APPENDIX “G”
Hon. Sir Michael Hogan,
Chief Justice,
Supreme Court,
HONG KONG.
Dear Chief Justice,
December 21, 1967
re: FEES IN ASSIGNED CRIMINAL CASES
Thank you for your letter dated December 9, 1967 which was received on the after-noon of December 12, 1967, after the despatch of my letter dated December 12, 1967 on this subject. Your letter now under reply has answered the query raised in that letter.
WORKING PARTY
It is regretted that the Bar Committee sees little merit in the establishment of the Working Party suggested.
It seems to us that the matter to be examined and the question to be determined is not a legal one but a question of fact as to whether, and if so to what extent the Bar ought to be burdened in the provision of what is essentially a social service. Even if the Bar should assume a part of the cost of such service, and no case has yet been made out for this, with the increase in the cost of living and therefore of a barrister's business expenses, a point has been reached when the Bar feels that the burden is unfair. The question is therefore quite simply how much a practising barrister when briefed to represent an accused person in a criminal case ought to be paid by the community out of public funds.
The normal method of resolving pay disputes is by negotiation between master and servant and the Bar Com-
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