Literary greats were invoked by Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano, who also thanked his cat, when making his last official speech before retiring yesterday.

Mr Justice Quintano, a magistrate for seven-and-a-half years and a judge since July 2010, said he was satisfied seeing the change in defendants who appeared before him but had turned over a new leaf.

In contrast with usual procedure, no invitations were issued. The large court room, where trials by jury are usually held, was mostly empty, prompting one judge to remark how sad it was to see so few turned up.

Only 17 of the 42 judges and magistrates attended, with three lawyers, including former justice minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, Ms Quintano, their daughter and his staff.

Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri, who was among those present, refused a request by this newspaper for a photographer to cover the event, saying no formal request had been made in advance.

Mr Justice Quintano said he felt three disciplines were needed to understand an accused person: literature, philosophy and psychology. In literature of a certain calibre, doors were opened on a litany of characters and their situations and through art one could evaluate and sympathise with them and think about a different way of life.

In terms of philosophy, the judge said that even after he had finished filling the boxes of the mathematical game Sudoku, he was still left asking the questions that had no definitive answers, such as what is justice and what is courage?

Speaking about the third discipline, Mr Justice Quintano said that some lawyers only understood the importance of psychology when they reached the middle of their careers. Fortunately, the study of psychology now formed part of the law course.

He thanked his wife, daughter and members of this family. Mr Justice Quintano referred to Simba, his cat, who, he noted, always calmed him down in moments of tension.

“She had the instinct to lie down flat on a case file whenever she thought it needed further study or because she wanted to lie there underneath an electric lamp to keep warm.”

He also thanked the officers within the police drug squad, with whom he had worked so serenely over the years.

Mr Justice Quintano concluded his speech with an excerpt from William Shakespearian’s Measure for Measure.