The Judge in charge of the Constitutional and Administrative Law List of the Court of First Instance (within the High Court) of Hong Kong, is the most important Law List in that court, given the far-reaching powers of interpreting the Hong Kong Basic Law. As such, the Judge in charge of this list is often considered to be the top judge of the lower court.
Description
The list receives a material public interest in Hong Kong due to the fact that it is the first point of contact for most contentious court cases around issues that have caused public discussion or social unrest, including being in charge of all judicial reviews. These include cases around the Legislative Council oath-taking controversy, the Umbrella Movement, and the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. In addition, given the important nature of this position, the Judge entrusted with this role is often almost guaranteed to be elevated to the higher courts in the future.
So far, all previous judges in this role have been promoted to at least the Court of Appeal, with many elevated to the Court of Final Appeal. Current justices of the Court of Final Appeal who were once the Judge in charge of this list include Chief Justice Andrew Cheung, permanent judge Johnson Lam and non-permanent justice Frank Stock. Former justices include Michael Hartmann.
List of Judges +#NameTenurePromoted To (Most Senior Role) Silk 1Sir Brian Richard Keith1997–99Justice of Appeal of the High Court (retired)QC (1989)2Frank Stock, GBS1999–2000Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final AppealQC (1985)3Michael John Hartmann, GBS2000–08Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal (retired)4Andrew Cheung Kui-nung, GBM2008–113rd Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal5Johnson Lam Man-hon2011–12Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal6Thomas Au Hing-cheung2012–19Justice of Appeal of the High Court7Anderson Chow Ka-ming2019–21Justice of Appeal of the High CourtSC (2004)8Russell Adam Coleman2021–26Justice of Appeal of the High CourtSC (2006)
References