but conceded
Mint he did not know How the average
Chinese litigant
would bek
at humalar »
For any case TheSuld hardly apply to apply to Excilactions
an expatriak Member of fut Service with
no local connexions
might appear
Most Impachalf
han an ex- Twonker of her
Local Bar.
each Occamping and would have bö
be concue te
basis
AA
1
informal
3. The Hong Kong Bar consisted of forty members of whom five were
Eurasians, approximately ten were European and the remainder were Chinese.
Out of a total of twenty-eight Magistrates five were Chinese: local
appointments did not, of course, carry fringe benefits. Out of a total of
eight Supreme Court judges, none were Chinese, whilst one of the eight
District Court judges was: Chinese.
4. Sir James McPetrie said that the small number of Chinese Magistrates was
not due to any lack of endeavour on the part of the Hong Kong Government. He Juncosoft Supreme Comit another Dixhiel-Convl-w considered that if the Bench of sixteen persone was /to be appointed entirely
s/to
from the Bar of forty persons, it would be extremely difficult to maintain
clarthed her
va
the necessary standard, of appointment. He thought that the point about
The appearance of preserving impartiality had been somewhat over-stated since the Crown was
The Minisin & Stiense event involved on the civil side. Moreover, an expatria judge
snis lur
1757
was more likely to be impartial in givit actions in a small Community He
was doubtful whether expatriate members of the Hong Kong Bar were any more expatiate likely to be familiar with the Chinese way of life and thought than members
Serice
of the Legal Department. My de Basto chsagreed.
5.
The Minister thought that it should be possible to devise an
administrative arrangement whereby the Bar Association could-be put forward
to the Governor or the Chief Justice the names of those persons of the Bar
Association who might wish to be considered for appointment to the Supreme
Court Bench. Sir James thought that an
Thee To
Comaltators
any such arrangement would need to be
ad hoc beats to safeguard against the possibility of any leakage
information. If the idea of making appointments to the Bench from the Bar
were to be considered, it would be natural to wish to appoint the most able
of those members. Whether such members would regard the emoluments of a
Supreme Court judge as sufficiently attractive to persuade them to forego
their income at the Bar, was a matter of some doubt. Mr. de Basto thought
that if the fringe benefits such as free passages and childrem allowances of
760 pɛs traß Supreme Court judges were taken into account, then the total emoluments of
comparable Bar and Bench might well prove to be very similor,
6.
The prosecution of criminal cases to be conducted by members of the Bar
Mr. de Basto said that during 1967, a total of eleven cases was
entrusted to members of the Bar for prosecution in the Supreme Court. All
others were conducted by full-time Civil Servants. His Association were of
/the
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