Malta lost one of its sharpest legal minds and a pioneer of the national heritage and environmental movement as former judge Maurice Caruana Curran passed away yesterday.

He died early yesterday morning aged 96. His daughter, Simone Mizzi, president of Din l-Art Ħelwa, the heritage watchdog he had founded in 1965, described it as “the passing of an era”.

“He was my university and he was my Google,” she said. “He still lives – he will live in the hearts and minds of all of us...he gave us so much.”

Born in Valletta on June 11, 1918, Dr Caruana Curran graduated in law in 1943 from the Royal University of Malta. He was offered a Rhodes scholarship at Oxford University, which he reluctantly turned down to assist his family and his beloved Valletta to recover from the ravages of wartime.

Between 1944 and 1946, he was a leading member of the second Malta National Assembly that made proposals for the restoration of responsible government in Malta. He then joined the Attorney General’s Office and was appointed Deputy Attorney General.

Raymond Mangion, head of the University’s Legal History and Methodology Department, said Dr Caruana Curran “left an indelible mark as a legal luminary”.

Even Ombudsman Joseph Said Pullicino, a former Chief Justice, had high words of praise for his “long” and “versatile” career, saying he was one of Malta’s most distinguished lawyers specialising in criminal law. Dr Caruana Curran was a “gentleman, an upright judge and a legal luminary”, he said.

He commanded attention in the courtroom through his “incisive examinations of witnesses, deep insight into human nature and profound knowledge of criminal law”. Few could match his analytical powers and the clarity of his oratory, Dr Said Pullicino said.

He was my university and he was my Google

In 1963, aged 45, he was appointed one of Her Majesty’s judges and, from 1974, he served as senior judge and Acting Chief Justice on many occasions. He retired from the Bench in 1983.

Saying his “humility was as great as his wisdom”, Prof. Mangion said Dr Caruana Curran delivered a number of landmark judgments in criminal, civil and administrative law and “came to be considered as an icon by the Maltese legal community”.

He occupied pride of place as the person who pioneered the law of judicial review of the administration in Maltese law. Dr Caruana Curran had also formulated a solid mechanism for the quantification of damages in tort cases under civil law.

He was known for his independent mind and his “forthright defence of human rights” and was described by President Emeritus Ugo Mifsud Bonnici as “islands’ bastion of liberty,” Prof. Mangion said.

His legal brain was also praised by Chief Justice Emeritus John Cremona who knew him from their student days “when we used to study (with long conversational breaks)”. Eventually, he was also on the Bench when Prof. Cremona was Chief Justice. “He had a very pleasant personality socially and as a judge he always had a fine grasp of the legal points raised.”

Dr Caruana Curran delivered a number of landmark judgments that were still a point of reference to lawyers. Dr Said Pullicino said. “They will remain an integral part of Maltese jurisprudence, notable not only for their deep legal knowledge, but also for their novelty and originality.”

As a judge he would surely be remembered as a “great defender of fundamental rights and freedoms in very difficult times”. Dr Caruana Curran was a great believer in the independence of the judiciary and his actions matched his beliefs, Dr Said Pullicino said.

It was with “great sadness but with pride the day when Dr Caruana Curran and equally courageous colleague, Judge Victor Sammut, sitting on the Constitutional Court, were removed from that court an detailed to sit on the Family Court. On that occasion, those two judges stood up to be counted – they had served their country well,” Dr Said Pullicino recalled.

Regrettably, the action of the government (headed by former prime minister Dom Mintoff) was a “severe blow” to the independence and integrity of the judicial system and the rule of law, he added. That incident provoked the effective suspension of the Constitutional Court for several months.

“Those were especially trying times for Dr Caruana Curran but his example shone as a beacon in the defence of democracy and the rule of law. For that, the country should be eternally grateful,” Dr Said Pullicino added.

Dr Caruana Curran was also a fierce campaigner with both Prof. Mangion and Dr Said Pullicino describing him as “fearless” in the field of environmental and heritage conservation.

Dr Caruana Curran signing the petition against spring hunting.

Calling DLĦ his “brainchild,” Prof. Cremona said he was the heart and soul of the organisation. Till the very end, he always fought for the environment and, in 2013, signed the petition against spring hunting.

An all-rounder, Dr Caruana Curran was also an active sportsman and athlete and was appointed president of the Malta Football Association, which yesterday expressed its condolences, and of the Malta Amateur Athletic Association. He was also an actor and played leading roles for the Malta Amateur Dramatic Company and the British Council Players.

In 1993, he was made Officer of the Order of Merit of Malta.

He married Kate Gatt in 1947 and they had a son, Paul, and two daughters, Simone and Louise. Louise died in 1968 and his wife in 1976. He married Ċettina Meilak nèe Psaila in 1982.

The funeral will be held on Friday at 2pm at the Jesuits’ church, Valletta, where Mass presaente cadavere will be celebrated by Cardinal Prospero Grech.