TNAG-0085-FCO40-121-Reform-of-the-Administration-of-Law-1968 — Page 15

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HONG KONG BAR ASSOCIATION

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(a) I think I also mentioned in London that the Bar hoped that from henceforth onward the determining factor in all appointments to, and promotions in, the Judiciary should be based purely on merit and not on seniority, either in the Overseas Judiciary or the Colonial Legal Service.

(e) I think we also discussed the question of how His Excellency the Governor would, in the future, ascertain whether a particular appointment or promotion he proposed to make in the Judiciary would command the respect of the practising Bar. I pointed out that in England the Lord Chancellor, immediately prior to his appointment as such, was almost invariably a practising barrister and would know, from his practice extending over many years, whether a particular appointee commanded the respect of his colleagues. In addition, I pointed

out that the Lord Chancellor had some 13 barristers attached to his Office whose views he was in a position to ask.

I went on to point out that in Hong Kong the Governor did not have this advantage and that His Excellency the Governor might wish to ascertain the views of the Bar as to whether a particular appointment would command the respect of the Bar. I think you agreed with this, but we did not discuss the manner in which the Governor would ascertain the Bar's views. You might feel that the Governor, in such cases, might with advantage seek the confidential views of the Chairman of the Bar Association.

(f) If any member of the practising Bar were to be appointed to the bench of the superior courts then the question of the pension rate would arise and I pointed out that for members of the Judiciary in England the pension rate accrued at a much faster scale than in the civil service and that if members of the Bar were to be at all induced to accept appointments a similar system would have to be adopted in Hong Kong. I also mentioned that insofar as appointments from the local Bar are concerned, the question of the retiring age would have to be reconsidred, especially in view of the fact that no member of the Bar who accepted a substantive appointment to the bench of the superior courts could, on retirement from the bench, ever practise before those Courts as a barrister again.

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