by hosting the courts and the tribunals, it was known as the Corte della Castellania (or the variants) and sometimes as the Palazzo del Tribunale. Among the common public was, however, simply known as the Court of the Grandmaster, probably to simply distinguish it from the courts of the inquisition and of the Bishop.

Some judges of the Castellania, such as Vincenzo Bonavita (1752-1829), served during four different periods being the Order of St John, the French Republic, during the British Protectorate and the under the British Empire. The locals preferred to be subjected to the Court of the Bishop or the Inquisition, rather than Castellania.

Order of St John

Civil and criminal cases commenced after its completion, as was intended. Court sittings already started to be heard at the remodeledthe Maltese Vice-Admiral Court. It was founded in June 1803. John Stoddart (1773-1856)) serverd as the first Advocate to the British monarchy from 1803 to 1807. By 1811, during the protectorate, this court was flagged as being abusive in its early stages of establishment. The conduct of this court has been raised in the British parliament. It was replaced by another court and abolished in the 1890s. Literature and objects related the Vice-Admiralty Court in Malta are now exhibited at the Malta Maritime Museum in Birgu.

British colony
Maltese courts became British subject on 5 October 1813, months before the Treaty of Paris of 1814, when Malta became a Crown colony. Soon after, in 1813, Civil Commissioner Alexander Ball terminated and transferred the judicial power of the Corte Capitanale of