Court of Final Appeal
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- For the Court of Final Appeal in Macau, see Court of Final Appeal, Macau.
The Court of Final Appeal (Traditional Chinese: 終審法院) is the court with the final adjudication power on laws of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China .
In the Hong Kong, 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. However, the same Article 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", it must be noted that issuing an interpretation does not affect any court judgments already passed. The courts' power of interpretation is necessary for any judicial activities to be carried out. A controversy on the power of interpretation has arisen in the right of abode issue in 1999.
The court is located in the Former French Mission Building, in Central. There are plans to move it to the present Legislative Council building, as it was originally designed to be a lawcourt and has once been the location of the colonial Supreme Court.
[edit] 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 - former Chief Justice, High Court of Australia
- The Rt Hon the Lord Hoffmann of Chedworth - Law Lord (UK), House of Lords;
- The Hon Sir Gerard Brennan - former Chief Justice, High Court of Australia
- The Rt Hon Sir Thomas Eichelbaum GBE - former Chief Justice of New Zealand
- The Rt Hon the Lord Millett - Law Lord, House of Lords (UK)
- The Rt Hon the Lord Woolf of Barnes (Harry Kenneth Woolf) - Law Lord and former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
- The Rt Hon the Lord Scott of Foscote - Law Lord (UK), House of Lords (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
- Mr Michael McHugh - former justice of the High Court of Australia until 2005
