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Michael Refalo: The Maltese Nineteenth-Century Notary and his Archives. BDL, 2014, 128 pp.

I have no idea why, but I find that the vast majority of Gozitans I met during my life possess a subtle congeniality, a characteristic which I like a lot and the Italians refer to simply as simpatia.

The interesting thing is that when I read Michael Refalo’s The Maltese Nineteenth-Century Notary and his Archives, the text imparted that sense of almost imperceptible simpatia.

You might think that a book with such a title will bore you to tears. Possibly, in the hands of some other author it might have.

But the Gozitan feature I’m talking about and the author’s lyncean eye for historical detail conspire to make this an excellent read.

There’s no doubt that the history in this monograph is good. The author admits that his passion for history has been a lifelong affair. You can glean this from every page.

To be sure, I would not always share his interpretative approach to the general history of the notariat.

But that is hardly the point. The point is that Refalo’s research is good and his interpretation of the local scene engaging.

Refalo’s research is good and his interpretation of the local scene engaging

The book concentrates on the 19th century which was, serendipitously and conveniently for the historian of the notariat, cut into two almost equal halves by Ordinance V of 1855.

The author, however, chose to devote only one (quite short) chapter to the pre-ordinance period, which was still regulated by the Municipal Code of 1784.

Refalo limits his description to the few attempts made by the new colonial administration to tackle some of the problems caused by the implementation of the code’s provisions.

The real fun begins with the author’s treatment of Ordinance V of 1855 and its aftermath. This takes up the bulk of the book.

At this point, I should declare my interest: I have held a notarial warrant for the past 17 years, and still do. But the fun is not just for notaries.

So, where’s the fun? The answer is counter-intuitive. The notarial profession of our times is still regulated by a 1927 law, which has been amended over the years. One might, therefore, be misled into thinking that a book about the 1855 ordinance has very little practical usefulness today.

This is absolutely not the case, and herein probably lies Refalo’s greatest contribution to Maltese culture and historiography. He manages to portray the very same problems which afflicted the profession under the 1784 Municipal Code, the 1855 ordinance and the 1927 law... the thread is to be seen throughout the web of the Maltese notarial profession.

From a notary’s point-of-view, the book brims with in-jokes. Not the laugh-out-loud type, but fatalistic jokes, which elicit laughter because laughter is the only serious remedy.

For the layman, it serves as a tourist guide to this little-known world, where age-old problems seem intractable.

For the politicians, it depends: if they are the laid-back type, they will find solace in its pages; if they are the gritty type, they will renew their resolve to untie the Gordian knot.

The moral ownership of deeds; the Court of Revision; the number of notaries; undercutting; the impartiality and independence of the notary; the notary’s status vis-à-vis the state... these themes colour the pages of this monograph. The author’s 30 years of professional experience enabled him to choose the right tonality.

As one might expect, a chapter is dedicated to Gozitan notaries. Another one narrates the (mis)adventures of two English notaries, father and son, whose power to exercise the profession in Malta was granted by the Board of Faculties and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

A brief note about this board would have helped. The Board, or Court, of Faculties, or Faculty Office, was created in 1533 to grant “all maner licences, dispensacions, faculties, composicions, delegacies, rescriptes, instrumentes or wrytynges have byn accustomed to be had at the see of Rome”.

But the lack of explanation does not really detract from the overall enjoyment of reading about the exploits of these two gentlemen.

All in all, a book which deserves to be recommended.