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wafora
Mr. Walford
Reference HKK 14/14. (3.5.
Sir J. McPetrie we revered chap. Jenip. 15/9.
Please see the exchange of letters with the Governor at (32) and (34) about an occasional appointment to the Supreme Court Bench from the Hong Kong Bar. By way of background I suggest you read the short note at (10) prepared for Lord Parker,
the Lord Chief Justice (who discussed this matter
with Sir Michael Hogan during a recent visit to Hong Kong) and paragraphs 4-9 of the note at (26) prepared for Lord Shepherd's visit in June. In addition you may care to read X of Mr. Moreton's letter from Hong Kong at (27) and Lord Parker's letter at (18).
2.
The Governor accepts the principle of an
occasional appointment from the Bench but subject to
the satisfaction of the criteria set out in Sir Michael Gass's letter at (1). Of the three criteria there set out, (b) and (c) are clearly reasonable, but it does seem that the invariable application of (a) could and might well frustrate any appointment from the Bench since it seems unlikely that the Hong Kong Judicial and Legal Services could ever be at so low an ebb at any given time as to be without any candidate of sufficient calibre for promotion to the Bench. Sir J. McPetrie has observed (paragraph 3 of his minute at (20)) that "we could not, I think, agree to a firm condition to this effect if the object or one of the objects of making an appointment from the Bar was to introduce on to the Bench a Judge whose professional experience
was of a different kind from that of the average
Service Judge.' Paragraph 2 of my letter to the Governor at (32) could perhaps have been more tightly
worded; the second sentence was intended to set out the relevant "considerations" or "criteria" as we saw them and it, of course, excluded (a) of Sir Michael
Gass's criteria.
3.
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One of the difficulties is that by denying the invariable application of criteria (a) it might be represented that we are being inconsistent on criteria (c). But it is arguable that an occasional appoint- ment from the Bar in the public interest (e.g. to introduce fresh blood) would not constitute a
/"legitimate
...