INVESTMENT OF CERTAIN MONEYS ORDINANCE

CHAPTER 26

INVESTMENT OF CERTAIN MONEYS ORDINANCE

To provide for a safe and profitable investment of moneys belonging to

certain persons. *

(28th February, 1895) †

Enacted by ORDINANCE VI of 1895 as amended by Act VI of 1959;

Legal Notice 4 of 1963, Act XIII of 1983, Legal Notice 407 of 2007 and Act

XXXIV of 2025.

This Ordinance may be cited as the Investment of Certain

Moneys Ordinance.

(1) In the case of expropriation for a public purpose of any

property subject to entail or in the case of licitation of any property

subject to entail as provided in article 523 of the Civil Code, it shall

be lawful for the competent court to order that the compensation

payable in respect of the property expropriated, where such

compensation is not less than one hundred and sixteen euros and

f o r t y - s e v e n c e n t s ( 11 6 . 4 7 ) , o r t h e s h a r e s o f t h e p r o c e e d s

appertaining to the co-owners of the property sold by licitation,

whatever the amount thereof, be invested in the purchase of a

perpetual annuity to be, upon such order, constituted by the

Government of Malta, at the rate of two and one-half per centum,

according to the provisions of this Ordinance, provided the court is

satisfied of the expediency of such investment in the interest of the

parties concerned.

(2) The court may, either in the order for the purchase of the

annuity or subsequently, upon the demand of any party interested,

give the requisite directions respecting the alienability of the

annuity.

(3) The court may also order that the capital of the annuity

shall remain subject to the same entail as a surrogatum for the

property expropriated or sold by licitation.

(4) Where the annuity is declared to be inalienable or subject to

entail, such fact shall be expressly stated in the writings referred to

in articles 4 and 6.

(1) The competent court may direct that any of the

following moneys, provided the amount be not less than one

hundred and sixteen euros and forty-seven cents (116.47), be

invested in an annuity as provided in the last preceding article,

namely

*Original article 1 of this Ordinance, the title whereof was originally, ''To make some

provisions relating to property subject to a fideicommissum'' has been incorporated as

article 523 in the Civil Code (Chapter 16).

†See Proclamation No.II of 1895.

(a) the price or part of the price of property subject to

entail which has been disentailed for any purpose other

than a public purpose;

(b) the price or part of the price of property, not alienable

without the authority of the court, the alienation of

which has been authorized for any purpose

whatsoever;

(c) moneys belonging to any minor under tutorship or

person interdicted or to any other person or body

corporate represented by an administrator appointed or

confirmed by a court of civil jurisdiction.

(d) Repealed by Act XXXIV.2025.19.

(2) The provisions of subarticles (2), (3) and (4) of the last

preceding article shall apply in the case of moneys referred to in

paragraph (a) and the provisions of subarticles (2) and (4) of the

said article shall apply in the case of moneys referred to in

paragraphs (b) and (c).

For the purposes of the investment referred to in articles 2

and 3, there shall be produced to the Accountant General an

authenticated copy of the decree ordering the investment, and on

the day to be fixed by the Accountant General there shall be paid

into his office the money required for the purchase of the annuity;

upon the receipt of such money the Accountant General shall

constitute the corresponding annuity by means of a writing in

duplicate in the Form A annexed to this Ordinance, one copy being

kept in the office of the Accountant General and the other copy

delivered to the creditor of the annuity.

(1) The annuity shall be paid in arrear within the first

fifteen days of the month of January in each year; each payment

shall be noted down on the back of the writing constituting the

annuity, or of the writings referred to in the next following article,

and no payment may be made without the production of the said

writing or writings.

(2) For the purposes of any such payment, the annuity shall be

deemed to commence to run from the first day of the month next

following that in which the annuity was constituted.

(1) Where an annuity is divided between two or more

persons, the Accountant General shall, on the production of the

documents relating to such division and the delivery of the writing

referred to in the last preceding article, issue as many writings, in

the Form B annexed to this Ordinance, as are the shares into which

the annuity shall have been divided, provided each share shall

correspond to a portion of the capital not less than eleven euros and

sixty-five cents (11.65).

(2) No opposition to any such division shall be considered,

unless it is made by means of a judicial act to be served on the

Accountant General and the holder of the annuity.

(1) The annuity, unless subject to entail or otherwise

inalienable, is transferable even by endorsement.

(2) Such endorsement shall be made on the back of the relative

writing; it shall state the name and surname of the endorsee and the

name of one of the endorsee’s parents, and shall be dated and signed

by the endorser.

(3) The Accountant General is not bound to examine the

authenticity of the endorsements.

Any transfer of an annuity subject to entail or otherwise

inalienable, whenever such transfer is duly authorized, shall, on

pain of nullity, be made by a public deed.

In case of any transfer of an annuity by means of a private

writing or public deed the transferee shall cause the original act of

transfer or an authentic copy thereof to be transmitted to the

Accountant General.

The holder of the annuity if he has appointed an attorney to

receive the amount thereof, or the person to whom the annuity may

have been pledged, shall cause the original power of attorney or the

instrument by which the annuity has been pledged, or an authentic

copy thereof, to be transmitted to the Accountant General.

(1) On the duplicate copy of the writing preserved in his

office in terms of article 4, the Accountant General shall note down

any transfer made otherwise than by endorsement, or any pledge, as

well as the date on which he shall have received the documents

mentioned in article 9 or 10, as the case may be.

(2) The transfer shall not be effectual in regard to third parties,

and the pledge shall not be operative, except from the date above-

mentioned.

No opposition to the payment of the annuity shall be

admissible, except -

(a) where the title of the person holding the annuity in the

name of any other person, has ceased to exist;

(b) where the writing relating to the annuity has been lost,

stolen or destroyed; or

(c) where the holder has become bankrupt.

No payment of the annuity, or price of redemption of the

annuity where the annuity has been redeemed, can be demanded,

unless, in the case referred to in paragraph (a) of the last preceding

article, the party concerned duly proves his right thereto, and in the

case referred to in paragraph (b) of the said article, such party also

gives sufficient security for the restoration of the money paid. In

the case referred to in paragraph (c) of the said article, the annuity

or the price of redemption may be paid to the curator in bankruptcy.

Where the writing has been lost, stolen or destroyed, the

party concerned may in lieu thereof obtain another writing upon

proving his right thereto and giving sufficient security.

(1) An action for the yearly payments of an annuity shall

be barred by prescription, in regard to any claimant, by the lapse of

five years to run from the fifteenth day of the month of January.

(2) An action for the payment of the price of redemption shall

be barred by prescription by the lapse of thirty years to run from the

publication of the notice referred to in article 17.

Any annuity constituted under this Ordinance shall be

redeemable, at any time, at the discretion of the Minister

responsible for finance, by the payment of a sum equal to that

received by the Accountant General for the constitution of such

annuity

Provided that the Government may not, for any reason

whatsoever, be compelled to redeem any such annuity.

(1) Where the Minister responsible for finance shall order

any annuity to be redeemed, such annuity shall cease from the day

on which such order shall have been published by the Accountant

General by means of a notice in the Government Gazette, which

notice shall contain a description of the annuity and an intimation

to the holder of the annuity to attend at the office of the Accountant

General to receive the capital.

(2) The price of redemption of an annuity subject to entail or

otherwise inalienable may not be paid without an order of the court,

and it shall be lawful for the court to give such directions as it may

deem proper in the interest of the parties concerned.

FORMS

FORM A

( ARTICLE 4)

WRITING FOR CONSTITUTING AN ANNUITY

No...................

I, the undersigned, Accountant General, declare that in compliance

with the decree of (here state the court) dated the ........... a yearly

and perpetual annuity of ................ in favour of .............................

has this day been created and constituted under the provisions of

the Investment of Certain Moneys Ordinance (Cap. 26); which

annuity I bind myself in the name of the Government of Malta, to

pay to the said ........................................ or to his lawful

representative, every year, within the first fifteen days of the month

of January.

The aforesaid annuity is constituted by me as aforesaid for the

already received on account of the Government of Malta.

Treasury,

The ........... day of ............................. 20

Approved

Minister responsible for finance

Accountant General

FORM B

( ARTICLE 6)

WRITING ISSUED IN THE CASE OF A DIVISION OF AN

ANNUITY

Whereas the yearly annuity of L ................... constituted under the

provisions of the Investment of Certain Moneys Ordinance (Cap.

26) by a writing No ....... issued on the ....... in favour of ............

has been divided into ..........shares.

Now therefore by these presents the undersigned, Accountant

General, in the name of the Government of Malta, binds himself to

pay to ........ by whom the (here state the share) part of the said

annuity has been acquired, or to his lawful representative, every

year, within the first fifteen days of the month of January, the sum

of € ................................

Treasury,

The ...............................day of ................ 20

Approved

Minister responsible for finance

Accountant General