JUSTICE, POLICE, PRISONS AND RECORDS
criminal jurisdiction greater than those of Magistrates; these powers enable them to try certain cases which would otherwise have to be committed to the Sessions.
There were 243 cases instituted in the Summary Court from the beginning of the year up to the time it was superceded, on the 18th February, by the District Court. From that date, until the end of the year, 897 cases were instituted in the Hong Kong Court and 1,119 in Kowloon. The number of actions instituted in the District Court and old Summary Court for the year was 2,259. This constitutes a record for the post-war period.
The establishment of a District Court in Kowloon was an innovation, as facilities had never been provided before in the Colony for litigants to seek legal redress in civil proceedings in Kowloon. That this has proved of benefit to the public is shown by the fact that the Kowloon Court instituted over 1,100 actions during the year, 222 more than the Hong Kong Court for the same period.
In its criminal jurisdiction the Hong Kong Court tried 140 and convicted 100 persons, while the figures for the Kowloon Court were 83 persons tried and 78 convicted.
The Lower Courts. There are four magistrate's courts on the Island and three in Kowloon. The latter hear cases from the whole mainland area south of the Kowloon hills. There is also a Justices of the Peace Court, composed of two unofficial Justices of the Peace sitting together five afternoons a week, one of whom is usually a solicitor. This court, inaugurated in 1948, continues to be a great success and of great help to the Magistrates by relieving them of much extra work. For in- stance, during 1953 most of the 31,906 summonses issued by the Hong Kong Magistracy were heard by the Justices, consisting of eleven solicitors and thirty-eight laymen.
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