Cap. 242 Art. 2Interpretation.

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -

"affiliation order" means an order (however described) adjudging, finding or declaring a person to be the father of a child, whether or not it also provides for the maintenance of the child; "certificate of arrears", in relation to a maintenance order, means a certificate certifying that the sum specified in the certificate is to the best of the information or belief of the officer giving the certificate the amount of the arrears due under the order at the date of the certificate or, as the case may be, that to the best of his information or belief there are no arrears due thereunder at that date;

"certified copy", in relation to an order of a court, means a copy of the order certified by the registrar or other proper officer of the court to be a true copy; "competent Maltese court" means the Civil Court, First Hall;

"court" includes any tribunal or person having power to make, confirm, enforce, vary or revoke a maintenance order;

"creditor", in relation to a maintenance order, means the person entitled to the payments for which the order provides;

"debtor", in relation to a maintenance order, means the person liable to make payments under the order;

*See Government Notice No. 216 of 26th March, 1974. †See Legal Notice 48 of 1975. ‡See Legal Notice 153 of 1977. §See Legal Notice 44 of 1978. for the periodical payment of sums of money towards the maintenance of any person, being a person whom the person liable to make payments under the order is, according to the law applied in the place where the order was made, liable to maintain; and

(b) an affiliation order or order consequent upon an affiliation order, being an order which provides for the payment by a person adjudged, found or declared to be a child’s father of expenses incidental to the child’s birth or, where the child has died, of his funeral expenses, and, in the case of a maintenance order which has been varied, means that order as varied; "Malta" has the same meaning as is assigned to it by article 124 of the Constitution of Malta; "Minister" means the Minister responsible for justice; "order" includes any decree or other decision, including an interlocutory decree; "Ordinance" means the Maintenance Orders (Facilities for Enforcement) Ordinance; "provisional order" means (according to the context) -

(a) an order made by a court in Malta which is provisional only and has no effect unless and until confirmed, with or without alteration, by a competent court in a reciprocating country; or

(b) an order made by a court in a reciprocating country which is provisional only and has no effect unless and until confirmed, with or without alteration, by the competent Maltese court; "reciprocating country" has the meaning assigned to it by article 3; "registered order" means a maintenance order which is for the time being registered, or deemed to be registered, in the competent Maltese court under this Act;

"Registrar" means the Registrar of Courts of Malta; "the responsible authority", in relation to a reciprocating country means any person who in that country has functions similar to those of the Minister under this Act;

(2) For the purposes of this Act an order shall be taken to be a maintenance order so far (but only so far) as it relates to periodical payment of sums of money as mentioned in paragraph (a) of the definition of "maintenance order" in subarticle (1) or to the person adjudged, found or declared to be a child’s father of any such RECIPROCAL ENFORCEMENT OF MAINTENANCE ORDERS MADE IN MALTA OR RECIPROCATING COUNTRY 3.* (1) The President of Malta, if satisfied that, in the event of the benefits conferred by this Act being applied to, or to particular classes of, maintenance orders made by the courts of any country or territory outside Malta, similar benefits will in that country or territory be applied to, or to those classes of, maintenance orders made by the courts of Malta, may by Order designate that country or territory as a reciprocating country for the purposes of this Act; and, subject to subarticle (2), in this Act "reciprocating country" means a country or territory that is for the time being so designated.

(2) A country or territory may be designated under subarticle

(1) as a reciprocating country either as regards maintenance orders generally, or as regards maintenance orders other than those of any specified class, or as regards maintenance orders of one or more specified classes only; and a country or territory which is for the time being so designated otherwise than as regards maintenance orders generally shall, for the purposes of this Act, be taken to be a reciprocating country only as regards maintenance orders of the class to which the designation extends.

ORDERS MADE BY COURTS IN MALTA