!
12
For 14 years
King's Advocate of Cyprus, and from December 1906 to 1912 Attorney General of Hong Kong. therefore he must have done the Crown Court work in
those three places and as it happens that Bahamas and Cyprus are two of the limited number of Colonies etc. where the Law Officer is permitted private practice he no doubt had a considerable share of the private
1906. work going in Bahamas and Cyprus from 1898 -
Although therefore his English practice may
not have amounted to much he must have had a considerable and varied Colonial practice, albeit of
not so important a nature that he might have had
durcis
through the like period in England, and he cannot be represented as Mr. Sharp and others in Hong Kong appear to represent him as being a Judge who has had n practical experience at the Bar whatever,
As we all know, his deafness has been somewhat of a handicap to him and I suspect that this failing coupled with an easy-going disposition tends to result in his being unable to pull up counsel in time and so the argument is allowed to go off into irrelevant or side issues.
XY
He has however had a good record all through his Colonial career and in the last 17 years I have never heard a single complaint against him either as Law Officer or Judge until now.
!
ofn
Mr. Gompertz entered the Eastern Service
as a Cadet and has presumably had no practice of
He was called at Lincoln's any kind at the Bar.
Inn in 1899 and shortly afterwards became a magistrate in Hong Kong. He has been puisne Judge there since
March 1909.
I know little of him myself but Sir J.
Bucknilla shrewd but rather patronizing critic)
when Attorney General of Hong Kong told me that
encias no Ma
can be accutioned
!
tha427
for a "book-made" lawyer 'r.Gompertz was a very competent Judge. In his case also I must say this is the first time I remember any complaint as to
his work on the Bench.
In the case of both Judges it must be remembered that they took the Hong Kong system and
practice as they found it, Woth being familiar
with the local conditions before they became Judges, that
-
the delays in litigation and the prolixity of counsel
are not new evils which have crept in owing to their
particular laxity on the Bench Er Gompertz says the present state of affairs has prevailed ever since he
first came to the Colony in 1897 in Sir J.Carrington's
ime and though stronger Judges might perhaps have
attempted sua sponte to reform the system before now it must not be pressed too hardly against the present Judges that they have carried on on the same lines
as their predecessors and have not instituted reforms
for which until now no public or professional demand has been made, which moreover they had no reason to
suppose would be welcomedor supported by the legal
profession.
Now however that the demand has been made
(and by both branches of the profession) I think it is only fair that the Chief Justice should be told confidentially that not only the solicitors (se enclosure 4 paragraph 4) but also ( a fact of which he is entire ignorance) the barristers themselves, who have communicated their views privately to the
Some of
demend
JA
Xx
Governor, that the Judges shall curb the prolixity and irrelevance of counsel and refuse applications for adjournment save in exceptional cases!
I hope that, armed with this knowledge, the Chief Justice will then be able to take steps to deal
effectually with the members of the Hong Kong Bar who
by
for
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