Land Arbitration Board appeals are null after 20 days

The Court of Appeal, composed of Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti, Judge Robert G. Mangion and Judge Simone Grech, decided B.D. Limited vs the Lands Authority on 1 September 2026. The Lands Authority had appealed a Land Arbitration Board award of compensation, damages and interest for land in Fgura taken for a road.

The court held that the twenty-day term in article 74(2) of the Government Lands Act, Chapter 573, is peremptory, that an appeal filed on the twenty-second day is null, and that it could not look at the grounds.

The facts

B.D. Limited, Zoqdi Developers Limited and J.M. own land in Fgura, which the Government had occupied since 1973. On 18 February 2021 the Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction ordered the expropriation and reserved to the owners the right to compensation, interest and damages.

By declarations 758 and 759 of 3 June 2021 the Government took two portions by absolute purchase: 316.07 square metres, of which the owners hold an undivided half, at an offered €10,535.60 for the whole, and 3,478 square metres at €347,800. On 17 September 2021 the owners asked the Board to order payment of the second price, to value the first portion at €700 per square metre, and to award moral and material damages with interest at 8% from occupation.

The Authority pleaded res judicata. On 25 June 2026 the Board liquidated the half share at €85,038.63 and material damages at €195,848.03, refused moral damages, awarded 8% interest from the application on €79,798.43 and, until the compensation rights were sold on 22 March 2022, on €347,231.60, and fixed the deed for 27 July 2026. The Authority filed its appeal on 17 July 2026.

The owners replied that it was null for lateness.

What the court held

Article 74(2) of Chapter 573 provides that an appeal from the Land Arbitration Board is made by application to the Court of Appeal "fi żmien għoxrin jum mid-data tad-deċiżjoni tal-Bord tal-Arbitraġġ" (within twenty days from the date of the Arbitration Board's decision).

The court applied its own judgment of 23 July 2025 in a case against the Lands Authority, which read that article as covering every decision of the Board under the Act and stated the rule thus: "terminu mogħti mil-liġi għat-tressiq ta' appell huwa wieħed ta' natura perentorja u għandu jiġi osservat b'mod strett. Tali terminu ma jistax jiġi mtawwal jew rinunzjat mill-partijiet" (a term given by law for the filing of an appeal is of a peremptory nature and must be observed strictly. Such a term cannot be extended or waived by the parties).

Terms for filing appeals are of public order and the court may raise their breach of its own motion (Constitutional Court, 26 May 2006); once the term passes the right of appeal is lost and the first-instance decision becomes res judicata by operation of law (Court of Appeal, 3 July 2012; Court of Appeal, 31 January 2011; John Peresso Aluminium Works vs Il-Kummissarju tat-Taxxa fuq il-Valur Miżjud, Court of Appeal, 27 February 2009).

The only extension the law allows is that of articles 108 and 109 of the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure, when the last day falls on a day the registry is closed or on a public holiday, in which case a term of running days ends on the next working day (Court of Appeal, 9 November 2023, 24 November 2017 and 21 February 1996).

The Board's decision was given on 25 June 2026. Twenty days had run out before 17 July 2026, and the last day was neither a public holiday nor a day the registry was closed, so there was no basis in law to carry the term over.

The court was therefore barred from examining the Authority's grounds, whether the plea of res judicata or the subsidiary request to revalue the 316.07 square metres. It upheld the owners' preliminary plea, declared the appeal "irritu u null" (irregular and null) and ordered the Authority to pay the costs of the appeal.

Why it matters

Twenty days from the date of the Board's decision, not from service, for every decision of the Land Arbitration Board, and the same rule binds the Authority as binds the owner. Count from the day of judgment and file early; if you are the respondent, check the filing date before you answer the merits, because the plea of nullity ends the appeal on its own.

Where it sits

The case belongs to the law of appeal terms rather than of expropriation. Article 74 of the Government Lands Act sets a special twenty-day term that displaces the general rules of Chapter 12, and the court treats it as it treats every legal term for appeal: peremptory, of public order, not extendable by consent, and subject only to the computation rules of articles 108 and 109 of Chapter 12.

The authorities the judgment names are those set out above, all drawn from the court's own decision of 23 July 2025.

Source

Court of Appeal (Superior Jurisdiction), Appeal 42/2021/1, 1 September 2026: 42/2021/1