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MR.
MARTIN LEE :
Sir,I
thank the Attorney General for
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giving us a very preciśè and helpful historical background
of this Bill in his speech made on 1 June 1988 when he
moved the Second Reading of this Bill.
In its final form, and in the light of amendments
which will be moved in Committee, this Bill is in my view
beneficial to the community of Hong Kong. Indeed, it has
the full support of the Hong Kong Bar Association and the
Law Society of Hong Kong. And I have been asked by the
representatives of these professional bodies to express in
this Council their appreciation of the efforts put into
this Bill by
of Bill by both members
the the ad hoc group and
Administration.
Sir, it is necessary to remind ourselves that on separate two occasions two very basic principles of our system of
criminal justice had been threatened. First, the Trial of
Commercial Crimes
Crimes Bill
Bill 1985, which is the predecessor of the present Bill, proposed the abolition of the jury for
the trial of complex commercial crimes and substituted it
with two commercial adjudicators sitting with a judge.
And So the jury system which
which is the corner stone of our
criminal justice in Hong Kong was being rocked to its very
foundation.
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