C.S. 166
CONFIDENTIAL
For discussion
on 2nd July 1974
CHE.
機密
XCC(74)51
Copy NoC. IN
!, FAISTRY No. 51
MEMORANDUM FOR EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
SMALL CLAIMS TRIBUNAL
12 JUL 1974
HKK 5/17
The purpose of this paper is to seek the approval in principle of Honourable Members to the establishment of a Small Claims Tribunal, along the general lines set out below, and for the drafting of the necessary legislation.
Background
2
Memoranda XCC(70)56 and XCC(72)7 which concerned the establishment of a Labour Tribunal and which were discussed in this Council on 20th October 1970 and 18th January 1972 contained a suggestion that if the Tribunal proved to be a success and met a genuine public demand, consideration would be given to extending its jurisdiction, in due course, to cover other types of dispute of a minor nature not necessarily connected with labour matters, for example, the collection of small debts. As a result, section 8 of the Labour Tribunal Ordinance (Chapter 25) was so drafted as to enable the Legislative Council to alter by resolution the jurisdiction of the Tribunal.
3
At the end of November 1973, by which time the Labour Tribunal had been in operation for almost a year, an ad hoc working group was established to consider whether there was a need to provide for a simpler procedure for the adjudication of small claims and, if so, to suggest what form it should take. The working group, consisting of representatives of the Colonial Secretariat, the Judiciary, the Legal Department, the Legal Aid Department, the Home Affairs Department, the New Territories Administration and the Labour Tribunal, was asked to prepare an agreed memorandum for submission to the Council and the proposals that follow are those put forward by the working group.
Need for a simpler small claims procedure
4
The District Court system was created in 1953 for the purpose of providing a court of intermediate jurisdiction between the Supreme Court and Magistracies. Its establishment was argued on the grounds that there was no court in Hong Kong, other than the Supreme Court, with jurisdiction in civil proceedings where the subject matter of the dispute was not of great value and that there was no court with jurisdiction and powers of punishment greater than those then conferred
CONFIDENTIAL
機密