Enclosure 2.
C.O.
27756
157
REC
Chambers,
REG219 AUG 09
Supreme Court, Hongkong,
19th June, 1909.
Sir,
In reply to Your Excellency's letter submitting for my opinion a draft Ordinance for amending the law as to trial by jury, enclosed in a letter from the Secretary to the Chamber of Commerce, in which it is said to be advisable to pass such an Ordinance, I have the honour to report as follows:-
I have not heard anything, apart from this letter, which leads me to suppose that the present state of the law as to trial by jury is very unsatisfactory to the mercantile community. The present law is the same as the law of England on the subject; and is hardly stated accurately in the letter of the Secretary to the Chamber of Commerce. Sections 289 and 291 of the Code of Civil Procedure do not give any discretion to the Judge to allow or refuse an application for trial.
The discretion of the Judge is governed by Section 290, and I am of opinion that it would not be expedient to alter the law which, as it exists at present, is in accordance with modern views on the subject.
I have etc.,
(sgd.) F. T. Piggott,
Chief Justice.
His Excellency
Sir Frederick Lugard, K.C.M.G., Governor of Hongkong.