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Chief Secretary on Court of Final Appeal
Following is the speech by the Chief Secretary, the Hon Mrs Anson Chan, in the Legislative Council motion debate on the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) today (Wednesday):
Mr President,
Introduction
All of us know that one of the key elements of Hong Kong's success has been the rule of law and judicial independence. Both the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law specifically provide for the continuation of these systems beyond 1 July 1997, with one important change. Appeals from the courts of Hong Kong may currently be made to the Privy Council in London, but this arrangement must cease not later than 1 July 1997. Both the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law state that the power of final adjudication of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) shall be vested in the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) of the Region, which may as required invite judges from other common law jurisdictions to sit on it.
Early Establishment of the CFA
The Joint Declaration and the Basic Law both provide that the CFA would be in operation in Hong Kong after 30 June 1997. But after the Joint Declaration was signed in 1984, it became clear to us that it would be much more sensible to set it up before 1997. If this was not done, there would be a period both before and after 30 June 1997 when it would not be possible to seek a final adjudication. Before 30 June 1997, because cases can take up to a year to be heard by the Privy Council. After that date, because it would obviously take the SAR Government some time to set up the CFA. That was why we began negotiations with the Chinese side in 1988.
The 1991 JLG Agreement
In September 1991, after the subject had been discussed by the two Prime Ministers in Peking, we reached an agreement in the Joint Liaison Group (JLG) on the early establishment of the CFA before 1997, including an agreement on the composition of the Court. According to this agreement, the CFA, in every sitting, should be composed of the Chief Justice, 3 permanent Hong Kong judges, who could be either local or expatriate, and 1 non-permanent judge selected from either a list of non-permanent Hong Kong judges or from a separate list of judges from other common-law jurisdictions.