MESSAGE FROM THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF HONG KONG
"The Attorney General is an ex officio member of the Executive Council (the Government's prime policy-making body, presided over by the Governor) and of the Legislative Council. The Office of Attorney General combines, under the simple Crown Colony constitution of Hong Kong, the role of Minister responsible for the administration of justice in its widest sense and that of Permanent Under-Secretary. There is therefore a large policy content in his work.
In the executive field, the Attorney General is responsible for the provision of the bulk of the legal services required by the Government. This includes the traditional independent responsibility for the admin- istration of criminal law, responsibility for the provision of legal advice in the civil field and responsibility for legislative drafting. My Chambers therefore combines in a single centralised organisation the roles of your Attorney General and Director of Fublic Prosecutions, the Treasury Solicitor and other departmental legal advisers and the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, and some of the roles of the Home Secretary.
The ttorney General is also Chairman of the Long-term Prisoners Board of Review; he has responsibilites in the field of legal education; he is a member of two groups (otherwipe comprised wholly of unofficial members of the Legislative Council) who are responsible for monitoring the handling of complaints against the Police Force and the Independent Commission against Corruption; he is a member of the Operations Review Committee of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (a body which monitors the Investigation Department of the Commission); and he is a member of the Judicial Service Commission, which advises the Governor on judicial appointments.
You will recognise from this selection of his activities the diversity of the Attorney General'e responsibilities, which call for a lawyer with broad experience. For our part, we recognise that we are unlikely to find any one man with the range of experience which all this suggests. The old Colonial Legal Service was probably the only organisation which produced such lawyers lawyers who were jacks of all trades and probably masters of none. My own particular experience was principally in the field of legislative drafting before I took up this appointment, but the pattern of service in a colonial Attorney General's office has always been such that one necessarily attains some degree of expertise in most non-specialised legal fields.
In recognition of this, and in anticipation of my retirement, I have put to the Government proposals for a major reorganisation of my office. Such a reorganisation has become necessary to meet the special circum- stances of Hong Kong today, which have little in common with former dependent territories. These changes, which are likely to be accepted, include in particular the abolition of the office of Solicitor General and the creation of three new posts at the same level of seniority. The holders of these posts will, respectively, head three new divisions within my office responsible for prosecutions, the provision of civil legal services, and legislative drafting. It is intended that there shall be a substantial devolution of authority for decision-making and management to the holders of these posts, with a view to relieving
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