To:
The Honcurable
Sir Denys Roberts K.B.E.
Chief Justice of Hong Kong.
c/c Supreme Court Hong Kong
17th December 1986
I am
I now have the honour to submit this Report to you.
also carrying out your decision to distribute it fairly widely and I respectfully agree with that decision.
No person and no organisation could be beyond criticism in a
study of efficiency. Commentators, whether informed or uninformed,
especially the latter, will do well to think how they or their
organisations would show up in an intensive scrutiny. Few people enjoy
an inquiry into the way their organisation works but are usually
without a plausible way of preventing one. In the case of a judiciary
there are quite strong contrary arguments of substance arising from its
place in the constitution and its lack of a platform from which to
defend itself. The risk of an exposure of the workings is that the
public might be led to draw false inferences from isolated points and
see defects in the system as faults in the judges. The danger is that
an inquiry might do more harm to the whole community than any good in terms of improved administration that might ensue.
examination
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That was not a risk in Hong Kong. In the course of my informed as it has been by my experience in the United Kingdom and my knowledge of the United States - and during a great deal of discussion I have not seen the slightest sign that the Hong Kong Judiciary falls short of the highest standards of Judicial quality, probity and integrity. This Judiciary has its place with the best nctwithstanding the speed at which it has had to develop in order to keep pace with the growth and development of Hong Kong. Moreover, the
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