【Announcements by Judiciary】

 

The President welcome the two announcements made by the Judiciary this week. The first one issued on 5 October was on the recommended appointment of the Right Honourable Lord Patrick Hodge, Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, as a non-permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal. This recommended appointment will increase the number of non-permanent judges from other common law jurisdictions from 13 to 14 and will help in relieving the caseload of the Court of Final Appeal.

 

The second announcement issued on 8 October related to some additional transparency measures put in place by the Judiciary to enhance public understanding about the reasoning of court decisions and complaints against judicial conduct. Available on the Judiciary website are judgments, reasons for verdict, reasons for sentence for District Court and above, summaries of selected decisions in the District Court and Magistrates' Courts which may attract great public attention, as well as the gist of complaints on judicial conduct (where there are a large number of identical or similar complaints), the outcome of investigation and the underlying considerations. Information about judicial judgments and investigations is all open and accessible to everyone. As the Chief Justice said in his statement dated 23 September 2020, “Open justice and transparency enable the community to observe the judicial process in full, and to provide meaningful and informed comments, opinions or criticisms.”

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Melissa K. Pang

President

(Information from The Law Society of Hong Kong)