Man challenges paternity law provisions

A man yesterday filed a constitutional application in the First Hall of the Civil Court claiming that the law governing disavowal of paternity was in violation of his fundamental human rights.

The man filed his application against the director of Public Registry and the Attorney General.

He claimed he was married and his wife had given birth to two children (twins), neither of who was his natural child. However, in terms of law, the two children were registered as his children by the director of Public Registry.

The man claimed he could not institute legal proceedings to have the children declared as not being his natural offspring because the time limit of six months, as established by law, had lapsed in his case.

His mother had, as an interested party, filed judicial proceedings on this issue, but her case was dismissed.

In the course of the litigation, the court-appointed scientific expert had concluded, after examining the DNA of the individuals involved, that there was no doubt that the two children were not the man's natural children.

However, the man said he could not prove that in the period between 300 days and 180 days from the birth of the children he had been in the physical impossibility of living with his wife, and this because they both resided in Malta. In the meantime, the man was bound by court order to maintain two children who were not his own.

He claimed that the fact that Maltese law did not provide with a remedy to enable him to obtain a judicial declaration that the two minor children were not his was in violation of his fundamental human rights.

This had been recently confirmed by a judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the names Mizzi vs Malta, in which the court had ruled that the current state of Maltese law on this issue was in violation of fundamental human rights.

The man therefore asked the court to declare that the fact that the law did not provide him with a remedy was in violation of his rights and to provide him with a remedy.

Lawyers José Herrera and David Camilleri signed the application.