LCQ13: Appointment of overseas judges and their attendance at hearings

     Following is a question by the Hon Kenneth Leung and a written reply by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (November 4):
 
Question:
 
     Under the Basic Law, the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance (Cap. 484) and the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission Ordinance (Cap. 92), the Chief Executive may, on the recommendations of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission and upon the endorsements of the Legislative Council, appoint judges from the common law jurisdictions outside Hong Kong as non-permanent judges from other common law jurisdictions of the Court of Final Appeal (overseas judges). Regarding the appointment of overseas judges and their attendance at hearings, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
 
(1) in respect of each of the overseas judges appointed since July 1, 1997, (i) the judge's name, (ii) the judge's age at the time of first appointment, (iii) the common law jurisdiction to which the judge belongs/belonged, (iv) the date on which the judge was first appointed, and (v) the expiry date of the judge's most recent appointment (set out in a table);
 
(2) whether, in the past five years, there were candidates for overseas judges who declined the appointment; if so, the number of such candidates and the reasons for their declination; and
 
(3) as the Government has indicated that since July 1, 1997, apart from very few exceptions, a judge has invariably been drawn from the list of overseas judges to hear a substantive appeal on the Court of Final Appeal, the number of such exceptions and the details of the cases concerned, as well as the causes for such exceptions?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     Based on the information provided by the Judiciary, the Government’s reply is as follows:
 
(1) The particulars of all non-permanent judges from other common law jurisdictions of the Court of Final Appeal (CLNPJs) appointed since the establishment of the Court of Final Appeal on July 1, 1997 are as follows:
 

*Sir Edward passed away in June 2002.
#Sir Thomas passed away in May 2015.
 

(2) In the past five years, no overseas judge refused to accept appointment as CLNPJ.
 
(3) According to section 16 of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance (Cap. 484) (the Ordinance), all appeals shall be heard and determined by the Court, which is constituted by five judges as follows:
 
(a) the Chief Justice or a Permanent Judge (PJ) designated to sit in his place under the Ordinance;
 
(b) three PJs nominated by the Chief Justice; and
 
(c) one non-permanent Hong Kong judge or one CLNPJ (selected by the Chief Justice and invited by the Court).
 
     As at September 30, 2020, the Court of Final Appeal has heard around 700 substantive appeals since July 1, 1997. With the exception of around ten cases, a judge has invariably been drawn from the list of CLNPJs to sit on the Court. These exceptional occasions were mainly due to the unavailability of the CLNPJs at the scheduled hearing dates or because there were unforeseen circumstances which rendered it not possible for the CLNPJs to hear the appeals as planned.