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LAW, ORDER AND RECORDS
Court, giving the public a simpler and abbreviated method of bringing to trial civil disputes in which the value of the subject matter was small. The use which is being made of the District Court may be judged from the increase in the number of actions instituted. In 1953, the Court's first year of operation, there were 2,259 such actions. This figure increased to 5,253 in 1960 and to 6,921 in 1961.
The Tenancy Tribunal deals with matters arising under the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, which provides for a measure of control over domestic and business premises erected before 17th August 1945. This Tribunal is responsible for inquiring into, and making recommendations on, applications for exemption from the provisions of the Ordinance where it is considered desirable that land should be developed. In recent years the Tribunal's recommendations in this regard have generally been accepted; and this has made possible the vast rebuilding programme which Hong Kong has witnessed since 1945. As each old structure is demolished, it has been replaced, in most cases, by multi-storey apartments or tenement flats. Each separate unit is disposed of in many cases even before the buildings are completed and there is now a new type of landowner in Hong Kong, namely the owner of a flat. The number of ‘exemption' cases which came before the Tenancy Tribunal in 1959 was 106. The corresponding figure in 1960 was 226, and in 1961 561.
The Legal Profession. Legal practitioners in Hong Kong are admitted and enrolled under the provisions of the Legal Practi- tioners Ordinance either as barristers or as solicitors. Consequently the profession is separated as in England.
A barrister has a general right of audience before all courts in the Colony, but a solicitor has no right of audience before the Full Court and his right of audience before the Supreme Court is confined to appeals from magistrates and bankruptcy petitions heard before a single judge. Control over members of both branches of the profession is exercised by the Supreme Court. Each branch of the profession is separately organized into a Bar Association and a Law Society, and there are now 28 barristers and 113 solicitors practising in Hong Kong.
The Crown is represented in the profession by the Law Officers, namely the Attorney General and the Solicitor General, who must