TNAG-0398-FCO40-444-Appointments-to-supreme-and-district-courts-from-the-Bar-in--1973 — Page 81

16. $1

21 FEB 1773

HKK

1214/170

From: Peter Rees, Q.C., M.P.

00000

HOUSE OF COMMONS LONDON SWIA OAA

Dow Thy

21

о

Rec. and Ack. 2

H.k. J.O.

Department

for draft eply please

from Ho Rage.

20th February, 1973.

You may possibly remember that when you talked to the Hong Kong Parliamentary Group I raised with you privately the question of appointments to the Hong Kong Bench. This is a topic which 1 took up with Alec in October but, as one would expect from someone who has such very wide commitments, I received a rather non- committal reply obviously giving the Civil Service point of view. i have been galvanised into writing to you again as a result of further correspondence with my contacts in the legal world in Hong Kong.

There is a feeling in the legal world

of Hong Kong that it would not be inappropriate if one or two appointments were made

made to the Hong Kong Bench from the Bar - possibly from both the Hong Kong and the English Bar.

As you obviously know, the present system of judicial appointments in Hong Kong dates from imperial days when most Colonies were fairly primitive, the work was predominantly criminal and there were virtually no local Bars,

Hong Kong is now, of course, an extremely sophisticated community generating a number of civil and particularly commercial cases, with a Bar which, so far as I can judge, is well capable of producing some judges.

cont.