In such an exclusive and aristocratic Order there was naturally much jealousy of the power of its head.  Facts gave the Grand Master a very strong position, but technically he was only primus inter pares.  To make sure the Knights were not oppressed, they were always at liberty to disregard the Grand Master’s or any superior’s command and to appeal to a Court of Egard to prove that the given command was a violation of the Order’s Statutes.  The Court of Egard consisted of nine members, each langue choosing one from its own ranks, and the Grand Master appointing the President.  Either disputant could object to any member of the Court, whereupon that member’s langue chose a substitute.  After hearing the evidence, which was entirely oral, the Court discussed the case behind closed doors and came to a decision.  The litigants were called back, and if they agreed to accept the verdict the Court’s decision was announced and was deemed final; if they refused to accept it, an appeal lay to another Court, called the Renfort of the Egard, which was constituted by each langue electing another member, thus doubling the original number.  The same procedure was carried out as in the first Court, and if the litigants expressed themselves still dissatisfied, a new Court was summoned, called the Renfort of the Renfort, which was formed by the election from each langue of another member, thus making twenty-five with the President.  If their decision was not accepted a final Court of Appeal, called the Bailiffs’ Egard, was formed by the addition of the conventual bailiffs, or, if absent, their lieutenants, and their decision was final.  This admirable Court of Equity existed almost unaltered right down to 1798.

The Hospital was a characteristic institution of the Order, and deserves some mention.  Originally the chief scene of their activities, the Hospital was never forgotten by the Knights.  Their first duty, wherever they went, was always to build a Hospital to tend the sick, and to the end every Knight at the Convent, in theory at least, went to take his turn in attending at the Hospital for one day in the week.  The site of the Hospital, on the south-east side of Valetta, has been condemned by science as unhealthy, and it is very easy with modern knowledge to find many faults in its organisation.  Howard, in his “Lazarettos in Europe,” in 1786, gave a vivid description of its condition and exposed its defects.  At that time, however, the Hospital was sharing the general decadence of the Order, and discipline had become very lax.  But, even so, the Hospital was far superior to most other hospitals in Europe and still kept much of that distinction it had acquired in the great days of the Order.  We must remember that hospital organisation is a very recent science, and it would be unfair to accuse the Knights of neglecting what had not yet been discovered.  Their Hospital was one of the most famous in Europe, and was used by many from Sicily and Southern Italy