GENOVESE v. MALTA JUDGMENT 3 any reference to the “father” in section 5(2)(b) had to be deemed to be a reference to the mother. 15. By a judgment of 27 February 2003 the Civil Court (First Hall) in Malta also declared Mr G. to be the applicant’s biological father and he was ordered to pay maintenance. B. Constitutional redress proceedings 16. Pending the above judgment, in 2002, the applicant’s mother in her own name and on behalf of the applicant, as his curator ad litem, instituted constitutional redress proceedings, complaining that the said provision was discriminatory and contrary to both the Maltese Constitution and the Convention. 17. On 25 January 2006 the Civil Court, in its constitutional jurisdiction, found that the said provisions were in violation of the Maltese Constitution, because they discriminated against the applicant by depriving him of Maltese citizenship. It further abstained from taking a decision on the compatibility of the provisions with the Convention. 18. On 18 July 2006, on appeal, the Constitutional Court reversed the first-instance judgment in respect of the compatibility of the provisions with the Constitution. However, it sent the case back to the Civil Court for a determination on the compatibility of those provisions with the Convention. 19. On 4 November 2008 the Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction held that section 17(1)(a) of the Maltese Citizenship Act was null vis-á-vis the applicant because it breached his rights under Articles 8 and 14 of the Convention. It held that, in the circumstances of the case, the issue of paternity concerned private life, if not family life, and that the applicant had suffered discrimination on the ground of birth, his illegitimate status, and the sex of his Maltese parent. 20. On 27 March 2009, on appeal, the Constitutional Court reversed the first-instance judgment. Noting the amendments in 2007 (see Relevant Domestic Law), it considered that its judgment had to be limited to the parameters of the application before it. It held that the right to citizenship was not a substantive Convention right. The grant or denial of citizenship would not facilitate or create obstacles to the applicant’s family life since his father categorically refused to have any contact with him. Moreover, since the Convention did not oblige a State to allow a non-national spouse to reside in its territory, it could not be said that the State was obliged to grant citizenship to a non-national. II. RELEVANT DOMESTIC LAW 21. The Maltese Citizenship Act, Chapter 188 of the Laws of Malta, in so far as relevant, reads as follows: