TNAG-0305-FCO40-341-Use-of-Chinese-as-official-language-in-Hong-Kong-1971 — Page 101

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'No equal status' for Chinese in legal system

The Chinese language cannot be given equal status with English in the courts under the present legal system, the Chinese Language Committee said in its third report published yesterday.

This is because the law of Hongkong is the product of many centuries of English history and jurisprudence, and includes English case law dating back to the 13th century. "The Committee considers, therefore, that it is practicably possible to translate all those relevant laws and decisions into Chinese," the report says.

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The Commitee does rot recommend extensive use of Chinese in the District Court, Supreme Court and quasi- judicial bodies of comparable ranks.

But it suggests magistrates be given the discretion to decide whether the spoken word in their courts should be in Chinese, English, or both languages.

Similar arrangements should also apply in juvenile courts and tenancy tribunals.

Shortage

The Committee points out that according to judicial statistics for 1969-70, more than 96 per cent of cases heard in all courts were dealt with in the magistracies.

The report also :otes that there is a shortage of Chinese- speaking judicial officers and urges that consideration be given to the possibility of reviving Justices of the Peace courts presided over by Chinese- speaking JPs as a means of helping to implement recommendation.

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The majority of the Committee recommends that all Hongkong ordinances and relevant subsidiary legislation should be translated into Chinese and that all future legislation should also be published in both English and Chinese.

It also calls for Chinese translation of explanatory booklets of those ordinances affecting the daily life of the public and titles of all existing

and subsidiary

ordinances legislation.

Other recommendations by the Committee are:

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• Compilation of comprehensive glossary of legal terms found in the ordinances and subsidiary legislation.

Pleadings in Chinese made not legally by litigants represented should be accepted by all the courts. Chinese be documents should also

(Conal on Back Page, Col 6) -

S. C. M. D

78 JUL 1679

No equal status

(Contd from Page 1)

accepted as evidence without certified translations,

Statutory declarations should be recorded in the language in which they are ...ade.

All statements made to the and police by suspects prospective witnesses should be taken down in the language in which they are made.

• Correspondence between the courts and Chinese- speaking members of the public may be conducted in Chinese, while the more technical exchanges should be written in both English and Chinese, with English as the prevailing

version, if necessary.

• Government licences, certificates and non-statutory standard forms (except those not directly affecting the public) should be issued in both Chinese and English and. both versions should be equally authoritative.

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@Letters from Government departments to Chinese- speaking members of the public on legal matters should be written in Chinese, with an English translation with the proviso that in the case of dispute the latter should prevail.

The Committee estimates that 57 interpreters-translators will be required to carry out these recommendations and the total recurrent cost will be about $437,000 a year, within the available resources of Hongkong.

It also suggests these recommendations should be implemented after the recommendations in its second report have been carried out.

The Committee hopes to complete its work within the next few months by submitting its final report to the Governor.

At a press conference in the evening, Judge T. L. Yang, who heads the Committee's Legal Sub-committee. noted that mor¢ Cantonese-speaking magistrates, not necessarily Chinese, would be recruited if the recommendations of the Committee were accepted.

A magistrate would have to translate his own notes into English should he decide that the spoken part of the proceedings sould be done in Chinese.

Meanwhile, the Language Action Committee of the Hongkong Federation of Students questioned the validity of the meaning of "equal status" as used in the Committee report.

It pointed out that unequal usage in the courts did not prevent Chinese from being given an overall official status jequal to that of English.

The HKFS asked the Chinese Language Committee to reconsider this problem and take steps to declare both Chinese and English the official languages of Hongkong.