The notarial archives in Valletta have embarked on a project to digitise the massive collection of volumes – which take up 15 kilometres of shelving – in order to protect them from wear and tear and safeguard their contents if some tragedy were to befall the premises.
As required by law, there are two archives, both in Valletta: the main one on M. A. Vassalli Street, which houses all original documents, and a secondary one in St Christopher Street, which holds copies of the originals as a precaution.
While notaries have to submit all originals of wills and public deeds to the main archive by the end of each year, not all hand in copies to the archives on St Christopher Street, Dr German told The Sunday Times of Malta.
This is because notaries can keep true copies at their offices throughout their practice. If they retire, die or lose their warrant, those true copies have to be passed on to the Chief Notary or another practising notary. While this practice has been going on for years, Dr German believes that times and resources have changed, and that the keeping of the register – a word used for the true copies of the original – should be eliminated.
He is currently in discussion…