TNAG-0085-FCO40-121-Reform-of-the-Administration-of-Law-1968 — Page 16

HONG KONG BAR ASSOCIATION

3.

(g)

I think I also expressed the view on behalf of the Bar that, in future, recruitment to the lower echelons of the Overseas Judiciary and the Colonial Legal Service ought to be on contract rather than on a permanent pensionable basis, and that it would be desirable to make it clear to intending applicants that whilst there may be a possibility of their being appointed at some future date to the bench of the superior courts, any such prospect was only a possibility and that no guarantee could be given that merely by effluxion of time (i.e., by seniority) they were likely to attain high judicial office.

The Bar is of the view that, except in rare cases, the present system of promotion in the Judiciary in Hong Kong is highly undesirable, especially from the point of view of the independence of the Judiciary. promotion postulates a "promoter".

Every

(h) Although we reached a measure of agreement on the matters above, you may agree with me that the ideal aim would be to ensure that eventually all appointments to the bench are made from the practising Bar. You mentioned that the main difficulty in recruiting judges to the superior courts from the local Bar was that if this were to happen, it might have an adverse effect on recruitment in the lower echelons of the Judiciary: but I think you will also agree with me that under our system of law a strong Bench postulates a strong Bar and that unless the more eminent members of the practising Bar in Hong Kong have some prospects of appointment to the bench with the security that that position entails, then recruitment into the Bar itself would eventually be adversely affected (if it has not already been so affected).

(i) In England many of the more eminent members of the Bar, especially Her Majesty's Counsel, are appointed as Recorders, Chairmen of Quarter Sessions, as well as Chairmen of various Commissions, Committees and Boards appointed by the Government. The Bar feels that its members are particularly suited for this type of work, and this has been appreciated in England. In Hong Kong, out of the 86 Government appointed Committees, Boards, Councils, etc. listed in the Civil and Miscellaneous Lists of the Hong Kong Government for 1967, only one practising barrister sits as Chairman of a Board, namely the Board of Review (Inland Revenue). A barrister is, by training, inclined to probe, analyse and where justified, to criticise, but it appears that the Hong Kong Government is a little apprehensive of these virtues! As you may be aware, no practising member of the Bar is now a member of the Legislative or Executive Councils.