ENG-1992 — Page 50

THE LEGAL SYSTEM

applies equally whether a dispute is between the government and an individual, or whether it involves only private citizens or corporate bodies.

The most senior court in Hong Kong is the Supreme Court, comprising the Court of Appeal and the High Court. Sitting in the Supreme Court in addition to the Chief Justice are nine Justices of Appeal and 22 High Court Judges. The Registrar and Deputy Registrars also have jurisdiction as Masters of the Supreme Court in civil trials in the High Court. The jurisdiction of the High Court is unlimited in both civil and criminal matters, and the Court of Appeal is the highest court in Hong Kong. The Court of Appeal hears both civil and criminal appeals from the High Court and from the District Court. Further appeal lies to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London; however this is infrequent as leave to appeal is granted only on stringent conditions.

High Court Judges usually sit alone when trying civil matters, although there is a rarely-used provision for jury trials in certain cases including defamation. For criminal trials they sit with a jury of seven, or nine on special direction of the judge. The issue of guilt is determined by the jury, which must have a majority of at least five to two, except with charges attracting a death sentence when unanimity is required.

The District Court has both civil and criminal jurisdiction. Its civil jurisdiction is limited to disputes of a value up to $120,000, and its criminal jurisdiction up to seven years' imprisonment. Its judges sit without a jury and may try the more serious cases, save principally for murder, manslaughter and rape, which are reserved to the High Court. There are 29 judges of the District Court.

The Magistrates' Courts try annually some 90 per cent of all the cases heard in the territory. There are 60 professional magistrates sitting in 10 magistracies, two of which are on Hong Kong Island, four in Kowloon and four in the New Territories.

Magistrates have a purely criminal jurisdiction covering a wide range of offences. Professional magistrates are generally restricted in sentence to two years' imprisonment and $10,000 fines, however a number of statutes allow increased sentences. Professional magistrates also try cases in the Juvenile Court, which has jurisdiction in charges against children and young persons up to 16 years, except in cases involving homicide.

In addition to the professional magistrates, there are 11 Special Magistrates who are not legally qualified. They handle routine cases, such as littering and minor traffic offences, and their powers of sentence are limited to fining up to $20,000. They are all Cantonese speaking and usually conduct their cases in that language.

In addition to the principal courts of civil and criminal jurisdiction, there are five specialised tribunals. The Coroner's Court handles enquiries into unusual circumstances causing death; the Small Claims Tribunal hears civil claims up to a limit of $15,000; the Labour Tribunal hears individual civil claims arising from contracts of employment, and the Lands Tribunal has jurisdiction in matters of rating and valuation and in assessing compensation when land is resumed by government or reduced in value by development. Finally, the Obscene Articles Tribunal has jurisdiction to determine whether or not an article is obscene and to classify it into statutory categories of acceptability or otherwise.

The Small Claims and Labour Tribunals provide the public with inexpensive recourse to litigation, as their proceedings are informally conducted and professional representation is not permitted.

The official language of the court is English in the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the District Court; in the other courts and tribunals the court may use Chinese. Whichever

31