12
Law, Order and Records
THE Courts of Justice in Hong Kong are the Full Court, the Supreme Court, the District Court, the Magistrate's Court and the Tenancy Tribunal. The rapid changes in the social and economic structure of the Colony and in the size and distribution of the population have necessitated the creation of additional courts. In 1964, the Judiciary consisted of the Chief Justice and five puisne judges, six district judges, 28 magistrates and the Tenancy Tribunal. District judges sit in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories; and magistrates sit at the Central Magistracy, Causeway Bay, South Kowloon, North Kowloon, and Fanling and Tsuen Wan in the New Territories. New magistracies in the Western District of Hong Kong Island, Tsim Sha Tsui and Kwun Tong on the mainland are expected to be opened early in 1965. In addition to the regular Magistrates' Courts on Hong Kong Island, there is a Justice of the Peace Court composed of two justices of the peace sitting together four afternoons a week. One of the justices is usually a solicitor. The Tenancy Tribunal deals with matters arising under the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance and their work is described in chapter 9.
The magistrates may exercise criminal jurisdiction over a wide range of indictable offences as well as summary offences; but in the case of indictable offences their powers of punishment are restricted generally to a maximum of two years imprisonment or $2,000 fine for any one offence unless the law in regard to any particular offence prescribes that they may award some higher penalty. When trying two or three offences together, cumulative sentences of imprison- ment imposed by them may not exceed three years. The substantial increase in the number of cases dealt with by the magistrates during 1964 was partly due to the greater number of traffic offences.
The magistrates hold preliminary enquiries to decide whether persons accused of the most serious offences should be committed to trial at the criminal sessions of the Supreme Court. They also transfer various cases of a serious nature to the District Court on the