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A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings,either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case,assesses the credibility and arguments of the parties,and then issues a ruling in the case based on their interpretation of the law and their own personal judgment. A judge is expected to conduct the trial impartially and,typically,in an open court.
A tribunal,generally,is any person or institution with authority to judge,adjudicate on,or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example,an advocate who appears before a court with a single judge could describe that judge as "their tribunal." Many governmental bodies that are titled as "tribunals" are described so in order to emphasize that they are not courts of normal jurisdiction. For example,the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was a body specially constituted under international law;in Great Britain,employment tribunals are bodies set up to hear specific employment disputes. In many cases,the word tribunal implies a judicial body with a lesser degree of formality than a court,in which the normal rules of evidence and procedure may not apply,and whose presiding officers are frequently neither judges,nor magistrates. Private judicial bodies are also often styled "tribunals." The word tribunal,however,is not conclusive of a body's function—for example,in Great Britain,the Employment Appeal Tribunal is a superior court of record.
Small-claims courts have limited jurisdiction to hear civil cases between private litigants. Courts authorized to try small claims may also have other judicial functions,and go by different names in different jurisdictions. For example,it may be known as a county or magistrate's court. These courts can be found in Australia,Brazil,Canada,England and Wales,Hong Kong,Ireland,Israel,New Zealand,Philippines,Scotland,Singapore,South Africa,Nigeria and the United States.
Sir Noel Plunkett Power,was a senior judge in Hong Kong and Brunei Darussalam. He had been a barrister-at-law in his home-country Australia when he joined the judiciary of Hong Kong in 1965 as a magistrate in the Lands Tribunal. Since then,he had been successively promoted as President of the Lands Tribunal,a puisne judge of the Supreme Court and Vice-President of the Court of Appeal. In 1996,he became acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court when Sir Ti-liang Yang resigned and contested for the first ever election of the Chief Executive. After the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong from Britain to People's Republic of China in 1997,he was appointed Vice-President of the Court of Appeal of the High Court. He retired from the High Court in 1999 but remained as a non-permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal.
The Judiciary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is the judicial branch of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Under the Basic Law of Hong Kong,it exercises the judicial power of the Region and is independent of the executive and legislative branches of the Government. The courts in Hong Kong hear and adjudicate all prosecutions and civil disputes,including all public and private law matters.
The courts of Scotland are responsible for administration of justice in Scotland,under statutory,common law and equitable provisions within Scots law. The courts are presided over by the judiciary of Scotland,who are the various judicial office holders responsible for issuing judgments,ensuring fair trials,and deciding on sentencing. The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland,subject to appeals to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom,and the High Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal court,which is only subject to the authority of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on devolution issues and human rights compatibility issues.
A recorder is a judicial officer in England and Wales and some other common law jurisdictions.
The High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is a part of the legal system of Hong Kong. It consists of the Court of Appeal and the Court of First Instance;it deals with criminal and civil cases which have risen beyond the lower courts. It is a superior court of record of unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction. It was named the Supreme Court before 1997. Though previously named the Supreme Court,this Court has long been the local equivalent to the Senior Courts of England and Wales and has never been vested with the power of final adjudication.
The Court of Appeal of the High Court of Hong Kong is the second most senior court in the Hong Kong legal system. It deals with appeals on all civil and criminal cases from the Court of First Instance and the District Court. It is one of two courts that makes up the High Court of Hong Kong. Sometimes criminal appeals from Magistrates' Courts with general public importance are also dealt with in the Court of Appeal,either by referral by a single judge from the Court of First Instance,or upon granting of leave on application for review by the Secretary for Justice.
The District Court is the intermediate court system in Hong Kong,having limited criminal and civil jurisdictions. The District Court was established in 1953 with the enactment of the District Court Ordinance. It is located in the Wanchai Law Courts,Wanchai Tower,12 Harbour Road. In the past there were six district courts,namely Victoria,Kowloon,Fanling,Tsuen Wan,Tuen Mun and Sha Tin,before being amalgamated and moved to the same location in March 1991.
The Hong Kong order of precedence is a nominal and symbolic hierarchy of important positions within the Government of Hong Kong. Administered by the government's Protocol Division,the hierarchy does not determine the order of succession for the office of Chief Executive,which is instead specified by the Basic Law of Hong Kong.
A master is a judge of limited jurisdiction in the superior courts of England and Wales and in numerous other jurisdictions based on the common law tradition. A master's jurisdiction is generally confined to civil proceedings and is a subset of that of a superior court judge or justice. Masters are typically involved in hearing specialized types of trials,case management,and in some jurisdictions dispute resolution or adjudication of specific issues referred by judges.
Magistrates' courts in Hong Kong have criminal jurisdiction over a wide range of offenses,and in general these offenses must only constitute two years' imprisonment or a fine of HK$100,000;in certain circumstances,sentences of three years may be imposed. All criminal proceedings must begin in the magistrates' courts;the Secretary for Justice may transfer cases to either the District Court or the Court of First Instance depending on the seriousness of the crime.
A judicial commissioner is person appointed on a non-permanent basis to a judicial office. In some countries,such as Malaysia and Singapore,judicial commissioners have the powers of full judges. In other jurisdictions their powers are limited.
The chief justice of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal,sometimes informally known as the chief justice of Hong Kong,is the head of the Judiciary of Hong Kong and the chief judge of the Court of Final Appeal. The chief justice is one of three permanent members of the Court. During British rule between 1843 and 1997,the head of the Hong Kong Judiciary was the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong;that position became the chief judge of the High Court in 1997.
In some jurisdictions,an assessor is a judge's or magistrate's assistant. This is the historical meaning of this word.
The judicial officers of the Republic of Singapore work in the Supreme Court and the State Courts to hear and determine disputes between litigants in civil cases and,in criminal matters,to determine the liability of accused persons and their sentences if they are convicted.
The election for the Hong Kong deputies to the 10th National People's Congress (NPC) was held on 3 December 2002. 36 Hong Kong deputies were elected by an electoral college.
The Chief Judge of the High Court of Hong Kong (CJHC) is the head of the High Court of Hong Kong and the President of the Court of Appeal of Hong Kong. In the Hong Kong order of precedence,the Chief Judge is the second most senior administrative judge for the courts system,second only to the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong. The position of Chief Judge is the broad equivalent of the Master of the Rolls in the courts system of England and Wales.
On 15 October 2014,pro-democracy activist Ken Tsang was beaten by Hong Kong Police officers in Tamar Park,Admiralty,after being arrested in a police clearance operation during the 2014 Hong Kong protests. Though not the only reported instance of police brutality during the protests,the assault gained notoriety as it was filmed from a distance by a Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) news crew and broadcast to Hong Kong audiences.
References
- ↑ Lands Tribunal Ordinance (Cap. 17) § 4
- ↑ "G.N. 2522", Hong Kong Government Gazette (No. 15, Vol. 23, 12 April 2019)
