provided the offender was aware of his status as such person. It is true, as Dalloz observes, that the uniform is not merely an ornament but is intended to warn the citizen of the character of the person charged with a public duty; but his conclusion that, without such uniform, the public officer must be treated like any other private citizen, cannot be accepted without great qualification. For one thing, the uniform does not make the public officer; secondly there are public officers who do not wear any uniform or other distinguishing marks of office. Provided his capacity is not unknown to the person committing the insult, threat or bodily harm in the circumstances described in the definition of the offence, the punishment provided in the section applies. This principle was affirmed several times by our Courts; in the case "The Police vs. Giuseppe Borg"84, Sir Vincent Prendo Azzopardi C.J. said: “Nel reato di oltraggio ad ufficiale od impiegato pubblico, oltre il dolo specifico desunto dal fine dell’agente, er necessario ad integrare l'elemento morale od intenzionale del reato, la scienza della qualità ufficiale dell'oltraggiato, ma questa scienza può sussistere indipendentemente dalla questione se il pubblico ufficiale portasse o no la divisa della sua carica al tempo dell'oltraggio; di guisacchè il reato può avverarsi anche se l’ufficiale non indossasse tale divisa a patto, ben inteso, che risulti della scienza nell'oltraggiente della qualità ufficiale dell' oltraggiato"85.
4. Attack or Resistance with Violence or Active Force against Persons Charged with a Public Duty. This crime in its simple form consists in an attack or resistance by violence or active force (vie di fatto), not amounting to public violence, against a person lawfully charged with a public duty, while acting in execution of the law or of a lawful order of the competent authority. This provision (Section 95) of our Code was derived from article 178 of the Neapolitan Code which was itself modelled on article 209 of the French Code where the crime was called by the name of "Rebellion".
84
Criminal Appeal, 24/11/1917
85
Law Reports, Vole XXXII, Part I, page 1086
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