Table Of ContentBarry Hough and Howard Davis
With an Introduction by Michael John Kooy
Coleridge’s Laws
A Study of Coleridge in Malta
Translations by Lydia Davis
Coleridge’s Laws
Barry Hough was formerly Professor in English Law at Bournemouth
University and is now at the University of Buckingham. He is the author
of numerous articles in the field of Constitutional and Administrative law
and Employment law and of the leading monograph Street Trading and
Markets and Fairs (Boston, UK, 1994). Barry Hough is also a contributor to
four editions of J. Alder, Constitutional and Administrative Law (Basingstoke
and New York) and to William Blake Odgers (ed.), High Court Pleading &
Practice (London, 1991).
Howard Davis is Reader in Public Law at Bournemouth University.
As well as law and literature his other research and teaching interests
relate to constitutional law and human rights, in particular the reception
of European human rights law through the Human Rights Act 1998. His
textbook, Human Rights Law Directions (Oxford, 2009) is now in its second
edition.
Michael John Kooy is Associate Professor at the Department of English
and Comparative Literary Studies at Warwick University. His main research
interests lie in British and European Romanticism, especially Coleridge,
and in the relationship between philosophy and literature. Kooy is the
author of Coleridge, Schiller and Aesthetic Education (Basingstoke and New
York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002) and he is currently completing a book
called Coleridge and War, which assesses Coleridge’s wartime activities as a
journalist and poet in relation to his political theology.
Lydia Davis took her degree in Latin and Ancient History at Edinburgh
University. Her PhD on British Travellers and the Rediscovery of Sicily, 16th-
19th Centuries was awarded in 2006. She has lived and studied in Rome and
Sicily. She currently works for Hansard at the House of Commons.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1819) drawn by C. R. Leslie, engraved by H.
Meyer, published 1st April 1819 by Henry Colburn.
Barry Hough and Howard Davis
With an Introduction by Michael John Kooy
Coleridge’s Laws
A Study of Coleridge in Malta
Translations by Lydia Davis
Cambridge
2010
40 Devonshire Road, Cambridge, CB1 2BL, United Kingdom
http://www.openbookpublishers.com
© 2010 Barry Hough and Howard Davis (except Introduction and
Translations)
Introduction © 2010 Michael John Kooy
Translations © 2010 Lydia Davis
Some rights are reserved. This book is made available under the Creative
Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK:
England & Wales License. This license allows for copying any part of the
work for personal and non-commercial use, providing author attribution is
clearly stated. Details of allowances and restrictions are available at:
http://www.openbookpublishers.com
As with all Open Book Publishers titles, digital material and resources
associated with this volume are available from our website:
http://www.openbookpublishers.com
ISBN Hardback: 978-1-906924-13-3
ISBN Paperback: 978-1-906924-12-6
ISBN Digital (pdf): 978-1-906924-14-0
Acknowledgement is made to the National Library of Malta for generously
permitting use of material in their possession and for allowing the
reproduction of the ‘Bandi’ and ‘Avvisi’ in this volume.
All paper used by Open Book Publishers is SFI (Sustainable Forestry
Initiative), and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest
Certification Schemes) Certified.
Printed in the United Kingdom and United States by
Lightning Source for Open Book Publishers
To Mary and to Stella
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our gratitude to the British Academy without
whose financial support this book would not have been possible. Dr Elinor
Shaffer’s keen interest in the project not only saw it through its early
gestation but it also continued to guide, enrich and challenge our work as it
progressed. Dr Michael John Kooy’s interest, advice and enthusiasm have
also been great encouragement to us. We are particularly delighted that he
accepted an invitation to write the Introduction to this book. The staff of the
National Library of Malta, Valletta, and the National Archive of Malta, Rabat,
have also shown us kindness and tireless assistance in locating sources. Dr
Maroma Camillieri, Dr Charles Farrugia, and Dr Joseph Amodio have each
provided us with tireless and valuable assistance. Richard Ireland and
Robert Ireland each of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth also provided
their scholarly expertise in interpreting some of the obscure Latin used in
some of the witness statements. Our thanks are also due to Craig Willox of
the Department of Law, Bournemouth University, for his assistance with
the manuscript.
Contents
Illustrations ix
Abbreviations xi
Foreword xii
Preface xiv
Introduction (by Michael John Kooy) xvi
1. The Battle of Self 1
2. Coleridge’s Malta 50
2.1. Maltese Social Political and Economic Context 51
2.2. The Maltese Economy 58
2.3. British Model of Government on Malta: the
“Continuation” Strategy 65
2.4. Maltese Institutions 69
2.5. The Public Reputation of the British Administration 1802-1806 98
3. The Constitutional Position of the Civil Commissioner 107
3.1. Colonial Policy and the Civil Commissioner 108
3.2. Legal Restraints on Power 127
3.3. Political Constraints 135
3.4. Conclusion 140
4. Coleridge’s Proclamations and Public Notices 143
4.1. Coleridge’s role: the “Most illustrious Lord, the Public
Secretary“ 143
4.2. The Nature of Bandi and Avvisi 151
5. Thematic Analysis of the Proclamations and Public Notices 164
5.1. Reconstruction 166
5.2. Distribution of Prize 173
5.3. Taxation 186
5.4. Public Order and Crime 199
5.4.1. The Anti-Semitic disturbances 208
5.4.2. Immigration and the Detection of Crime 230
5.5. Corruption 239
viii Coleridge’s Laws
5.6. Consumer Protection 243
5.6.1. The Regulation of Spirits in the Bando of 22 March 1805 244
5.6.2. The Avviso 12 June 1805 257
5.7. Regulation of Trade 259
5.8. The Harbours 263
5.9. Passports 267
5.10. Military Discipline 275
6. An Assessment of the Proclamations and Public Notices 288
6.1. Constitutional Questions 304
6.2. Coleridge’s Laws and the Rule of Law 308
6.3. Enforcement and Forms of Punishment 314
Appendix 1. Translations of the Proclamations and Public Notices
(by Lydia Davis) 325
Appendix 2. The British Occupation of Malta 353
References 362
Index 366
Illustrations
Page
Cover: Detail from Figure 5.
Frontispiece: Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1819) drawn by C. R. Leslie,
engraved by H. Meyer, published 1st April 1819 by Henry Colburn
[private collection].
1. A view of Valletta from South Street with the Marsamxett or
Quarantine Harbour on the left [B. Hough, 2007]. 27
2. San Antonio Palace, now the official residence of the President of
Malta, at St Anton, Attard. During the Maltese uprising 1799-1800
Captain Ball used it as his residence. He returned when he became
Civil Commissioner in 1802. Coleridge spent much of his time there
[B. Hough, 2006]. 28
3. The interior of the President’s Palace, Valletta. It would not have
been less opulent when Coleridge resided there [B. Hough, 2007]. 35
4. The Governor’s [Civil Commissioner’s] Palace with the Treasury
Building in the background (now the Casino Maltese). Coleridge
moved from the Civil Commissioner’s Palace in Valletta to the
Treasury in late 1804. Coleridge described his garret room as a “sky-
chamber” with a painting of the four winds on the ceiling “& the
pencil of Blast from each of the curly-wigged Nobodies” CN 2 2370.
The room was destroyed by enemy action during the Second World
War. Lithograph by C. de Brocktorff [1838] [private collection]. 35
5. Aquatint bearing the inscription: “To the R.t Hon.ble. Lord
Viscount Nelson, K.B. Duke of Bronte &c. &c. &c., This Print of
the commencement of the gallant defence, made by His Majesty’s
Sloop Arrow of 23 Guns & 132 Men, Richard Budd Vincent Esq.r
Commander; and His Maj: Bomb Vessel Acheron of 8 Guns and &
