TNAG-1589-FCO40-21741-Future-of-the-judiciary-in-Hong-Kong.-Part-1-of-2-1987 — Page 173

Uncontroversial matter can be left out. Many judges can make their own

personal notes without slowing the proceedings more than minimally if

at all.

6.

The most costly current examples of judicial record keeping

are incomplicated civil actions about technical issues conducted in

English. There have been various estimates of the amount of court time

that would otherwise have been saved. One case took twenty days and it

was said that it could easily have been done in ten. Both the Bar

Association and the Law Society would concur in estimates of that

order. Coverage by court reporters would cost very much less than the

in such saving in the operating cost

courts and would thus be a

considerable net gain for the Judiciary alone. With sound recording

the gain would be even greater. In either case the costs of

transcription would be similar. The same arguments apply, although the

savings for the Judiciary would of course be less in the District

Court. They will have great force if trial by jury is introduced

there. They also apply in the Magistracy where there has been

complaint of "considerable delay to hearings and to a degree in the

Labour and Small Claims Tribunals and the Coroner's Court.

7.

The total cost of a court day to the community is, of course,

far greater than that which is borne by the Judiciary alone. The fees

and costs of practitioners are high. They are a direct cost to the

taxpayer when paid from public funds and otherwise a direct cost to

private litigants who are critical of the reason for this item of cost.

A costing exercise is beyond the scope of my consultancy. One ought to

be undertaken. I should be surprised to learn that providing court

reporting facilities for all Hong Kong's courts and tribunals would not

prove to be a sound public investment. The case for a service for

civil business in the High Court is very strong indeed. But there are

countries in which coverage for all courts and tribunals is justifiable

and Hong Kong might be such a one.

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