Cap. 48 Art. 5Power to make provisional orders of maintenance against persons residentinEngland orNorthernIreland or in other parts of Her Majesty’s Dominions.

(1) Where an application is made to a superior court in

Malta for a maintenance order against any person, and it is proved that that person is resident in England or Northern Ireland or in any other part of Her Majesty’s Dominions outside Malta to which this

Ordinance extends, the court may, in the absence of that person, if after hearing the evidence it is satisfied of the justice of the application, make any such order as it might have made if a sworn application had been duly served on that person and he had failed to appear at the hearing, but in such case the order shall be provisional only, and shall have no effect unless and until confirmed by a competent court in England or Northern Ireland or in such other part of Her Majesty’s Dominions as aforesaid.

(2) The evidence of any witness who is examined on any such application shall be put into writing, and such deposition shall be read over to and signed by him, or, if he cannot sign, by the Registrar of the Court.

(3) Where such an order is made, the court shall send to the President of Malta for transmission to the Secretary of State or to the Governor of such other part of Her Majesty’s Dominions, as the case may be, the depositions so taken and a certified copy of the order, together with a statement of the grounds on which the making of the order might have been opposed if the person against whom the order is made had been duly served with a sworn application and had appeared at the hearing, and such other information as the court possesses for facilitating the identification of that person, and ascertaining his whereabouts.

(4) Where any such provisional order has come before a court in England or Northern Ireland or in any other part of Her Majesty’s Dominions to which this Ordinance extends for to like conditions as the evidence in support of the original application. If, upon the hearing of such evidence, it appears to the court that the order ought not to have been made, the court may rescind the order, but in any other case the depositions shall be sent to the President of Malta and dealt with in like manner as the original depositions.

(5) The confirmation of an order made under this article shall not affect the power of the court to vary or rescind that order: Provided that on the making of a varying or rescinding order the court shall send a certified copy thereof to the President of Malta for transmission to the Secretary of State or to the Governor of such other part of Her Majesty’s Dominions, as the case may be, and that, in the case of an order varying the original order, the order shall not have any effect unless and until confirmed in like manner as the original order.

(6) The applicant may appeal against a refusal to make a provisional order by an application filed in the Court of Appeal within ten days from such refusal and the provisions of this Ordinance shall apply to that court for the purposes of such appeal.