MONTE DI PIETÀ ACT

MONTE DI PIETÀ

CHAPTER 269

MONTE DI PIETÀ ACT

To vest in the Government the assets and functions of the institutions

known as Monte di Pietà and Monte di Redenzione, and to provide for

matters connected therewith or ancillary thereto.

(1st April, 1977) *

ACT XXXIX of 1976, as amended by Act XIII of 1983 ; and Legal

Notice 423 of 2007 .

The short title of this Act is the Monte di Pietà Act.

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -

"Il-Monti" means the division of the department of Government

known by that name in accordance with article 4;

"loan assets" has the meaning assigned to it by article 4;

"Minister" means the Minister responsible for finance;

"Monte di Pietà" means the foundation or institution known by

that name, and includes the foundation or institution known as

Monte di Redenzione, whatever the legal status of these

foundations or institutions and howsoever they may have been set

up;

"prescribed" means prescribed by or under this Act;

"ticket" has the meaning assigned to it by article 5;

"transferred assets" has the meaning assigned to it by article 3.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law, or in

any deed, will, contract, instrument or other document whatsoever,

the provisions of this Act shall have effect, and in the event of any

conflict with the provisions of any other law or anything contained

in any deed, will, contract, instrument or other document

whatsoever, the provisions of this Act shall prevail.

(1) With effect from the commencement of this Act, all

assets and property, movable and immovable which, immediately

before such commencement, formed part of, or otherwise belonged

to, or was considered or treated as forming part of or otherwise

belonging to, the Monte di Pietà, other than the loan assets, is

transferred to and shall vest in the Government by virtue of this Act

and without further assurance, and, subject to the following

provisions of this article, are so transferred and shall so vest in

absolute ownership free and unencumbered; and the property

transferred as aforesaid is in this Act referred to collectively as

" the transferred assets".

(2) All liabilities which immediately before the commencement

of this Act were liabilities of or due by the Monte di Pietà, other

*See article 1(2) as originally enacted, which subarticle has been omitted under the

Statute Law Revision Act , 1980, and Legal Notice 43 of 1977.

MONTE DI PIETÀ

than those mentioned in subarticle (4), shall, with effect from such

commencement, become liabilities of and due by Government by

virtue of this Act, and any payment so due to be made by the

Government shall be a charge on the Consolidated Fund without

further appropriation than this Act.

(3) Without prejudice to any consolidation of the directum

dominium with the utile dominium happening on the transfer of any

of the transferred assets as provided in subarticle (1), the provisions

of that subarticle shall not affect any emphyteusis or lease granted

in respect of any of the transferred assets or any easement to which

any of such assets may be subject, and any such emphyteusis or

lease shall, for all purposes, be deemed to have been granted by the

Government and shall be treated accordingly.

(4) With effect from the commencement of this Act, any

burthen or charge to which any of the transferred assets may,

immediately before such commencement, be subject, and any other

payment or performance that may, before the date aforesaid, be due

in respect of any such assets, shall, by virtue of this Act, cease to be

such a burthen or charge on, or a payment or performance due in

respect of, any of the transferred assets, and any sum or other thing

or act which but for the provisions of this subarticle would have

been due to be paid or made immediately before the

commencement of this Act, shall, as from such commencement, be

due to be paid or made by the Government; and any payment so due

shall be a charge on the Consolidated Fund without any further

appropriation than this Act.

(5) Notwithstanding the provisions of subarticle (4), and

without prejudice to the extinguishment of any obligation arising

therefrom by way of set-off or in any manner other than in

pursuance of this subarticle, the Government may at any time

extinguish any such obligation arising as aforesaid by the payment

of a sum of money corresponding, in the case of an annual

payment, to the capitalization of such annual payment at the rate of

five per cent, and in any other case, to an adequate compensation

for the extinguishment of the relative obligation.

(1) With effect from the commencement of this Act, all

loans which, immediately before such commencement, were loans

made by the Monte di Pietà, and all rights, claims, obligations and

liabilities, pertaining, relating or ancillary thereto, shall, by virtue

of this Act and without further assurance, be transferred to and vest

in the Government, and shall become loans, rights, claims,

obligations and liabilities of the Government as if the loans and

anything done in relation thereto had been originally made or done

by the Government under this Act; and all such loans, rights,

claims, obligations and liabilities aforesaid are in this Act referred

to collectively as the "loan assets".

(2) With effect from the commencement of this Act, all moneys

which, immediately before such commencement, were held by the

Monte di Pietà on account of owners of pledges sold by auction

before that date, being amounts by which the price of a pledge sold

exceeded the amount due in respect of the relative loan, shall be

MONTE DI PIETÀ

held by the Government in place of the Monte di Pietà as if the sale

of the pledge had been made by the Government under this Act

Provided that the action for the recovery of any such excess

shall be barred by the lapse of ten years beginning with the

commencement of this Act.

(3) The Government shall continue the functions performed by

the Monte di Pietà in respect of the loan assets immediately before

the commencement of this Act; and may thereafter, as the Minister

may decide, continue to lend money against security provided by

the giving of pledges of articles of gold, silver or other precious

metal or of precious stones.

(4) The functions referred to in subarticle (3) shall be

performed by such department of Government as the Minister may

from time to time designate for that purpose, and the division of the

department performing those functions shall, in respect of those

functions, be known as "Il-Monti".

(1) The provisions of this article shall have effect with

respect to loans made by the Government under this Act

(a) all loans shall be made against the security of a pledge

consisting in articles of gold, silver or other precious

metal or of precious stone, or a combination thereof;

(b) the acceptance or otherwise of any article offered by

way of pledge as a security for a loan shall be in the

absolute discretion of the Government;

(c) no article shall be received as a security for a loan

unless and until a ticket has been issued in respect

thereof, and, save as provided in this Act, no such

article shall be returned except against the surrender of

that ticket;

(d) a loan shall not be made for a specified period, and any

article given in pledge as a security for a loan may be

redeemed at any time by the payment of the amount of

the loan and any interest that may be due thereon;

(e) all loans shall, unless renewed, be repayable within

three years from the date on which they are made;

(f) the interest payable on any loan shall be five per cent

per annum or such other rate (not being higher than the

maximum allowed by article 1852 of the Civil Code)

as the Minister may from time to time by notice in the

Gazette specify;

(g) any pledge remaining unredeemed within the aforesaid

period of three years shall be sold by public auction,

and where the price at which the pledge is sold

exceeds the amount due to the Government in respect

of the loan, including all interest due until the price of

the pledge sold is received by the Government, any

such excess shall be paid to the owner of the pledge

against the surrender of any ticket issued with respect

to the loan;

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(h) no interest shall be payable by the Government on any

excess due under paragraph (g), and the action for the

recovery of any such excess shall be barred by the

lapse of ten years from the date of the sale by auction

of the pledge to which the excess relates.

(2) Where a ticket has been lost, destroyed or otherwise

mislaid, any article in respect of which that ticket was issued may

be delivered to a person claiming entitlement thereto only if such

procedure as may be prescribed has been followed within such time

as may be prescribed.

(3) In this Act, the word "ticket" means any document released

on behalf of the Government in evidence that an article has been

delivered as a pledge by way of security of a loan made under this

(4) Where any article received as a security of a loan under this

Act is delivered in good faith to any person against the surrender of

the relative ticket, or in accordance with the provisions of

subarticle (2), no claim by any person against the Government or

against any person acting on behalf of the Government, and arising

from any delivery as aforesaid, shall be entertained by any court.

The Minister shall have power to make regulations to give

effect to any of the provisions of this Act and, in particular, but

without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, such

regulations may -

(a) provide for the management and administration of any

department, or section of a department, of Government

entrusted with the functions referred to in article 4,

including provision with respect to the days and hours

during which such a department or section thereof

shall be open to the public;

(b) modify or put in abeyance, in its application to Il-

Monti, any provision of law regulating the conduct of

financial or administrative matters in government

departments;

(c) provide for the manner in which a loan under this Act

is to be made, regulate the conditions and the

repayment of any loan so made, the payment of the

interest thereon, and the acceptance, receipt,

withdrawal and sale by auction of articles pledged as a

security therefor;

(d) establish the minimum and maximum amounts of any

loan made under this Act;

(e) make provision for the protection of the rightful

owners of articles given as a pledge under this Act in

the event of the loss, destruction or mislaying of the

ticket issued in respect thereof;

(f) provide for the manner in which unredeemed pledges

may be disposed of and the proceeds thereof dealt

with;

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(g) provide for the keeping of records for the purposes of

any function exercised under article 4, the period for

which such records are to be kept, and the disposal or

destruction thereof on the expiration of such period;

(h) provide for any matter authorised or required by this

Act to be prescribed;

(i) provide for offences in relation to any matter provided

for in this Act or in regulations made under this article

and establish punishments with respect to any such

offence not exceeding a fine (multa) of one thousand

one hundred and sixty euro (1,160) or imprisonment

for a term of six months, or both such fine and

imprisonment;

(j)

provide for and regulate civil liability in relation to

any matter provided for in this Act or in regulations

made under this article.

(1) The deposits to which this article applies, (hereinafter

referred to as "the deposits") shall be dealt with and disposed of as

provided in this article.

(2) Subject to any directives which the Minister may give, and

1944. to the other provisions of this article, the deposits shall be sold by

public auction in the same manner as unredeemed pledges may be

sold in accordance with the provision of article 5(1) and of any

regulations made under this Act

Provided that any deposit of trivial or no value shall be

disposed of as the Minister may direct.

(3) The proceeds from the sale of any deposit shall for all

purposes of law take the place of the deposit sold as if it had been

the thing originally deposited, and shall be kept by the Government

indefinitely and shall only be paid to the person or persons

specified in an order issued by a competent court and in accordance

with any such order. No interest shall be payable on any such

proceeds.

(4) The deposits to which this article applies are all regular

court deposits lodged with the Monte di Pietà under any authority

whatsoever on and before the 31st December, 1944, and not

withdrawn therefrom i n pursua nce of a n order issued by a

competent court before the commencement of this Act.

Wherever in any law or other instrument having the force

of law, or in any deed, contract, instrument, writing or other

document whatsoever, any reference is made to the Monte di Pietà,

and it is necessary or expedient, in consequence of anything

contained in this Act, that such a reference be substituted by a

reference to Il-Monti, that reference shall be so substituted, and any

law, instrument or document as aforesaid shall be construed and

shall have effect accordingly.