ENG-1962 — Page 246

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LAW, ORDER AND RECORDS

generally been accepted and this has cleared the way for the considerable amount of new building which Hong Kong has wit- nessed since 1945. The number of exemption cases which came before the Tenancy Tribunal in 1959 was 106. The corresponding figure in 1960 was 226, in 1961, 561 and in 1962, 592.

The Legal Profession. Legal practitioners in Hong Kong are admitted and enrolled under the provisions of the Legal Practi- tioners Ordinance either as barristers or as solicitors. Consequently the profession is separated as in England. A barrister has a general right of audience before all courts in the Colony, but a solicitor has no right of audience before the Full Court and his right of audience before the Supreme Court is confined to appeals from magistrates and bankruptcy petitions heard before a single judge. Control over members of both branches of the profession is exer- cised by the Supreme Court. Each branch of the profession is separately organized into a Bar Association and a Law Society, and there are now 27 barristers and 134 solicitors practising in Hong Kong.

The Crown is represented in the profession by the law officers, namely the Attorney General and the Solicitor General (who must be barristers), Crown Counsel, a Crown Solicitor and legal officers who may be barristers or solicitors and who have a statutory right of audience on behalf of the Crown before any court or tribunal in the Colony. The Attorney General and the Solicitor General are entitled in the courts of the Colony to the same rights as are enjoyed by the Attorney General and the Solicitor General in England. The Attorney General is the titular head of the local Bar.

THE HONG KONG POLICE FORCE

The policeman on his beat is a universal symbol of society. In every country he is the visible agent through which the law is maintained. The more complex the society, the more specialized the police force has to be. Hong Kong exemplifies this. Since the end of the Second World War the problems created by Hong Kong's over-population, its economic development and geographi- cal position have entailed expansion of, and specialization in, those branches of the police force responsible for crime, narcotics, anti-corruption, security and traffic. But under-pinning all these specialist activities are the men of the uniformed branch. Between