It's NOT a trial by jury
If I hear or read one more reference to the ongoing trial of Noel Arrigo as “il-guri tal-ex mhallef Noel Arrigo”, I shall lie down and scream.
1. It is not a trial by jury and so there is no jury involved, only a judge.
2. The word ‘jury’ means the panel of jurors and not the trial process itself. The jury are the people who try the defendant. They are not the trial.
3. “Il-guri tal-ex mhallef Noel Arrigo” would be correct if it referred to a pet set of jurors that Noel Arrigo keeps in a cage in his garden and feeds on bits of Old Edwardians who try to bribe him (and perhaps succeed in doing so).
4. The correct word for trial in Maltese is a corruption of the Italian word for trial, processo, minus the final o.
News editors, please take note of this and don’t contribute to the spread of ignorance. It is not “il-guri ta’ Noel Arrigo” but “il-process kontra Noel Arrigo”.
It is bad enough that the stamp of officialdom has been given to the language of the ignorant, who began calling trials by jury ‘il-guri’ and put it into the mainstream. When there isn’t even a jury involved, it is not just ignorant, but ridiculous.
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… and here was I, having listened to three Maltese news programmes in the evening refer to ‘il-Guri’, thinking that it was somehow a jury’less jury … bit my tongue lest it was legalese speak …
of course better judges who are his friends than jurors..they will sympathize with him and give him a leniant sentence as they did..now we know that this country is corrupt from the top …when you have the ‘chief justice’ who is corrupt…the question is..who isn’t.
Din bhal ta’ dak li meta jidhol il-Belt dejjem jordna stejk bla laham. Meta mistoqsi xi jtuh meta jordna hekk, it-twegiba fil-pront kienet:”Bajda u cips”. “Process” toghqod u toghqod sew.
Possibly you wanted to say “toqghod” rather than “toghqod” that is derived from the word “ghoqda” – attent ghax ghamilt balbuljata fil/bil-Malti … ajma, dal-Malti kemm hu sabih ghal min jaf juzah!
Siehbi Pravilino ghandek ragun biex tbiegh. Huwa QaGHaD.
Haga kbira li Gahan zbalja fuq kelma? Jaghmlu l-balbuljati l-imhalfin!
AND it’s “ex imhallef” not “ex mhallef”.
[Daphne – Really, you mean like Imdina and Istrina?]
Yep.
Imħallef is a “nom mimmat” from the verb “ħalef” (like imkisser, imsewwi, etc.. So the is written “mħallef” BUT, for phonetic reasons, we insert an “i”, called “vokali tal-leħen” when the noun stand alone or when it is preceded by a word ending in a consonant.
This has to be distinguished from words of romance derivation like “indaġni” or “intrata” where the “i” is part of the word and not “tal-leħen” and is never dropped.
In my part of the world, it’s “entrata”, not “intrata” – you know, very much like its Italian origin.
On another subject. Please clarify the follwing. Can NGO’s ask the auditor of Mepa to conduct an investigation? I take it that he has access to internal documents at Mepa and he is paid by Mepa. Is such a task in his remit?
@maryanne: have you ever heard of transparency, GLASNOST, trasparenza? It was one of the causes of the fall of the Iron Curtain.
The MEPA auditor is paid out of public funds, and his first duty is towards the Maltese public and the Environment. Mepa is a can of worms.
We all know that he’s a pain in the neck for the developers and those who collaborate with them, if you have any doubts just look at those who write against him.
U hallik mir-remit ta’ Musumeci!
Daphne, every time I listen to the various radio and TV stations referring to ‘il-Guri’, I feel exactly like you and curse their ignorance. A trial by jury can only define a trial in front of a panel of people, who collectively are known as a jury. The level of nonsense-language in our newspapers, both in English and in Maltese, is appalling and reflects the general low standard of the media – if you have any doubt, just watch any of the Maltese TV stations for half an hour.
No ignorance – natural development in the language.
Do you mean like the colloquialism “pokit” (with the French “accent aigue”, if you please) which has officially wormed its way into the Maltese language where the speaker/writer is referring to anything from a pouch to a pencil case?
Nice article Daphne, this is Malta today full of corruption.
[Daphne – That’s what Jo Said said last year when he tried to get GONZIPN booted out. Now he’s standing at Noel Arrigo’s elbow in court. It’s a funny life.]
Carmel
“….this is Malta today full of corruption.”
Excuse me? This is the ex-chief justice being accused of corruption. How does it follow that all Malta is guilty? If anything, this is Malta today where suspected cases of corruption are invariably investigated and those involved – whoever they might be – prosecuted.
A. This article is not about corruption, other than the (minor) corruption of the language used in describing the trial.
B. Purely for the record (you know how I feel about Jo Said) he’s there because he’s related by marriage to Arrigo, so I suppose it’s understandable. Not that I’d be particularly encouraged by Said standing by me if I were Arrigo, but there you are.
C. The comment about the reason behind the single-judge format (by Cuschieri) shows basic and profound ignorance: no-one who knows the personalities involved has the slightest doubt that an entirely fair and just trial will take place: a jury, on the other hand, would be emotional and prejudicial to justice being done (and before anyone asks, I’m not particularly confident in juries in ANY case, not just this one).
Do we know the maximum sentence he can get? If he gets the two years Patrick Vella got, it would not be a deterrent.
We have to keep in mind that he was under home arrest for quite a long time.
[Daphne – I think the awful disgrace is deterrent enough. You’re not talking about boys breaking into cars here. I don’t think many chief justices are going to say, ‘Oh, Noel Arrigo only got two years. It’s worth the risk.’]
I think the maximum sentence he can get is 4 years.
Daphne, there are people who as long as they have what they want at their beck and call, would not give two hoots about their reputation. They would not care much about being disgraced. Some people don’t know what self respect is. If a disgraced judge is entitled to a pension of a chief justice, what kind of justice is this?
[Daphne – Does he get to keep his pension? I don’t think so.]
He would be disgraced if he is asked to sweep Strada Rjali in a boiler suit for two years guarded by a prison warden. I think that he will walk out of the Law Courts and leave for a two-month Caribbean cruise while enjoying a good pension (in disgrace).
Of-course the punishment must fit the crime, etc etc but when one considers the pain and humiliation that his crime must have caused his ”long suffering” family, and the knowledge that he was the sole cause of it, probably beats any length of prison sentence for the ex-judge hands down.
Then again, people without a shred of decency in them would stoop to anything …
“a jury (is) prejudicial to justice being done”
The facts of the case show that what is prejudicial to justice being done is having a judge or two hear an Appeal.
Was the ref entirely fair last Sunday? Impartial maybe. ( I’ve no doubt he was duped by CASHley.) Fair, alas, not.
Same old Chelsea…always cheating.
Not as bad as what happened at Anfield, I’ll give you, but unfair all the same.
M’hemmx x’taghmel. The power of incumbency works in reverse in the EPL. Ghalikom din-is-sena, Bocc. Liverpool have imploded, Arsenal don’t have the strength in depth, United are being cheated. C’est la vie.
I think a good deterrent would be (ironically) raising the wages of judges.
Obviously, a greedy person would remain greedy no matter how much money he or she has, but one has to keep in mind the financial ‘downgrade’ which happens when a lawyer is appointed a judge – from a (mostly undeclared) salary averaging €70,000 yearly, even going over €120,000 in the cases of well-established lawyers they end up with €21,000 per year in their pockets after deducting all taxes.
Daphne,
Try to phone the Broadcasting Authority, and ask them what is the correct wording for – IL-Guri ta’ l-ex prim IMHALLEF….and you will be surprised by the answer.
Daphne
Allow me to put in my penny’s worth, as a university student of Maltese and English, with a five-year background acting as a prosecutor in our courts of law many years ago.
Strictly speaking, the Maltese expression “għadda ġuri” is defined by Ġ. Aquilina in his Maltese-English dictionary as “he was tried by jury” with the implicit English definition of “jury” being “a body of persons committed to give verdict on question submitted to them in court of law”. Technically, you are right in saying that the Maltese word “ġuri” is used incorrectly by the Maltese press and other media.
However, personally, I’m quite comfortable with the media referring to these proceedings as a “Ġuri mingħajr ġurati”, since any other version, such as the suggested “proċess kontra …” would imply that Noel Arrigo is undergoing proceedings which might be different from those the ordinary Maltese mortal is usually subjected to for similarly serious criminal offences. A Maltese audience, made up not only of laymen and “ignorant” folk, but also of persons who are familiar with the goings-on in the law courts, would understand immediately the type of proceedings being described if the case is referred to as a “ġuri”.
Just for the record, in English, the trial format Noel Arrigo has chosen to undergo is known as “a bench trial”.
Naqbel miegħek, JoeM – iżda ma taħsibx li “il-proċess ta’ …” hija aħjar minn “Il-proċess kontra …”?
Hekk hu, Twanny. “Il-proċess ta’ Noel Arrigo …” forsi tinstema’ aħjar minn “il-proċess kontra …”. Jien kont biss qiegħed nikkwota ‘l Daphne.
Però xorta nippreferi li l-każ jibqa’ jiġi rrappurtat bħala “ġuri” mingħajr ġurati.
Just a thought: Dr Arrigo should thank his lucky stars that a particular magistrate is not a judge. He would really have been having kittens wondering if the bench trial would have been conducted by this same judge.
The correct term is “process” and not “guri”, as Daphne has ably explained. Incidentally, “process” is not a corruption of processo – it simply obeys the morphological adaptation which an Italian word goes through when incorporated into Maltese. George Borg Oliver once said that one cannot speak Maltese correctly unless one speaks Italian well and I, broadly, agree. At present, an advert for a well-known stock-cube is being advertised all the time on the media and they say it contains no artificial flavours or “preservattivi”. Thank God for that – I wouldn’t want to find a “preservattiv” in my broth. The word used should be “konservant” (as in kunserva tat-tadam.) Otherwise they should say the word in English “preservative” – this is a case of what are sometimes called “false friends” in vocabulary. Many are those who claim to speak Italian in Malta but the great majority can only string together a few broken phrases without any knowledge of verb tenses and verb moods or correct vocabulary.
[Daphne – You haven’t explained that a ‘preservattiv’ is a condom. I speak no Italian, but my Maltese is pretty good. What you need with any language is respect for the meaning of words and for grammar. All else follows. These islands are full of people who have been raised speaking and knowing only Maltese, but whose Maltese is really dreadful. That’s why it’s dreadful, and why they end up saying things like ‘guri minghajr gurati’.]
Daphne
“Pretty good” may be somewhat relative and rather defensive. To be “acceptably good” you have to keep up with the times.
Giordano Bruno quoted George Borg Olivier! I assume the respectable gentleman made the remark he quoted in the 50’s or 60’s. That’s hardly up-to-date, don’t you think? We must accept the fact that language, especially a language like ours which is still in its infancy compared with other more established languages like Italian and English, is in a continuous process of development. We must accept the fact that borrowings from dominant languages, especially from the English language with which we have been in constant contact these last 200 years, is the present-day reality and we have to live with it.
With regards to “preservattivi” and “konservanti” I’m afraid that you are both wrong. The authoritative Maltese-English dictionary, compiled by the eminent Professor Joseph Aquilina, defines “preservattiv” as “preservative” in the English (not Italian) context. So much so that Aquilina further defines “priserv” as “tinned food”.
I have been reading about this trial and it seems good reading however I have questions if anybody could help me. What is the background of Noel Arrigo, where did he come from, Tony Pace stated ”long suffering” family”. what else have they suffered?
Everybody states he is saying he is rich, but nobody says how he made his money, was that obtained illegally too?
[Daphne – Noel Arrigo comes from a merchant family. That’s where some of the money came from, but the business isn’t doing as well as it once was because of various problems. He is not rich. If he were, he wouldn’t have had to grub about like that for a thousand euros here and there. His wife, on the other hand, has considerable property assets, including the Siggiewi house in which they live, which is hers, and he administers all those assets on her behalf. She adores him, respects him, but he is notorious for making passes at other women, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. That wouldn’t be worthy of comment, it’s their business, were it not for the fact that these attempts are often very sleazy and inept and also public and embarrassing, like repeatedly grabbing at the high commissioner’s wife’s bottom at a formal dinner on board a Royal Navy ship. I wouldn’t listen when people describe others as ‘rich’. The Maltese perception of rich is very peculiar: the people they think are rich really are not, while the people they think are ordinary are rolling in it.]
L-ahjar li naraha jien hi li nsejhulu “guri minghajr gurati……..” basta naghtu spazju ghad-dahqa spontanja li din il-frasi fil-kuntest taghha inevitabilment tipprovoka.
It seems that no one recalls anything on the witness stand. http://www.gamemonkies.com/images/3_monkies.jpg
just a thought..what about the word ..gudizzju ..ezempju gudizzju kontra …..minflok guri jew process.