I refer to the article ‘Court marshal kept dad from talking to daughter’ (The Sunday Times of Malta, January 15, 2017).

Court marshals and other court executive officers are reliable and responsible people who carry out their duties impartially and with no interest in ‘colluding’ with one side or the other.

The case mentioned in the article concerned an individual who lives in an apartment on the second floor of a block of flats. The officer rang the apartment’s bell situated at the main entrance door on the ground-floor level but no one answered.

The court officer had no control on whether the individual concerned did not answer the bell or not or whether the individual was at home at the time.  Furthermore, the father himself admitted with the court officer that most times the bell is either off or not working. The court officer could have registered a negative service on the court file but instead he tried on two other occasions to serve the wife with the decree.

After this episode, the wife was served with another judicial act only after the marshal managed to gain entry to the block of apartments when the main door was opened by another tenant of the same block.

It is pertinent to point out that services of judicial acts are carried out on the party concerned unless otherwise instructed by the court.

Such service is carried out irrespective of whether or not the individual’s lawyer is available or not to file a reply.