Sir Arturo Mercieca (14 June 1878 – 31 July 1969) was a Maltese judge and served as Chief Justice of Malta between 1924 and 1940. He is also the founder of the oldest extant students' union in Europe, Malta's national University Students' Council.

Early life

Mercieca was born in

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on the island of Gozo on 14 June 1878. He was given primary and secondary education at the Sacred Heart Seminary in Victoria.

Legal career

In October 1894 he enrolled at the

University of Malta The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Association ...

and graduated as a lawyer in August 1901. In 1901, he founded the ''Comitato Permanente Universitario'', later known as University Students' Council, the Maltese national student union and the oldest organization of its kind in Europe. Mercieca pursued further studies via scholarships in

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and

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(1902–1903), and started to practise his profession in 1903. He became an assistant crown advocate in 1915, crown advocate in 1919, and a judge in 1921. Mercieca was appointed Chief Justice of Malta in 1924. He was made a Knight Bachelor in the

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Pro-Italian views and internment

At the start of the 20th century, he was closely involved with various organizations with a pro-Italian stance such as ''Giovine Malta'', ''Malta Letteraria'', and ''Associazione Politica Maltese''. Rising concern in the mid-1930s about possible

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espionage activities in Malta gave rise to significant British counter-espionage activity, including the 1936 expulsion of the Italian Consul General. In 1935, Major Bertram Ede, one of

Vernon Kell Major General Sir Vernon George Waldegrave Kell, (21 November 1873 – 27 March 1942) was a British Army general and the founder and first Director of the British Security Service, otherwise known as MI5. Known as K, he was described in ...

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operatives "reported adversely on the pro-Italian sympathies of the Chief Justice, Sir Arturo Mercieca, but although these led to Mercieca's arrest and detention in

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during the Second World War, no action was taken against him in 1935". In 1937, Sir

Charles Bonham-Carter General Sir Charles Bonham-Carter, (25 February 1876 – 21 October 1955) was a British Army officer and later Governor of Malta. Early life Bonham-Carter was born on 25 February 1876 in Kensington, London, the ninth of eleven children of Henr ...

, Governor of Malta, "wished to remove ercieca who made no secret of his pro-Italian sympathies, but Ormsby-Gore, the Colonial Secretary declined to accept this recommendation". On 11 June 1940, the day after Italy declared war on Britain and France, aircraft of the Italian Royal Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica'') attacked Malta. Mercieca was compelled to resign the Chief Justiceship to avoid removal and was among those for whom the Governor issued detention orders under the terms of the Malta Defence Regulations. He was interned and then in 1942 deported to Uganda, together with his wife and daughter and about 60 other Maltese nationals. Their exile in Uganda lasted until early 1945.

Author

He published his autobiography, ''Le Mie Vicende'' in 1946, translated into English as 'The Unmaking of A Maltese Chief Justice'.https://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/melitahistoricac/hw20058.html&date=2009-10-26+02:30:08 He also published studies in local historical reviews such as Archivum Melitense, Malta Letteraria and Melita Historica, and in Italy in Archivio Storico di Malta.

Family

He married Josephine Tabone in 1909 and they had eight children. He died on 31 July 1963.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercieca, Arturo 1878 births 1963 deaths University of Malta alumni 20th-century Maltese judges Chief justices of Malta Knights Bachelor Maltese knights People from Victoria, Gozo Crown Colony of Malta judges