XN000022-1991-12-04 — Page 5

-

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1991

APPEAL

SOME HERE TODAY, HAVE CAST DOUBT ON THE QUALITY OF THE COURT OF FINAL APPEAL BY NOTING THE NUMBER OF DECISIONS OF THE COURT OF

THERE PRIVY COUNCIL. THAT

BEEN REVERSED BY THE HAVE IMPLICATION THAT THE JUDGES OF OUR COURT OF APPEAL WOULD NOT SUFFICIENT CALIBRE TO SIT IN THE COURT OF FINAL APPEAL.

I

HAVE

IS THE BE OF

DIFFICULTY ADJUDICATION

IN

IN

DEPUTY MR

PRESIDENT,

CONSIDERABLE UNDERSTANDING THAT POINT. FIRSTLY, COURTS OF FINAL MANY PLACES ARE, ON THE WHOLE, MANNED BY JUDGES WHO HAVE REACHED THEIR MOST POSITIONS BY WAY OF PROMOTION, USUALLY FROM A COURT OF APPEAL. MEMBERS OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL PREVIOUSLY SERVED IN LOWER COURTS, IN THE THE ENGLISH COURT OF APPEAL. SO THERE IS NOTHING NOVEL IN PROVIDING

DRAWN FROM OUR OWN COURT OF FINAL

WITH A CORE OF JUDGES APPEAL

HAVE BEEN EXCELLENT COURT OF APPEAL. SECONDLY, IF THE DOUBTS THAT

THE EXPRESSED THIS EVENING ARE INTENDED TO REFLECT ON THE QUALITY OF HONG KONG COURT OF APPEAL, THEN I MUST STATE, QUITE EMPHATICALLY, THAT I DON'T SHARE THEM.

THE

THAT

SOME OF A COURT

OF

ARE JUDGMENTS APPEAL'S FACT

A JUDICIAL REVERSED AT A HIGHER LEVEL IS AN INESCAPABLE FEATURE OF

IT IS INEVITABLE THAT SYSTEM WHERE THERE IS A HIERARCHY OF COURTS,

THE FACT SOME DECISIONS WILL BE REVERSED OR VARIED AT A HIGHER LEVEL.

OR THE THAT THIS OCCURS SHOULD NOT BE USED TO CRITICISE THE SYSTEM,

THAT COURTS, OR THE JUDGES, RATHER IT SHOULD BE USED AS AN INDICATOR THE SYSTEM TO WHICH WE ALL ATTACH SO MUCH IMPORTANCE, AND RIGHTLY IS WORKING PROPERLY. JUDICIAL REVERSAL AT A HIGHER LEVEL ALL REPUTABLE JURISDICTIONS,

THE STATISTICS QUOTED TO THIS COUNCIL TODAY DO NO ILLUSTRATE WHAT I HAVE SAID.

So,

OCCURS IN

MORE THAN

LED TOO FAR BY WHILST I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT WE SHOULD BE

OF HONG STATISTICS, THEY CERTAINLY CANNOT BE USED TO THE DETRIMENT KONG'S COURT OF APPEAL.

KONG

MEMBERS HAVE BEEN GIVEN FIGURES FOR APPEALS FROM THE HONG

BY WAY COURT

OF COMPARISON, OF APPEAL TO THE PRIVY COUNCIL, AND APPEALS FROM THE ENGLISH COURT OF APPEAL TO THE HOUSE OF LORDS FOR THE BE WILL DOUBTLESS FIVE YEARS

AS MEMBERS BETWEEN 1986 AND 1990. AWARE. APPEALS FROM THE ENGLISH COURT OF APPEAL LIE TO THE APPELLATE SAME COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS, WHICH CONSISTS LARGELY OF THE JUDGES WHO SIT IN THE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL. THE PRIVY COUNCIL HEARS AN APPEAL FROM HONG KONG, WE ARE IN HAVING OUR CASE DECIDED BY THE JUDGES OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

WHEN

EFFECT

AND

THE FIGURES SHOW THAT FOR BOTH COURTS OF APPEAL, HONG KONG

IN THE ENGLAND, ABOUT 60% OF THEIR JUDGMENTS WERE UPHELD ON APPEAL. YEAR 1990, THE LAST COMPLETE YEAR FOR WHICH FIGURES ARE AVAILABLE, 45% AND WALES WERE OF THE JUDGMENTS OF THE COURT OF APPEAL IN ENGLAND REVERSED BY THE HOUSE OF LORDS, WHILE THE FIGURE FOR HONG KONG'S COURT OF APPEAL WAS ONLY 20%. AND PUT THE OTHER WAY AROUND, IN OTHER WORDS BY 78% OF THE JUDGMENTS OF OUR COURT OF APPEAL LAST YEAR WERE UPHELD THE PRIVY COUNCIL. SOMEHOW THAT TRACK RECORD IN RELATION TO HONG KONG CAN SERIOUSLY IS USED TO SUGGEST SOME INFERIOR QUALITY. YET NO ONE

COURT OF APPEAL; AND LEVEL THAT

THE SAME REMEMBER THAT APPEALS FROM BOTH COURTS GO, ESSENTIALLY, TO

AGAINST ACCUSATION

THE ENGLISH

JUDGES.

/I BELIEVE