maltese judgments published?
Judgments of the Maltese and Gozo courts are published on eCourts, under "Judgements". Access is free and needs no login, for lawyers and the public alike. A login with e-ID is only needed for other eCourts services, such as case files, acts and warrants.
Some tribunals publish their decisions on their own websites instead. The Courts' Online Decisions page links to four of them: the Financial Services Tribunal, the Industrial Tribunal, the Malta Arbitration Centre (arbitral awards) and the Consumer Claims Tribunal.
How do I find a judgment when I know the case?
Open the "Judgements" search on eCourts and enter whatever details you have. You don't need all of them; one is enough. The case number is the most reliable, followed by the names of the parties and the court. Press Search, then Details next to the case, and use the arrow beside it to download the judgment.
Two habits save time. Search with fewer details rather than more, because one small mismatch in a party's name can hide the case. And when you find a first-instance judgment, search the same case number again to see whether it went to appeal.
How do I find case law on a point when I don't know the case?
This is the harder search. eCourts lets you narrow by date (the past 15 days, the past 12 months, between two dates, or any day) and by keyword, but the keyword search works on exact words. That leaves you guessing which words the judge used, in which language, and most Maltese judgments are written in Maltese.
If you search eCourts this way, three things help:
- Search the legal term, in Maltese and in English. Courts use the technical label consistently, so the term of art finds more than a description of the facts.
- Start recent and appellate. A recent Court of Appeal judgment usually summarises the earlier case law on the point, and its citations lead you to the rest.
- Keep a list as you go. Note each case number and what it decided, so you don't read the same judgment twice.
How ligi.ai searches
ligi.ai was built for the second kind of search. Its Research Assistant searches over 137,000 Maltese court judgments. You can ask a question the way you would ask a colleague, in English or Maltese, and it turns your question into the legal terms the judgments use before it searches.
It works like this. You type your question, and ligi suggests a sharper version with the key legal terms, which you can accept or ignore. You can narrow the results by date, judiciary and court. The answer is a list of judgments, not an essay: each one links straight to its page on eCourts, with a summary beside it, so you can check every result against the source. Follow-up questions continue the same search, and you can save judgments to your own library with tags.
The tip from the eCourts section still applies: keep the legal term in your question and add the facts that matter. "Appalt, defects in the works found after delivery" will do better than a description of the facts alone.
Research Assistant is free to start, with two questions a month. ligi.ai covers case law, not legislation.
eCourts or ligi.ai: which to use when
| You want to | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Download a judgment you know | eCourts | The official source, free, by case number or parties |
| Check whether a case went to appeal | eCourts | Search the same case number |
| Find case law on a point | ligi.ai | Turns your question into legal terms and searches in English or Maltese |
| Find judgments that use different wording | ligi.ai | Doesn't depend on guessing the judge's words |
| Cite a judgment | eCourts | Every ligi.ai result links to the eCourts page |
Before you rely on a judgment
Whatever tool you use, read the judgment itself, not a summary. Check whether it was appealed and what the appeal court decided. Look for later judgments on the same point, because a line of case law can shift. And keep the eCourts link with your note, so anyone checking your work can open the source.
Common questions
Are Maltese judgments free to access? Yes. eCourts publishes them free of charge, and no login is needed to search or download.
Are Maltese judgments in English? Most are in Maltese. Some are in English, depending on the language of the proceedings.
Can I search Maltese case law in English? On eCourts, the keywords must match the words in the judgment. ligi.ai lets you ask in English or Maltese and finds judgments in either language.
Does ligi.ai include Maltese legislation? No. ligi.ai covers court judgments only.