TNAG-1589-FCO40-21741-Future-of-the-judiciary-in-Hong-Kong.-Part-1-of-2-1987 — Page 65

SALAAK

Introduction

CONFIDENTIAL

THE HONG KONG JUDICIARY

1.

At the fourth meeting of the JLG, when discussing civil

service matters, the British side informed the Chinese side that the

Hong Kong Government was examining the terms of employment of

members of the judiciary with a view to attracting more local

candidates.

The Hong Kong Government has now completed this

examination and as a result plans to introduce a number of changes.

Background

2.

(a)

(16)

(c)

Members of the judiciary fall into three main categories:

judges of the Supreme Court including the Chief Justice and

Appeal Court judges and High Court judges;

District Court judges; and

magistrates.

In addition there are members of the judiciary in special

fields, for example, registrars, deputy registrars, and assistant

registrars of the Supreme Court, coroners, presidents of Labour and

Land Tribunals, etc. A table showing the composition of the judiciary is at Annex A. Supporting staff working in the judiciary

(e.g. clerks, secretaries, interpreters, etc) are civil servants

and not members of the judiciary.

3.

At present the judiciary is overwhelmingly expatriate.

There are only 5 local judges out of 33 in the Supreme Court, 6 out

of 32 in the District Court and 12 out of 54 in the magistracy: 12

out of 22 other members of the judiciary are local.

CONFIDENTIAL