THE LEGAL SYSTEM
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In addition to the professional magistrates, there are 11 Special Magistrates who are not legally qualified. They handle routine cases, such as littering and minor traffic offences, and their powers of sentence are limited to fining up to $20,000. They are all Cantonese speaking and conduct their cases in that language.
In addition to the principal courts of civil and criminal jurisdiction, there are five specialised tribunals. The Coroner's Court handles enquiries into unusual circumstances causing death; the Small Claims Tribunal hears civil claims up to a limit of $15,000; the Labour Tribunal hears individual civil claims arising from contracts of employment, and the Lands Tribunal has jurisdiction in matters of rating and valuation and in assessing compensation when land is resumed by government or reduced in value by development. Finally, the Obscene Articles Tribunal has jurisdiction to determine whether or not an article is obscene and to classify it into statutory categories of acceptability or otherwise.
The Small Claims and Labour Tribunals provide the public with inexpensive recourse to litigation, as their proceedings are informally conducted and professional representation is not permitted.
The official language of the court is English in the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the District Court; in the other courts and tribunals the court may use Chinese. Whichever language is used, a party or witness in any court in Hong Kong may use Chinese or English or any other language permitted by the court.
Attorney General
The Attorney General is the Governor's legal adviser. The Royal Instructions provide for him to be an ex-officio member of both the Executive Council and the Legislative Council. He is chairman of the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong and a member of both the Judicial Services Commission and Operations Review and Complaints Committees of the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
The Attorney General is chairman of the Legal Affairs Policy Group, one of several policy bodies established under the umbrella of the Chief Secretary's Committee to bring together branch secretaries in related programme areas. The group plays an important co-ordinating role in legal policy matters, decision-making and allocation of responsibility for further legislative initiatives which have a substantial legal policy content. Often, the group will call upon the Attorney General to take responsibility as sponsor and spokesman for legislative proposals to be submitted to the Executive and Legislative Councils.
All government departments requiring legal advice receive it from the Attorney General. He is the representative of the Crown in all actions brought by or against the Crown and he is responsible for the drafting of all legislation and for the conduct of all prosecutions.
The Attorney General's Chambers has six divisions, five of which are headed by a Law Officer to whom the Attorney General delegates certain of his powers and responsibilities. The Civil Division is headed by the Crown Solicitor, who is responsible for giving legal advice in civil matters and conducting all civil litigation involving the Crown. The Prosecutions Division is headed by the Crown Prosecutor who has the conduct of criminal proceedings. The Crown Prosecutor is commonly known as the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Law Drafting Division is headed by the Law Draftsman who is responsible for drafting all legislation and subsidiary legislation. The Solicitor General heads the Legal Policy Division which includes the Law Reform Commission Secretariat. He also has responsibilities for counsel who advise the Urban and Regional Councils. The