ENG-1963 — Page 261

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Law, Order and Records

THE COURTS OF JUSTICE

THE Courts in Hong Kong are the Full Court, the Supreme Court, the District Court, the Magistrate's Court and the Tenancy Tribunal. The Marine Court, which had functioned in Hong Kong for some 50 years, was brought to a close on 1st October, and the jurisdiction it hitherto exercised will be exercised by the magistrates.

Since the war many changes in the social and economic structure of the Colony, including the growth of new and heavily populated industrial centres and a greatly increased population generally, have necessitated the creation of additional Courts. In 1963, the Judiciary consisted of the Chief Justice and four puisne judges, six district judges, 23 magistrates and the Tenancy Tribunal. District judges sit in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Terri- tories; and magistrates sit at the Central Magistracy, Causeway Bay, South Kowloon, North Kowloon and in the New Territories. In addition to the regular Magistrates' Courts on Hong Kong Island, there is a Justice of the Peace Court composed of two justices of the peace sitting together four afternoons a week. One of the justices is usually a solicitor.

The Tenancy Tribunal deals with matters arising under the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance which provides for a measure of control over domestic and business premises erected before 17th August 1945. The tribunal also is responsible for inquiring into, and making recommendations on, applications for exemption from the provisions of the Ordinance when it is considered to be in the public interest that land should be developed after appropriate compensation is paid to existing tenants. The changes in the nature of the work done by this tribunal over the last 10 years are re- flected in the figures for 1953-4 when 2,549 ordinary cases and 56 exemption cases were filed and in 1962-3 when 802 ordinary