CONFIDENT IAL Reference.
Mr. Carter
Hong Kong:
Senior Puisne Judge
467/40/01 1457/54
I understand that Sir Michael Hogan, the present Chief Justice of Hong Kong, has told us that he intends to retire in the fairly near future. On his retirement there will, of course, be a vacancy in the office of Chief Justice which will have to be filled.
2.
This has prompted me to consider the position of the senior puisne judge in Hong Kong. So far as I can discover, the post of senior puisne judge was created in 1958 by Ordinance No. 38 of 1958, of which I attach a copy. I have heard it said (although I do not know whether this is correct) that the senior puisne judge is paid the same as the other puisne judges, and that there are no particular functions attached to the office of senior puisne judge in other words, it is simply some kind of honorific office. The question of what remuneration a senior puisne judge gets and how it compares with the remunera- tion of other puisne judges can presumably easily be resolved by reference to the estimates or staff list of Hong Kong.
3. The point I have in mind is that where you have an office of senior puisne judge, this is likely to raise an expectation that where the Chief Justiceship becomes vacant, the senior puisne judge has first claim on the vacancy. This seems to me unfortunate as the vacancy ought to be filled (if it is to be filled from the local bench at all) by the most suitable member of the local bench, who may or may not be the senior puisne judge.
40 You may think it worthwhile looking up the old papers about the creation of the office of senior puisne judge to find out why it was created. Unless there is some good reason for having the office, I should have thought that we might take steps to get it abolished when it next becomes vacant.
5. I have mentioned this matter to Sir James McPetrie and to Sir Arthur Grattan-Bellew. It would not, in our view, be wise to say anything outside this Office about the matter at the moment.
My purpose in writing this minute is to raise the
matter for consideration within this Office.
6. A copy of this minute goes to Sir James McPetrie.
A.R.R.
(A. R. Rushford)
1 May, 1969
CONFIDENTIAL