CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

David Attard

Maltese jurist, lawyer and university teacher

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionOct 30, 2024
Entity authorityQ952311
Source-derived summary

David Joseph Attard (born 23 March 1953) is a Maltese advocate, judge-barrister, member of the Middle Temple England and Wales and academic professor. He was pro-chancellor University of Malta in 2006 and chancellor since 2011.

Attard was born in Sliema, Malta. He qualified as a notary public at and holds an LL.D from the University of Malta. He earned a doctorate of law (D.Phil) at the University of Oxford (Pembroke College).

Professional experience

He is experienced law teacher of the sea, associated professor in Law at the Malta University and became professor in International public law both in Malta University in 1988, he was head UNEP environmental diplomacy Mediterranean in academy of diplomatic studies, director IMO international maritime law institute, visiting professor of International Law, University of Rome Tor Vergata in 1994, senior visiting lecturer in College of Foreign Affairs, Beijing, research fellow at University of Oxford in 1998, scholar in Yale Law School and visiting professor at Université de Paris I- Panthéon Sorbonne.

Attard was Chairman of Exploration Committee in the Office of the Prime Minister of Malta in 1988, Advisor to the Secretary-general International Maritime Organization 1988-89, Special Legal Advisor to the Executive Director of the United Nations Environmental Programme in Nairobi 1989-91 and member of the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH), Council of Europe, Strasbourg.

Merit award

Chevalier dans l’Ordre National de la Legion D’Honneur by President of the French Republic

National Order of Merit by the President of Malta in 2009

Orden de Isabel la Católica by the King of Spain in 2010.

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic by the President of Italy.

Book

The Exclusive Economic Zone in International Law, Clarendon Press, A.J. David, and was granted the Paul Guggenheim award prize Geneva

Publications

David Joseph Attard; Malgosia Fitzmaurice; Norman A Martínez Gutiérrez; IMO International Maritime Law Institute, ISBN 9780199683925 OCLC 0199683921, Notes:"25th anniversary IMLI; supported by the Nippon Foundation

David Joseph Attard; David M Ong; Malgosia Fitzmaurice; Alexandros XM Ntovas; Dino Kritsiotis, Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780198824152

David Joseph Attard; Malgosia Fitzmaurice, Publisher: Oxford Oxford University.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “David Attard” is maltese jurist, lawyer and university teacher. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through David, Attard and Maltese, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1953, 2006, 2011, 1988—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1953-03-29. For this dossier, David, Attard and Maltese is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “maltese jurist, lawyer and university teacher” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 30, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q952311. VIAF identifies the subject as 161512082. The Library of Congress control number is n85255014. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1953, 2006, 2011 and 1988.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “David Attard”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow David Attard primary sources, David Attard archive and David research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “David Attard”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from David Attard” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.