The Maltese courts granted their first divorce judgement last Friday to a couple who had been living apart for 21 years from the day of their legal separation.Malta voted in a referendum to legalise divorce in May.
The referendum was passed by a narrow margin of 52 pc to 48 per cent.
It was the last country in Europe, apart from the Vatican, to do so.
Outside Europe, the only other country that does not permit divorce is the Philippines.
The couple in question had filed a joint application for divorce on October 11, just after the law came into force on October 1.
Madame Justice Abigail Lofaro said the requisites for divorce were satisfied and the couple had no intention of reconciling.
She noted that the couple's children were now adults so there was no need for maintenance to be paid.
Madame Justice Lofaro ordered the court registrar to advise the director of the public registry about the divorce within a month for it be registered.
She also upheld the woman's request to revert to her maiden surname.
The divorce measure, passed in the referendum, allows people to divorce after living apart for four years and as long as provision was made for spouses and dependents.
Pro-divorce campaigners said that there were already plenty of separations in Malta, and that these people should be allowed to marry again.
However the No campaign argued that the institution of marriage is strong in Malta precisely because couples do not have the option of a fallback position.
The Catholic bishops of Malta had urged the overwhelmingly Catholic population of the small island to reject the proposal.
Ninety five per cent of Maltese voters belong to the Catholic Church.
In a pastoral letter on the eve of the vote, they said that marriage and the family “form the natural core which is essential for a person to live and grow within an atmosphere of genuine love, as well as for the building of a strong society.”
“For this reason, Jesus Christ teaches us that marriage, which goes hand in hand with the dignity of mankind, should, by its very nature, be a permanent bond.”
The bishops acknowledged the pain of those whose marriages had broken down, but said that legalising divorce would not solve the problem. Instead, “as a gesture of love towards those who are suffering, and towards future generations, we must together try and improve the conditions of marriage and the family.”
“By his vote, the citizen will either build or destroy,” they said, posing the question of divorce as a fork in the road for Malta's future.
“A choice in favour of permanent marriage is an act of faith in the family, built upon a bond of love which cannot be severed,” they wrote.
“Whereas a choice in favour of divorce leads to the further destruction of marriage and the family and, as a consequence, the destruction of values and the quality of life.”