It was 1962 and contraceptives were considered obscene and their importation could be stopped by the postal authorities.

The law was typical of a conservative Maltese society where public morality was often conditioned by the precepts of the Catholic Church.

But a legal anomaly prevented Customs from prohibiting the large-scale importation of contraceptives. In dealing with the prohibition of indecent or obscene material, the Customs Ordinance listed different forms of printed matter and “other article”.

The words “other article” were not deemed wide enough to refer to contraceptives and so Customs officers were powerless to stop their importation, unlike the postal authorities that fell under a different law.

It was this anomaly that made it to Cabinet in November 1962 with then industry and tourism minister Giovanni Felice arguing that the law should be changed to empower Customs to withhold the release of contraceptives.

The memorandum presented nine months after the Nationalist Party was elected to government, also quoted a 1947 ruling by the Attorney General that said books “divulging the means or explaining the ways of contraception” were indecent. Contraceptives themselves were also considered indecent and obscene.

A draft legal notice attached to the memorandum submitted to Cabinet proposed changing the reference to other articles to read “other article or thing whatsoever”.

The memorandum is part of the Cabinet papers released for research purposes and which are available at the National Archives.