Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal

Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal 香港終審法院
22°16′45.75″N 114°9′34.71″E
Established	1997
Location	1 Battery Path, Central, Hong Kong
Coordinates	22°16′45.75″N 114°9′34.71″E
Authorised by	Hong Kong Basic Law
Website	HK Judiciary
Chief Justice
Currently	Geoffrey Ma
Since	1 September 2010

The Former French Mission Building in Central is currently used as the Court of Final Appeal.

Court of Final Appeal in Central

The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (Chinese: 香港終審法院) is the final appellate court of Hong Kong.

Before 1 July 1997, Hong Kong was a British Dependent Territory, and the power of final adjudication on the laws of Hong Kong was vested in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. The sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China on 1 July 1997, and the Court of Final Appeal was thereby established in Central, Hong Kong. Since then, it serves as the court of last resort, thus executing the power of final adjudication on the laws of Hong Kong.

Under the Basic Law, the constitutional document of Hong Kong, the special administrative region remains a common law jurisdiction. Judges from other common law jurisdictions (including England and Wales) can be recruited and serve in the judiciary according to Article 92 of the Basic Law.

The court has the power of final adjudication with respect to the law of Hong Kong as well as the power of final interpretation over local laws including the power to strike down local ordinances on the grounds of inconsistency with the Basic Law The power of final interpretation of national law including the Basic Law is vested in the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China (NPCSC) by virtue of Article 158 of the Basic Law and by the Constitution of the PRC, however national laws which are not explicitly listed in Annex III of the Basic Law are not operative in Hong Kong.

Article 158 delegates such power to the courts of Hong Kong for interpretation while handling court cases. Although this arrangement has attracted criticism of "undermining judicial independence", an interpretation by the NPCSC does not affect any court judgments already rendered. Controversy regarding this power of interpretation arose in the right of abode issue in 1999.

Building

Since its inception, the court has been located in the Former French Mission Building, in Central. The Hong Kong Government is planning to relocate it to the present Legislative Council Building, which was originally designed to be a law court and was once the location of the colonial Supreme Court (1912–1985), in 2015 following renovations.

List of judges

Permanent judges

Title and name	Date of birth	Appointed by	Took office	Prior positions
Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal The Hon Mr Justice Geoffrey Ma	January 1956 Hong Kong	Donald Tsang	2010	Barrister since 1978, Recorder of the Court of First Instance of the High Court (2000–2001), Judge of the Court of First Instance (2001–2002), Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal (2002–2003), Chief Judge of the High Court in Hong Kong (2003–2010)
The Hon Mr Justice Ribeiro	1949 Hong Kong	Tung Chee-Hwa	2000	Former legal academic and lawyer since 1979, Recorder of the High Court (1997–1999), Judge of the High Court (1999–2000), Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal (2000)
The Hon Mr Justice Tang	1947 Hong Kong	Leung Chun-ying	2012	Barrister since 1970, Deputy District Judge 1982–1986, Deputy High Court Judge 1986–1995, Recorder for the High Court of Justice/Court of First Instance 1995–2005, Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (2006–2012), Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal (2005)
The Hon Mr Justice Fok	September 1962 Hong Kong	Leung Chun-ying	2013	Barrister in Hong Kong since 1986, Recorder of the Court of First Instance of the High Court (2003–2009), Judge of the Court of First Instance (2010–2011), Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal (2011–2013)

Non-Permanent judges

Non-Permanent Judges				Non-Permanent Judges from other common law jurisdictions
Chinese name	English name	Tenure	Remarks	Chinese name	English name	Tenure	Remarks
羅弼時爵士	Sir Denys Tudor Emil ROBERTS	28 July 1997－27 July 2003	Sir Denys died on 19 May 2013.	梅師賢爵士	The Honourable Sir Anthony MASON	28 July 1997 –	Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales
赫健士爵士	Sir Alan Armstrong HUGGINS	28 July 1997－27 July 2003		顧安國勳爵	The Right Honourable the Lord COOKE of Thorndon	28 July 1997－27 July 2006
麥慕年先生	Mr Art Michael McMULLIN	28 July 1997－27 July 2003		沈穆善爵士	The Right Honourable Sir Edward SOMERS	28 July 1997－27 July 2003	Sir Edward died on 13 June 2012.
康士爵士	Sir Derek CONS	28 July 1997－27 July 2006		杜偉舜爵士	The Right Honourable Sir Daryl DAWSON	1 September 1997－31 August 2003
邵祺先生	Mr William James SILKE	28 July 1997－27 July 2009		李啟新勳爵	The Right Honourable the Lord NICHOLLS of Birkenhead	12 January 1998－11 January 2004
傅雅德先生	Mr Kutlu Tekin FUAD	28 July 1997－27 July 2009		賀輔明勳爵	The Right Honourable the Lord HOFFMANN	12 January 1998－	Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, Lord Justice of Appeal
郭樂富先生	Mr Philip Gerard CLOUGH	28 July 1997－27 July 2006		布仁立爵士	The Honourable Sir Gerard BRENNAN	28 July 2000－27 July 2012	Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, Justice of the High Court of Australia, judge of the Federal Court of Australia
麥德高先生	Mr Neil MACDOUGALL	28 July 1997－27 July 2003		艾俊彬爵士	The Right Honourable Sir Thomas EICHELBAUM	28 July 2000－27 July 2009
鮑偉華爵士	Sir Noel Plunkett POWER	28 July 1997－19 November 2009	Sir Noel died on 19 November 2009.	苗禮治勳爵	The Right Honourable the Lord MILLETT	28 July 2000－	Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
黎守律先生	Mr Gerald Paul NAZARETH	28 July 1997－27 July 2012	Vice-President of the Court of Appeal of the High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Justice of the Court of Appeal of Bermuda	伍爾夫勳爵	The Right Honourable the Lord WOOLF	28 July 2003－27 July 2012	Master of the Rolls, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
馬天敏先生	Mr John Barry MORTIMER	28 July 1997－		施廣治勳爵	The Right Honourable the Lord SCOTT of Foscote	28 July 2003－27 July 2012	Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, Justice of Her Majesty's High Court of Justice in England (Chancery Division), Lord Justice of Appeal, Vice-Chancellor of the Supreme Court
烈顯倫先生	Mr Henry Denis LITTON	14 September 2000	Chairman of Hong Kong Bar Association; Vice-President of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong (1995–1997), Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (1997–2000)	韋卓善爵士	The Right Honourable Sir Ivor RICHARDSON	28 July 2003－27 July 2009
沈澄先生	Mr Charles Arthur CHING	7 October 2000－30 November 2000	Sir Charles died on 30 November 2000.	馬曉義先生	Mr Michael McHugh	1 July 2006－30 June 2012	Justice of the High Court of Australia
鄧楨法官	The Honourable Mr Justice Robert TANG Ching	1 September 2010－24 October 2012		高禮哲爵士	The Right Honourable Sir Thomas Munro GAULT	1 July 2006 –
司徒敬法官	The Honourable Mr Justice Frank STOCK	1 September 2010－		紀立信先生	Mr Murray Gleeson	1 March 2009－	Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia
夏正民法官	The Honourable Mr Justice Michael John HARTMANN	1 September 2010－	Judge of the High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, District Judge (Hong Kong)	華學佳勳爵	The Right Honourable the Lord WALKER of Gestingthorpe	1 March 2009－
包致金法官	The Honourable Mr Justice Syed Kemal Shah BOKHARY	25 October 2012－	Judge of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong (1989–1993), Justice of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong (1993–1997), Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (1997–2012)	廖柏嘉勳爵	The Right Honourable the Lord NEUBERGER of Abbotsbury	1 March 2009－
陳兆愷法官	The Honourable Mr Justice Patrick CHAN Siu-oi	21 October 2013 –	Judge of the District Court (1987–1991), Deputy Registrar of the High Court (1991–1992), Judge of the High Court (1992–1997), Chief Judge of the High Court (1997–2000), Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (2000–2012)	郝廉思勳爵	The Right Honourable the Lord COLLINS of Mapesbury	30 June 2011－	Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom; Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, Lord Justice of Appeal
				簡嘉麒勳爵	The Right Honourable the Lord CLARKE of Stone-cum-Ebony	30 June 2011－	Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, Lord Justice of Appeal
				范理申勳爵	The Right Honourable the Lord PHILLIPS of Worth Matravers	1 October 2012－
				施覺民法官	The Honourable Mr Justice Spigelman	8 April 2013 –	Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales (1998–2011)
				甘慕賢法官	The Honourable Mr Justice Gummow	8 April 2013 –	Justice of the High Court of Australia (1995–2012)

See also

• Judiciary of Hong Kong
• Legal system of Hong Kong
• Supreme Court of Hong Kong
• Charles Ching

External links

• Hong Kong Judiciary website page on Court of Final Appeal
• Jurist Hong Kong