TNAG-1589-FCO40-21741-Future-of-the-judiciary-in-Hong-Kong.-Part-1-of-2-1987 — Page 123

within a system begun in colonial times which shadows the institutional functions of the mother country but quite another to take up a place in The other elements of government a new constitution yet to be written.

I use the term in its broadest sense as embracing the Judiciary, the

the Executive will be reshaping their basic Legislature and

administration and the Judiciary will need to do likewise,

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wherewithal.

Judicial systems may be handicapped nct in the exercise of judicial power itself but in establishing the necessary administrative Legislatures and executives can, of their nature, more readily reshape their staffs and offices than judiciaries. In the normal ccurse of events, a judiciary tends to leave these initiatives

with the rest of government. From my own experience of governmental change I advise that the Government here will be far too busy and insufficiently well-informed to be able adequately to re-organise the Judiciary. The thinking and the effort will therefore have to come Housekeeping plans will be the more acceptable if the

present and future and

from within.

Judiciary is clear about its resource needs about procurement and resource management.

It will be useful to be

businesslike about mundane matters of housekeeping in the next few

years.

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The Methods and Course of the Study

I have had a free hand and have made up my cwn mind who I and write to and what lines of enquiry I would follow. would see Essentially I have taken it that I am being asked to apply my own past experience to this study of judicial administration in Hong Kong and That experience includes 27 years in prescribe for its betterment. senior appointments in judicial administration in England and Wales number twc in the Lord Chancellor's Department) and (latterly as

and comparative work in the United States. practised at the English Bar for 8 years I have a lawyer's background. I mention these qualifications to throw light on the methods and course A basic understanding of the workings of judicial systems of my study.

studies and

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Having once