Chief justice vows to maintain HK’s high judicial standards

Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal Geoffrey Ma Tao-li stressed on Monday that maintenance of high standards by the judiciary is essential to the proper administration of justice in Hong Kong.

Ma made these comments at the Ceremonial Opening of the Legal Year 2019 after inspecting a ceremonial guard by the Hong Kong Police Force.

It is vital to maintain the high quality of judges as Hong Kong judges have an extremely heavy workload and often face complex cases, Ma said.

According to Hong Kong Judiciary Annual Report 2017, the Court of First Instance of the High Court alone had dealt with 18,805 first instance cases in a year.

Ma said the fact that many people outside Hong Kong chose to litigate in the city reflects their confidence in the special administrative region’s legal system.

To ensure the quality of Hong Kong judges remains high, Ma said the city has implemented measures to attract the best candidates to join the judiciary. A proposal to extend the retirement ages of judges is one of these measures.

The retirement ages of judges could be raised from 65 to 70 and magistrates’ from 60 to 65, the proposal suggested.

The plan which could prolong the service of judges has been submitted to the Legislative Council. It has obtained approval from the LegCo’s Panel on Administration of Justice and Legal Services — pending a final vote at a LegCo chamber meeting.

Ma said increasing the retirement ages of judges was very much in the public interest and would also benefit society.

The plan will encourage some excellent and experienced lawyers to join Hong Kong’s judicial system, noted Ma.

He sincerely hopes all the necessary legislation is passed and becomes effective by the middle of the year.

The judicial branch has faced criticism for some of its judgments in controversial cases in the past year. But Ma rejected these accusations.

“Judges in Hong Kong are independent from any outside interference, including the executive, legislature and from anyone else,” Ma explained.

He stressed that one of the most important characteristics of Hong Kong’s legal system was its transparency.

He said abusive comments against the court decisions or even personally against judges was totally unacceptable.

Echoing Ma, President of the Law Society of Hong Kong Melissa Kaye Pang urged members of the legal profession to defend the city’s legal system in the year ahead.

“We are fortunate to have a sound legal system and an independent judiciary for our practitioners to deliver professional services,” Pang said when addressing the ceremony.

“It is our duty to defend our valued system and its reputation,” added Pang.