Maltese legal language is historically bound to Italian usage. And even if in 1934 Maltese took the place of Italian in the Courts, there was no way that could alter this allegiance to the origins of this particular jargon that is practically alien to what is spoken by the man in the street. Words and expressions are either imported from Italian or created on an Italianate pattern. In the process, certain words have developed meanings that are not necessarily common to their Italian origin.peer-reviewe
