Court of Final Appeal

A court of final appeal is the court with the final adjudication power on the local laws in a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China. There are two courts of final appeal: one in Hong Kong SAR; another in Macau SAR.

Contents

1 Hong Kong 1.1 List of judges 2 Macau 3 See also 4 External links

Hong Kong

In the Hong Kong SAR, the power of final adjudication (court of last resort) on the Hong Kong law which was vested with the Privy Council during the British colonial administration is now vested in the Court of Final Appeal following Hong Kong's handover to the People's Republic of China in 1997.

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

On the other hand, the power of interpretation of the Basic Law itself, being part of the national law, is vested in the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China (NPCSC) in accordance with Article 158 of the Basic Law. Some are concerned that this arrangement would amount to undermining judicial independence in Hong Kong. Such controversies have arisen in the right of abode issue in 1999.

The court is located in the Former French Mission Building, in Central.

List of judges

• Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal
  • The Hon Mr Justice Andrew Li Kwok-nang

• Permanent Judges of the Court of Final Appeal
  • The Hon Mr Justice Bokhary
  • The Hon Mr Justice Chan
  • The Hon Mr Justice Ribeiro

• Non-Permanent Judges of the Court of Final Appeal
  • Sir Derek Cons - President of the Court of Appeals of Brunei
  • Mr William James Silke
  • Mr Kutlu Tekin Fuad - Appellate Court of Brunei
  • Hon Mr Philip Gerard Clough
  • Sir Noel Plunkett Power, GBS
  • Hon Mr Gerald Paul Nazareth, GBS - Justice of the Court of Appeal of Bermuda
  • The Hon Mr John Barry Mortimer, GBS QC
  • The Hon Mr Henry Denis Litton, GBM
  • The Hon Sir Anthony Mason
  • The Rt Hon the Lord Cooke of Thorndon
  • The Rt Hon the Lord Hoffmann (Baron Leonard Hubert Hoffmann of Chedworth) - Law Lord (UK), Court of Appeal; director of the Amnesty International Charity Ltd
  • The Hon Sir Gerard Brennan
  • The Rt Hon Sir Thomas Eichelbaum GBE - former Chief Justice of New Zealand
  • The Rt Hon the Lord Millett - Law Lord and formerly of the Court of Ordinary Appeals (UK)
  • The Rt Hon the Lord Woolf of Barnes (Harry Kenneth Woolf) - Master of the Rolls of the Royal Courts of Justice and President of the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) (UK)
  • The Rt Hon the Lord Scott of Foscote - Law Lord (UK) and Court of Ordinary of Appeals (UK)
  • The Rt Hon Sir Ivor Richardson - former Chancellor of Victoria University of Wellington, a former Dean and Professor of Law; has since returned to NZ as Distinguished Fellow at the Law School at the University of Wellington

Macau

See also

• Supreme Court of Hong Kong
• Sir Yang Ti-liang was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong
• Charles Ching

External links

• http://www.judiciary.gov.hk/en/crt_services/pphlt/html/cfa.htm
• http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/world/hongkong.htm

See also: Court of Final Appeal, 1997, 1999, Andrew Li Kwok-nang, Anthony Mason, Basic Law of Hong Kong, Central, Hong Kong, Charles Ching, Common law, Court of last resort