{"id":76828,"date":"2022-11-29T14:30:47","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T03:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=76828"},"modified":"2022-11-29T13:15:05","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T02:15:05","slug":"australian-judges-shouldnt-sit-on-hong-kongs-highest-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australian-judges-shouldnt-sit-on-hong-kongs-highest-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian judges shouldn\u2019t sit on Hong Kong\u2019s highest court"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

The issue of foreign judges sitting on Hong Kong\u2019s Court of Final Appeal was raised again recently, when a former president of the UK Supreme Court, Brenda Hale, said<\/a>: \u2018There\u2019s going to come a stage where [British judges on the CFA] are asked to apply and enforce unacceptable laws, and some of us might think that that stage has already come.\u2019 That statement followed the resignation<\/a> from the CFA of two current judges of the UK Supreme Court in March. At the time, Robert Reed and Patrick Hodge explained<\/a> that they could not \u2018continue to sit in Hong Kong without appearing to endorse an administration which has departed from values of political freedom, and freedom of expression\u2019.<\/p>\n

Both Reed and Hodge served as non-permanent judges in Hong Kong by virtue of being current justices of the UK Supreme Court and with the endorsement of the UK government. This practice was intended to support the independence of Hong Kong\u2019s judiciary under the \u2018one country, two systems\u2019 arrangement after sovereignty over the island was transferred from the UK to China in 1997. Previously, the Privy Council served as the final appellate court for Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

Explaining the UK government\u2019s decision to withdraw support for current UK Supreme Court justices to sit on the CFA, then\u2013foreign secretary Liz Truss said<\/a>, \u2018It is no longer tenable \u2026 and would risk legitimising oppression.\u2019<\/p>\n

But with Beijing effectively dismantling any pretence of civil liberties in Hong Kong since imposing the national security law in 2020, the Australian government faces its own questions regarding the three former judges of the High Court\u2014Robert French, Murray Gleeson and William Gummow\u2014who continue to sit as non-permanent judges on the island\u2019s highest court. Former NSW chief justice James Spigelman resigned<\/a> from the CFA in September 2020 during Beijing\u2019s imposition of control. The remaining Australian judges declined to follow Spigelman, saying<\/a> in March this year that they \u2018support the judges of the Court of Final Appeal in their commitment to judicial independence\u2019.<\/p>\n

Historically, the CFA has been an important bulwark for the rule of law in Hong Kong and a core element of the island\u2019s status as a commercial and financial hub, with foreign companies attracted by its independence and common-law pedigree. A critical component of this has been the appointment of overseas non-permanent judges from other common-law jurisdictions, namely Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. At present, the remaining overseas appointments<\/a> are six Britons, three Australians and one Canadian. These are part-time roles usually held by eminent retired judges.<\/p>\n

An argument in favour of overseas judges staying on the court is that they could curb the erosion of civil liberties. However, they can be effectively excluded<\/a> from hearing any cases involving the national security law\u2014and, in any respect, overseas judges have little capacity to exert meaningful influence alone, given that each case is heard by a panel of five justices, four of whom are local to Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

The UK made the right decision in withdrawing Reed and Hodge. Their ongoing appointments represented an implicit endorsement of Hong Kong\u2019s governance system, which has changed radically from that envisioned by the Sino-British joint declaration. Removing the judges also demonstrates that China cannot seek to retain the commercial benefits of the common law in Hong Kong while discarding its civil and political elements.<\/p>\n

Australia, the UK and Canada have condemned the repression imposed on the island by Beijing since 2020. It is inconsistent, then, with each country\u2019s interests that the status and legitimacy of their distinguished jurists, and the independent judicial systems they embody, continue to lend legitimacy to Hong Kong\u2019s increasingly tenuous claim to uphold the rule of law.<\/p>\n

The challenge, however, is that the remaining 10 overseas judges serve entirely in their personal capacities, unlike Reed and Hodge, meaning that their governments cannot so directly influence a decision to resign.<\/p>\n

It is probably within the Commonwealth\u2019s external affairs power to legislate to ban Australian citizens from serving on designated foreign courts. Any such steps should, however, be a last resort. In the first instance, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Attorney-General\u2019s Department (working with its state and territory counterparts) should develop a strategy to ensure that no further judges of Australian superior courts take up appointments in Hong Kong in retirement. A low-key program of private briefings with current judges should suffice. More broadly, Australia should also actively coordinate with Canada, New Zealand and the UK to discourage each nation\u2019s current and former judges from taking up any further appointments to the CFA.<\/p>\n

While such steps might fix the issue in the long run, they won\u2019t resolve the immediate fact of the three current judges. This could mean that Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus need to quietly lobby the remaining judges to, at least, not accept further three-year appointments at the expiry of their current terms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The issue of foreign judges sitting on Hong Kong\u2019s Court of Final Appeal was raised again recently, when a former president of the UK Supreme Court, Brenda Hale, said: \u2018There\u2019s going to come a stage …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1425,"featured_media":76829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[52,981,994,2801],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAustralian judges shouldn\u2019t sit on Hong Kong\u2019s highest court | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australian-judges-shouldnt-sit-on-hong-kongs-highest-court\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australian judges shouldn\u2019t sit on Hong Kong\u2019s highest court | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The issue of foreign judges sitting on Hong Kong\u2019s Court of Final Appeal was raised again recently, when a former president of the UK Supreme Court, Brenda Hale, said: \u2018There\u2019s going to come a stage ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australian-judges-shouldnt-sit-on-hong-kongs-highest-court\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-29T03:30:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-29T02:15:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1239634440.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hugh Piper\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hugh Piper\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australian-judges-shouldnt-sit-on-hong-kongs-highest-court\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1239634440.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1239634440.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683,\"caption\":\"A security guard (R) stands outside the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong on March 31, 2022. - Australian and Canadian judges confirmed on March 31 they will stay on Hong Kong's top court after two senior British judges resigned to avoid endorsing China's crackdown on political freedoms in the financial hub. 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