CAP. 338]
Small Claims Tribunal
[1986 Ed.
Establishment of tribunal.
Appointment of adjudicators.
(Cap. 11.)
Appointment and powers of deputy adjudicators.
PART II
CONSTITUTION OF TRIBUNAL
3. (1) There is hereby established a tribunal to be known as the Small Claims Tribunal and to be known in the Chinese language as “小額錢債審裁處”
(2) The tribunal, which shall consist of such adjudicators as may be appointed under section 4, shall be a court of record with such jurisdiction and powers as are conferred on it by this or any other Ordinance.
(3) All proceedings in the tribunal shall be heard and determined by an adjudicator sitting alone.
(4) The tribunal shall have a seal of a design approved by the Chief Justice, and all awards, orders, summonses, and other processes of the tribunal shall be sealed therewith.
4. (1) The Governor shall appoint such number of adjudicators as he considers necessary.
(2) No person shall be appointed to be an adjudicator unless he is qualified to practise as a barrister, solicitor or advocate in a court in Hong Kong, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, or some other part of the Commonwealth, or the Republic of Ireland, having unlimited jurisdiction either in civil or criminal matters.
(3) An adjudicator shall be known in the Chinese language as “審裁官”
(4) Subject to subsection (5), an appointment made under subsection (1) may be given retrospective effect.
(5) No person appointed as an adjudicator shall discharge any judicial function before the date of the instrument by which he is appointed or before the requirements of section 17 of the Oaths and Declarations Ordinance have been fulfilled.
4A. (1) If the Chief Justice considers it desirable so to do, he may appoint a person who is qualified under section 4(2), to be a deputy adjudicator for such period as the Chief Justice may think fit.
(2) A deputy adjudicator shall, during the period for which he is appointed, have all the jurisdiction, powers and privileges, and perform all the duties of the office of adjudicator.
(3) Where the hearing of any proceedings duly commenced before a deputy adjudicator is adjourned or where judgment is reserved therein or is subject to review, the deputy adjudicator shall have power to resume the hearing and determine the proceedings or to deliver as the judgment of the tribunal the judgment which he has reserved or to review the judgment or decision which he has given if such review is otherwise authorized, as the case may be, notwithstanding that before the hearing is resumed or judgment is delivered
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