TNAG-1589-FCO40-21741-Future-of-the-judiciary-in-Hong-Kong.-Part-1-of-2-1987 — Page 147

of time help the parties to come to terms or narrow the issues or agree the evidence? How are the Judiciary's resources best shared amongst the different classes of business? Can blocks of specialist work be Is accumulated and then disposed of continuously in a special session? there adequate public understanding of Judiciary policy? If not should something be done about that? Should the Government invite the Legislative Council to remove certain business from the Judiciary e.g. To what extent should by decriminalisation of very minor offences?

Should some judges be released for special extra-judicial duties? courts of summary jurisdiction sit in the evenings?

9.

If, when the Judiciary's resource provision is determined, it appears to the Chief Justice that it is inadequate to the point that it inhibits his policy he can make a Chief Justice's policy representation to the Government. This safeguard should not be merely cosmetic. timing of events should be such that the Chief Justice has opportunity to make a representation before the estimates cycle has

gone too far.

The

a real

10.

It is not

scheme that

The

easy in any country to devise a reconciles judicial independence with financial accountability. solution in Hong Kong is to distinguish between the making of judicial policy on the one hand and the management of resources and finance on the other and to allocate functions accordingly.

11.

2

This

chapter

is about

model judicial manpower and the programme deals specifically with that and not staff manpower or other resources. In practice they are all dealt with in the Government's annual and five-yearly financial cycles. My proposal is that the functions I have described operate for the entire system and for both

· on one-year and five-year

and five-year financial cycles but I have dwelt judicial manning because

importance of applying the

the

the

principles there is paramount.

correct

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