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3. Adultery
“Where marriage is contracted before a parish priest or other competent minister of the Roman Catholic Church, without being preceded and accompanied by all the solemnities and forms prescribed in respect thereto by the laws of the said Church in force in the Island of Malta and its Dependencies, the party contracting such marriage shall, on conviction, be liable to imprisonment for a term from four to six months” .
Our law "quoad formam" and "quoad vinculum" of marriage contracted by members of the Catholic Church is the Canon Law which has been adopted as the civil law of these Islands in the matter. The form of Catholic marriage is that prescribed by the decree of the Council of Trent.
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Any person subject to such law who celebrates marriage before a parish priest or other competent minister of the Catholic Church is bound to observe all the formalities which that law prescribes and if he unlawfully contracts such marriage without observing such formalities, he will be guilty of the crime under reference, unless, of course, the observance of such formalities has been dispensed with by the competent ecclesiastical authorities.
Sections 206 and 207 of our Criminal Code contemplate separately adultery committed by the wife and adultery committed by the husband. Adultery by the husband requires, as we shall see, special conditions for its incrimination. But there are certain conditions which apply to the crime either committed by the wife or by the husband, and it is expedient to cover this common ground before dealing with the special features of the crime when committed by the husband.
Our law, like all other codes which make provisions concerning this crime, does not give a definition of adultery. But this word, Chaveau and Helie point out, bears in itself its own meaning and its etymology is sufficient to explain itself “Adulterium alterum thorum vel uterum accessio”. Adultery is the violation of the marriage bed, the breach of matrimonial faith consummated by sexual intercourse.
Three elements are indispensable to constitute the crime of adultery generally, namely:
(i) The married condition of, at least, one of the parties
