TNAG-0499-FCO40-564-Administration-of-justice-in-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 153

MAGISTRATES

Reference

(a)

These are a mixed lot, few of whom have ever defended a case and some have never appeared in court;

(b) because of the "promotion system" and because of annual reports passing through senior magistrates to Chief Justice, their attitude towards accused persons is somewhat different to that of English magistrates (and in Hong Kong chance that accused person will appear in the dock are greater than in England, because of the inexperience of police and their methods);

(၁)

no prior notice of the charge or the case against the accused is given in magistrates courts.

(a) no legal aid is available in magistrates courts;

(e) a person accused before a magistrate has no right of election to be tried in District Court or by judge and jury, though prosecution can have case transferred to District Court;

(f) magistrates reserve their findings for days or even weeks and then hand out written decisions;

(8)

if the Hong Kong Government thinks sentencing powers of magistrates courts inadequate, those courts could be given power to commit to the Supreme Court for sentence;

(h) notes should be taken in magistrates' court by someone (or something) other than the magistrate himself;

(i) persons appointed from outside the Service as magistrates should be treated as if their years of call were years of service for purposes of pay, allowances, leave and pension;

(j) annual reports on magistrates should be abolished;

(k)

(1)

(m)

establishment regulations should not apply to magistrates;

magistrates should not be employed on contract;

there are three grades in the magistracy, viz Magistrate, Senior Magistrate and Principal Magistrate, and these titles should be abolished.

(n)

little use is made of JPs and they might be given greater scope for trying criminal cases.

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