the enactment Sir,
is
of the Bills now before Council
Much work remains only the first step to bilingual legislation.
of
to be done. Resources will be a major problem, particularly the
availability
bilingual law draftsmen. At the moment, the Legal Department is able to recruit only 5 qualified Officers for
this
and it is purpose
pieces not expected that many
legislation in Chinese will flow from their combined effort. other important problems deserve our attention
**
of
Two
(1)
The present crop of some 2,000 lawyers practising in Hong Kong are all trained in English.
a
large
languages
number of them
are
bilingual
It is true that
in
SO far as
are
concerned.
But
when
it
comes to
(2)
practising law in Chinese, it is an entirely new ball be handful of bilingual lawyers may a
game. Perhaps
proper course of training.
such
course
is
or
able to practise law in Chinese, provided they undergo
As far as I am aware no
available either in
Hong Kong
elsewhere in the world. It is therefore absolutely
essential that if we are to move towards bilingual
legislation our
law
colleges must, as
as soon
is
to cater for
practicable, provide appropriate courses
this new situation. The price will be high but do we
have any choice?
Another problem which is
is not generally appreciated is that Chinese may be used only in the lower courts, e.g.
the
the various magistracies and
the tribunals. In
District Court, the High Court and the Court of Appeal,
only English may be
be used. This is clearly stipulated
in Section 5 of the Official Languages Ordinance. The reasons are obvious. Hong Kong Law is based on English
Common Law,
law,
which
all are
English.
Section 4 of the Official
in
Law and
case
When the key
mandatory to enact new laws in
both languages,
Languages (Amendment) Bill comes into effect, making it
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