Permanent Judges of the Court of Final Appeal

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The Permanent Judges of the Court of Final Appeal are full-time judges sitting on Hong Kong's final appellate court, the Court of Final Appeal. They are called Permanent Judges because they are required to sit on every appeal committee and court case relating to the Court of Final Appeal, and to distinguish them from other part-time jurists who also sit on the top court, known as Non-Permanent Judges.

Contents

History

At the founding of the court on 1 July 1997, as the Permanent Judges were all sworn in on the same day, they were sorted by seniority (whichever year they took Silk). The Chief Justice sat in the middle; Henry Litton, being the most senior judge and would sit on the Chief Justice's right, with Charles Ching being the second most senior judge (sitting on the Chief Justice's left) and Kemal Bokhary being the least senior Permanent Judge, sitting on the right of Henry Litton. [1]

Eligibility

According to the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance, Permanent Judges are recommended by the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission, and officially appointed by the Chief Executive. People may be eligible to become a Permanent Judge by being the Chief Judge of the High Court, a High Court judge, or practiced as a barrister or solicitor in Hong Kong for over 10 years.

In practice, every Permanent Judge appointed has been at least a Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal or above (Vice-President, Chief Judge, or Non-Permanent Judge); no practicing barrister has ever been appointed directly as a Permanent Judge without full time judicial experience.

Length of Service

Permanent Judges are required to retire by age 70, but this can be extended by up to two three-year terms, so final retirement age may be 76. [2] This came into effect in late 2019, whereas previously the retirement age was 65 (from 1997 to late 2019), also with two three-year extensions possible for a final retirement age of 71.

List of Permanent Judges

There are to be at least three Permanent Judges on the top court at any given time, with the current Judges in bold in the list below. [3]

No.NamePlace of birthAge at startReplacingTook officeLeft officeTenure lengthPrevious judicial officesHigher educationNationality (if known)SilkAppointed by
1 Henry Denis Litton, GBM
(Born 7 August 1934; age 89)
Hong Kong 62 years and 329 daysInaugural1 July 199713 September 20003 years and 75 days Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal (1992–95)
Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (1995–97)
University of Oxford (MA) British [4] QC (1970) Tung Chee-hwa
2 Charles Arthur Ching, GBM
(7 October 193530 November 2000; aged 65)
Hong Kong 61 years and 268 daysInaugural1 July 19976 October 20003 years and 98 days Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal (1995–97) University of Oxford (MA) Australian [4] QC (1974)
3 Syed Kemal Shah Bokhary, GBM
(Born 25 October 1947; age 76)
Hong Kong 49 years and 250 daysInaugural1 July 199724 October 201215 years and 116 days Judge of the High Court of Justice (1989–93)
Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal (1993–97)
City Law School British [5] QC (1983)
4 Patrick Chan Siu-oi, GBM
(Born 21 October 1948; age 75)
Hong Kong 51 years and 317 daysLitton1 September 200020 October 201313 years and 50 days District Judge (1987–91)
Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court (1991–92)
Judge of the High Court of Justice (1992–97)
Chief Judge of the High Court (1997–2000)
University of Hong Kong (LLB, PCLL) Hong Kong [4]
5 Roberto Alexandre Vieira Ribeiro, GBM
(Born 20 March 1949; age 74)
Hong Kong 51 years and 166 daysChing1 September 2000Incumbent23 years and 190 days Recorder of the Court of First Instance (1997–99)
Judge of the Court of First Instance (1999–2000)
Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal (2000)
London School of Economics (LLB, LLM) British [4] QC (1990)
6 Robert Tang Kwok-ching, GBM, SBS
(Born 7 January 1947; age 77)
Shanghai, China 65 years and 293 daysBokhary25 October 201224 October 20186 years and 0 days Deputy District Judge (1982)
Deputy High Court Judge (1986)
Recorder of the High Court of Justice/Court of First Instance (1995–2004)
Judge of the Court of First Instance (2004–05)
Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal (2005–06)
Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (2006–12)
Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal (2010–12)
University of Birmingham (LLB) British [6] QC (1986) Leung Chun-ying
7 Joseph Paul Fok
(Born 24 September 1962; age 61)
Hong Kong 51 years and 28 daysChan21 October 2013Incumbent10 years and 140 days Recorder of the Court of First Instance (2003–09)
Judge of the Court of First Instance (2010–11)
Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal (2011–13)
University College London (LLB)
City Law School
British [7] SC (1999)
8 Andrew Cheung Kui-nung, GBM
(Born 24 September 1961; age 62)
Hong Kong 57 years and 32 daysTang25 October 201810 January 20212 years and 78 days District Judge (2001–03)
Deputy High Court Judge (2001–03)
Judge of the Court of First Instance (2003–11)
Chief Judge of the High Court (2011–18)
University of Hong Kong (LLB, PCLL)
Harvard Law School (LLM)
Hong Kong [8]


Carrie Lam
9 Johnson Lam Man-hon
(Born August 1961; age 62)
Hong Kong 59 years and 11 months

(exact birth date not known)

Cheung30 July 2021Incumbent2 years and 223 days District Judge (2001–03)
Judge of the Court of First Instance (2003–12)
Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal (2012–13)

Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (2013–21)
University of Hong Kong (LLB, PCLL)

Education

By graduate degree(s)

Note: Judges may have more than one graduate degree, and hence may be counted twice on this list

  1. University of Hong Kong (3) – Chan, Cheung, Lam
  2. Harvard University (1) – Cheung
  3. London School of Economics (1) – Ribeiro

By undergraduate degree

  1. University of Hong Kong (3) – Chan, Cheung, Lam
  2. University of Oxford (2) – Litton, Ching
  3. London School of Economics (1) – Ribeiro
  4. University of Birmingham (1) – Tang
  5. University College London (1) – Fok

Length of tenure

RankJusticeLength served (in days)
1Roberto Ribeiro8,589(incumbent, continuing)
2Kemal Bokhary5,594
3Patrick Chan4,797
4Joseph Fok3,791(incumbent, continuing)
5Robert Tang2,190
6Charles Ching1,193
7Henry Litton1,170
8Andrew Cheung808
9Johnson Lam952(incumbent, continuing)

See also

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References

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  2. "Judicial Officers (Extension of Retirement Age) (Amendment) Ordinance 2019 comes into effect" (PDF).
  3. "A Brief Overview of the Court of Final Appeal".
  4. 1 2 3 4 "BRIEF FOR THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL" (PDF).
  5. "Liberal judge Bokhary stands by his dissenting views".
  6. "HKIAC Council". HKIAC. Archived from the original on 12 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  7. "GLENFARG PROPERTIES LIMITED".
  8. "Senior Judicial Appointment" (PDF).