Ma CJ: abolish automatic right of appeal to the CFA

At the ceremonial opening of the 2012 Legal Year, Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma said it was the right time to give serious consideration to the automatic right of litigants in a civil dispute to appeal from the Court of Appeal to the Court of Final Appeal based solely on monetary value – currently set at HK$1 million. Ma CJ said he will be ‘pressing for the necessary legislative changes’ so the type of cases that presently fall within s 22(1)(a) of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance (Cap 484), will be subject to the requirement of leave to appeal, as all other cases are. “Very few, if any, other common law jurisdictions now have this automatic right of appeal,” he said. He added that ‘the majority of appeals heard by the Court of Final Appeal by this route have been totally unmeritorious’ and that such appeals prevent genuine and more meritorious appeals being heard in good time by the CFA.

Vexatious litigant convicted over forged documents

In perhaps the first case of its kind in Hong Kong, Brian Alfred Hall, a drug smuggler, who had an assault conviction overturned by the Court of Final Appeal using forged documents, has been convicted of perverting the course of public justice. Judge Eddie Yip Chor-man in the District Court convicted Hall of three charges of perverting the course of public justice and one charge of using false instruments to which he had pleaded not guilty. Hall was labelled a ‘vexatious litigant’ in 2008 due to his penchant for taking legal action from prison, where he is serving time for trafficking cocaine. Hall had allegedly punched a prison officer, Ho Kwok-keung, three times in the chest when he tried to take away his newspaper. However, two alleged witness statements by prison officers presented later in the CFA claimed Hall had splashed water and thrown a chair at Ho instead. The conviction was quashed when differences were found between the two accounts undermining Ho’s credibility.

Child safety laws enhanced

The government has gazetted the amendment notice of the Toys and Children’s Products Safety Ordinance (Cap 424), which updates two safety standards for toys and standards for eight types of children’s products. The notice will come into effect on 1 April. The children’s products comprise walking frames, bunk beds, safety barriers, cots, high-chairs, paint, playpens and wheeled conveyances. The ordinance stipulates no person can manufacture, import or supply any toy or
designated children’s product unless it complies with the ordinance.The standards stipulated are international standards or those adopted in major economies.

27 people arrested for vote-rigging

The ICAC has arrested another 27 people for alleged vote-rigging in the King’s Park constituency of the Yau Tsim Mong District in the 2011 District Council Election, following the prosecution of seven others last December. The latest arrestees included a defeated candidate, an election agent, an associate and 24 registered electors. It is suspected a defeated candidate of the constituency, his election agent and an associate had engaged in or attempted to commit corrupt conduct at the election by inviting or inducing other people to vote at the election knowing they were not entitled to do so. False information concerning residential addresses involving several premises in Yin Chong Street, Tung Choi Street and Soy Street in Mong Kok had been provided to the Registration and Electoral Office for the registration of 24 people as electors – and nine of them voted in the election. So far, 53 people have been arrested and seven have been charged with one count of engaging in corrupt conduct with respect to voting at an election.