In the eight-and-a-half years that I led InvestHK, the major factor we always put front and centre in our pitch to potential foreign investors was Hong Kong’s legal system: rule of law, use of common law, innocent until proven guilty in criminal cases, respect for private property rights including intellectual property, enforceability of contracts and so on, all administered by an independent judiciary.
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In our annual opinion surveys asking foreign companies why they had set up here and what they most liked, the legal system came top of the polls year after year, neck and neck with our low and simple taxes.
Because the legal system is at the heart of Hong Kong’s success as an international financial and business centre, and because Hong Kong’s strength is so important to China’s development, those who wish China ill turn their big guns against us, in particular against our judiciary. It explains why US lawmakers have pushed to sanction some of judges and run a non-stop barrage of false criticism. It explains why British judges have come under pressure to quit our Court of Final Appeal.
At the ceremony last week to mark the opening of the new legal year, Chief Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung referred to the “orchestrated harassment and pressures” some judges faced. But he assured the public that the quality of the judiciary and its independence had not weakened.
He regretted the departure of some of the overseas non-permanent judges who sit on the top court. Recruiting replacements would be tough in the geopolitical environment, he said, but even without them, our legal system would remain robust given Hong Kong’s large pool of qualified legal professionals steeped in common law.
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The Hong Kong Bar Association outgoing chairman, Senior Counsel Victor Dawes, has described our judges as “first class” and urged the public to have confidence in their performance. He also had two pieces of advice for the authorities.