TNAG-0085-FCO40-121-Reform-of-the-Administration-of-Law-1968 — Page 50

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HONG KONG BAR ASSOCIATION

GERALD DE BASTO, Q.C.

SECRETARY:

HENRY LITTON

SECRETARY'S CHAMBERS

218 MARINA HOUSE

HỒNG KONG

TELEPHONE: H-230425

1

of

The Rt. Hon. The Lord Shepherd, Commonwealth Relation's Office, Whitehall,

LONDON, S.W. 1.

Dear Lord Shepherd,

8th July, 1968.

I hope to be in London at the end of July or early August and there are a number of matters which I would very much like to discuss with you in some depth. These include:-

(i)

The appointment of practising barristers from the Hongkong Bar to the Bench of the Superior Courts of Hongkong (where no suitable . candidates are available for, or willing to accept, such appointments in Hongkong, then appointments to the Bench be made from practising members of the English Bar).

(ii) The present policy of entrusting

the prosecution of criminal cases to full time civil servants (except for occasional prosecutions by barristers in private practice) should be discontinued and that all criminal prosecutions, other than by police officers, should be conducted by members of the practising Bar of Hongkong.

(iii) That the present system of inter-

changeability between members of the Legal Department and the Judiciary be abolished.

You will appreciate that what the Bar is asking for in items (i), (ii) and (iii) above is that the English practice in these matters be adopted in Hongkong.

2/....

BAR COMMITTEE

GERALD DE BASTO

JOHN J. SWAINE

WILLIAM CHAN • ROBERT WEI • RICHARD MILLS-OWENS