Hong Kong’s legal system 'misused' and 'drowning in irrelevance', says former top judge
Ex-Court of Final Appeal judge Henry Litton accused Hong Kong’s judiciary of “sleepwalking” towards 2047 and said discussions on the future need to start soon.
A distinguished former top judge has launched a stinging attack on Hong Kong’s legal system, lashing out at how judicial reviews were being “misused” and some judgments “so obscure” that no one could understand them.
In a doom-laden critique of a system “drowning in irrelevance”, former Court of Final Appeal judge Henry Litton said Hong Kong must put in place a “robust” and “rigorous” legal system relevant to ordinary people.
Litton – who retired in July – said a hidebound judicial system was losing its grasp on reality and courts should not be a “debating chamber” to challenge government policy.
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Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club on Wednesday, he said: “The legal system, in many instances, is wrapped in obscurity, cloaked in mumbo-jumbo, suffocating under citations, and drowning in irrelevance.
“The harsh question must be asked: is the Hong Kong judiciary sleepwalking towards 2047, wandering in a dream world of its own, a world of authorities, legal texts, customs, black letter law as if those were the entire substance and reality that exists? Is it detached from a world of people whose only language is Chinese?”
Litton, who retired in July, added that the Civil Justice Reform introduced in 2009 to improve efficiency in the legal system and reduce unnecessary litigations was ineffective.
“Nothing much has changed from those reforms,” said Litton. “I’m pessimistic. Bad habits die hard.”
