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HKK 14/6
CONFIDENTIAL
HONG KONG : ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE
NO 67 OF 19 JANUARY 1974
COMMENTS ON GOVERNOR'S TELEGRAM
1.
Court of Appeal (paragraph 2)
The idea of having a permanent court of appeal has been canvassed from time to time during the past few years and has been mentioned in previous correspondence (there was an exchange of savingrams in the first half of 1972 on the subject). At present the Full Court Ordinance (Chapter 2) provides for a Full Court of two or three Supreme Court judges selected by the Chief Justice as occasion may require. Some members of the bar have suggested that there is too much variation in the membership of the Full Court and that it would be preferable if the same set of judges sat regularly. This could be arranged administra- tively under the present law and in our last savingram we suggested that it should be attempted. There may be advantage however in amending the law so as to provide for a permanent court of appeal, in which case I take it that provision would be made for two (or perhaps more) posts of judges of appeal, who would normally sit on that court. It will be interesting to see the detailed proposals of the Hong Kong Government, which may incidentally provide an opportunity of getting rid of the rather anomalous post of Senior Puisne Judge, a matter on which we wrote to the Governor some years ago.
2.
Trial by jury (paragraphs 3 and 4)
It may well be the case that there is no great desire for an extension of the jury system among the Chinese population, and one can see the practical difficulties in enlarging the jury lists. As indicated in my previous minute, another possibility might be to enable District Courts to sit with assessors in criminal cases, eg for the judge to sit with two local Justices of the Peace, and to give the accused in certain classes of case the option of trial by this means. I also wonder whether, in some classes of case, the accused might be given the option of trial before the Supreme Court with a jury, rather than trial before a magistrate's court or District Court at the moment, it is the prosecution rather than the defence that choose the forum in many classes of case.
3. Shorthand writers (paragraphs 5 and 6)
I would agree that the absence of shorthand writers in District Courts should not prevent those Courts from functioning properly and that the judge's notes and verdict should provide adequate material for an appeal. Nevertheless for the judge to have to take a detailed note of all the evidence must, I should think, slow down the proceedings considerably and the provision of additional shorthand writers is to be welcomed.
4.
Legal Aid (paragraph 8)
If legal aid is available to about half the criminal trials before District Courts, it is less limited than has been made out. I do not
CONFIDENTIAL
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