Sir Anthony's shining public legacy

Sir Anthony Mamo has passed on but he has left us a public legacy which we would do well to ponder.

Sir Anthony had the unique position of being the first and last Maltese Governor General from 1971 to 1974 (Mintoff`s years); the first President from 1974 to 1976 (Mintoff's years); the only President hitherto not connected with the circles of the inner circles of our two main political parties; a President of the Court of Appeal and Chief Justice, who during his tenure of both offices and afterwards till his death kept humbly aloof from all public comment and unnecessary social intermingling; a knighted gentleman who, once out of public life, stayed determinedly out of it, freezing his most honourable and exemplary lifestyle in a historical, memorable niche.

Sir Anthony never attempted to establish some form of dynasty for his immediate family, neither by way of his children, his extended family and relatives.

For 12 years he resided in a home for the elderly - more democratic a republic this cannot be. His dedication to his law students, particularly in Criminal Law, is well recorded.

Though I did not have the privilege of having him as a lecturer, obviously studying and consulting his enshrined and entrenched Criminal Law Notes was inevitable as occurs with all criminal law students.

Sir Anthony should serve as a constant beacon as to what a lecturer should be like: knowing his subject-matter; keeping oneself abreast of one's specialisation; attending lectures on time out of respect for students and as a reminder that without discipline one will never get along; being well-prepared and ready to reply to questions; and contributing to future generations your knowledgeable grasp of your subject-matter. Sir Anthony was a well-versed and much-respected lecturer.

He played a key role in Malta's infrastructural evolution, by way of his studious in-depth evaluation of the law, the latter's crucial role in a society's development, his reserved behaviour as an adjudicator of fellow man's misbehaviour, his profound judgments, his mastery of Malta's position in its constitutional growth from a colony to self-government to constitutional monarchy to a republic: in all these roles, Sir Anthony shined without obscuring anyone, by and large staying mostly in the shadows rather than in the sunshine of important events he so much contributed to help materialise.