Rich experience and great erudition of foreign jurists at top court bring immeasurable benefits
GRENVILLE CROSS
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 06 October, 2015, 3:08am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 06 October, 2015, 3:08am
The former Legislative Council building reopened as the new home of the Court of Final Appeal. Photo: Sam Tsang
The recent suggestion that judges from other jurisdictions should have no role to play in the Court of Final Appeal after 2047, when the Basic Law's promise of "50 years unchanged" expires, is both unwise and short-sighted.
The overseas judges come from major common law jurisdictions, including England and Wales, Australia and New Zealand, and all are eminent jurists, including former chief justices, with massive experience of the law at all levels.
A list of non-permanent overseas judges on the Court of Final Appeal's website.When they sit in the Court of Final Appeal, the foreign judges not only bring great erudition to bear, but are able to supply additional perspectives, which undoubtedly benefit local jurists.
The court's interaction with foreign judges has greatly enriched its judgments while contributing to their stature. Its decisions in particular areas have, moreover, achieved international recognition, notably on issues where it has issued landmark judgments, including on constitutional questions and judicial review.
Although some people claim local judges alone should pronounce on local issues, it is by no means unprecedented for top courts to draw on experience from elsewhere.
Even the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which the Court of Final Appeal superseded in 1997, sometimes allows overseas jurists to sit in on cases when it is felt this might be beneficial, as where they possess a particular local knowledge.
Moreover, the Hong Kong paradigm has been examined by legal reformers in the Caribbean and other places considering the future shape of their superior courts.
On one level, the presence of the overseas judges provides a measure of reassurance to those looking for outward signs of continuity and objectivity in our legal arrangements.
But more fundamentally, their presence greatly benefits our jurisprudence, which, in turn, strengthens the rule of law. The case for the court retaining its composition after 2047 is, by any yardstick, overwhelming.
Grenville Cross SC, an honorary professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, is a criminal justice analyst
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1864334/rich-experience-and-great-erudition-overseas-judges-will
