[MALTA - UNIVERSITY] FARRUGIA, Francesco Saverio (XVIII century). Academic speeches. Malta: Mallia, 1778. Rare first Maltese edition (there are no auction passes, RBH, we have traced a single documented copy to the National Library of Malta) of the Speeches of Farrugia, jurist and magistrate of the Grand Court of the Castle of Malta, subsequently adviser to the Supreme Court of Justice. The work, dedicated to Grand Master Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc (1725-1797), of only 39 pages, is divided into six discourses dedicated to as many philosophical and political-juridical themes: education, law, the maintenance of civil peace and the consent of subjects, the qualities of good governance, the punishment and the recourse to torture, and finally the reward. Farrugia strongly supports the principle of remuneration, considering it to be the true foundation of the spirit of the law; from this approach derives also its controversial justification of judicial torture, which he considers compatible with the philosophy of law, explicitly opposing the positions of contemporary "humanitarian" whose arguments are systematically refuted in the course of the work. 4th (approximately 204 × 145 mm). Frontispiece with large xylographic coat of arms of Grand Master Emmanuel de Rohan. Coeva binding in decorated paper. (1)