HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
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that Ordinance shall be, as nearly as possible, the same as the practice and procedure in criminal causes and matters in the High Court of Justice and the Courts of Assize in England.
2. It contains no provision for special rules of practice in criminal cases, though a limited power to make such rules is given by section 32 of the Supreme Court Ordinance (No. 3 of 1873).
3.
Other Ordinances, notably the Probates Ordinance (No. 2 of 1897, s. 74), dealing with special classes of court procedure, make provision for the making of such rules in respect of proceedings to which the Ordinances relate.
4. As the principal object of this amending Ordinance is to make provision for criminal appeals in this Colony on the lines of the Criminal Appeal Act, 1907, in England and the Criminal Appeal Ordinance, 1931, in the Straits Settlements, both of which have provisions relating to rules of court, it appears desirable to amend section 10 of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance. This is done by section 2 of the Amending Ordinance. A feature of the new section 10 is the provision for assigning counsel and solicitors as legal aids in capital cases, cases reserved and appeal cases. It has been the practice to so assign them in capital cases only. Provision is now made for some extension of the practice so as to correspond with the provision made in England by section 10 of the Criminal Appeal Act, 1907, and in the Straits Settlements by section 12 of Ordinance No. 5 of 1931.
5. Section 3 of the amending Ordinance introduces new headings and sections 78A, 78B and 78C into the principal Ordinance. Section 78, which provided for reservation of questions of law, is retained as it enables the judge to reserve a question either on his own motion or at the request of either party. The new sections 78A and 78C enact, generally, the provisions of sections 3, 4, 5, 6 (2), 7, 9, 11 and 14 of the Criminal Appeal Act, 1907, except that the Full Court is given, as under section 78, power to direct a new trial and that the provision against separate judgments is derived from section 3 (6) of the Straits Settlements Ordinance, No. 5 of 1931. Another material variation from the model appears in the new section 78A (1) (c) where the words "or upon the certificate of the judge who tried him" have been inserted at the suggestion of the judges who consider that the trial judge should have the power to issue such a certificate.
6. The Court which will hear the criminal appeal will be the Full Court as defined and constituted by the Full Court Ordinances No. 27 of 1912 and No. 35 of 1931 which are being consolidated and amended, under another bill which has been approved by the Secretary of State in his despatch of the 24th August, 1932.
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