CONFIDENTIAL
A
B
4.
Personal
references
apart, Mr
Justice
variety of
His first
Jackson-Lipkin's two latest letters cover a
subjects affecting Hong Kong's judiciary.
letter, marked confidential, touches on the policy of
localisation in the civil service. His second letter,
marked secret, raises more sensitive issues,
issues, relating to
the retirement ages of judges of the Hong Kong Supreme
Court and the Hong Kong Government's plans to localise the
judiciary.
5.
The present position is that the Hong Kong judiciary are overwhelmingly expatriate. The Hong Kong Government are
keen to achieve a better balance between locals and
expatriates by 1997: they do not intend, nor believe it
practicable, to aim at full localisation of the judiciary
by 1997 (or
(or in the foreseeable future beyond that date).
To this end Hong Kong have drawn up draft proposals to:
(a)
increase Supreme Court judges' retirement ages from
65 to 68, both for serving judges and future
appointees;
(b)
increase District Court judges' retirement ages from 60 to 65, for future appointees only; and
(c)
improve judicial pensions.
in combination will
local
The HKG believe that these proposals
both attract and retain the services of suitable
members of the Hong Kong Bar, and will ensure that those
found suitable to do so progress from the District to the
Supreme Court over the next 11 years.
CONFIDENTIAL