Following tradition, the year began with the Ceremonial Opening of the Legal Year on 11 January, at which the Hon Chief Justice Geoffrey MA spoke about how the spirit of the law was implemented through the courts in dealing with different cases including the judicial review cases. He stressed that the concept of equality was key to an understanding of Hong Kong’s system of law, and a fundamental component of the rule of law. No one person or institution was above the law and the application of law. The public was entitled to be assured that a fair hearing was always guaranteed by the courts. The courts, as always, would only deal with the legal questions arising from disputes, and not the motives behind them.

He also provided an update on a few matters affecting the Judiciary, including the Judiciary’s proposals to improve the conditions of service of judges, the ongoing review of the statutory retirement age for judges, the relocation of the Court of Final Appeal to Jackson Road in 2015 and the completion of the West Kowloon Law Courts Building in 2016.

The West Kowloon Law Courts Building in Sham Shui Po has been designed to put under one roof the Tsuen Wan Magistrates' Courts, the Small Claims Tribunal, the Coroner's Court and the Obscene Articles Tribunal, providing much needed space for the effective operation of these courts. The architecture of the building is in keeping with the dignified stature of a court building.

The Small Claims Tribunal was the first to move into this new building in September 2016 followed by the Tsuen Wan Magistrates’ Courts, which was renamed as West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts, in December. The Coroner’s Court and the Obscene Articles Tribunal will also be relocated to this building in January 2017. With the full operation of the new building, there will be a total of 32 courtrooms together with other support facilities such as witness protection rooms, witness waiting rooms, consultation rooms, registries, an information centre and an accounts office.

In 2016, our Judges and Judicial Officers attended various conferences and seminars for exchanges with their counterparts from other jurisdictions. The Hon Chief Justice Geoffrey MA delivered the 2016 Bentham Association Presidential Address in the United Kingdom in March. In end June/early July, he visited the Supreme People’s Court and other courts in Beijing, Dalian and Shenyang and delivered a talk on "The Common Law System of Hong Kong: A Hong Kong Judge's Personal View” at the National Judges College. In September, he attended the Second Summit on Chinese Judicial Studies in Chongqing. In October, the Judiciary hosted the Fifth Judicial Seminar on Commercial Litigation attended by judges from 14 jurisdictions. In November, the Hon Chief Justice Geoffrey MA delivered the Birkenhead Lecture 2016 organised by Gray’s Inn, and the Allen & Overy Annual Law Lecture 2016 at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom; the Hon Mr Justice Joseph FOK, Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal, delivered a talk entitled "The influence of the Australian Judges on the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal” organised by the Hong Kong Chapter, Law Council of Australia.

Many judicial appointments took effect in 2016. Among these was the appointment of the Hon Mrs Audrey Patricia CAMPBELL-MOFFAT as Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court in May 2016.

In 2016, the overall performance was satisfactory, save for the High Court. The majority of the performance targets at various levels of courts were achieved. A few targets on the average waiting time for cases in the High Court were however not met. Shortfall in judicial manpower is one of the factors affecting the court waiting time for the High Court. The Judiciary has been paying attention to this issue, creating additional judicial posts in light of the actual situation and appointing Deputy Judges to assist in coping with the needs. At the same time, the Judiciary has embarked upon various measures, such as the reviews of the retirement ages and conditions of service of Judges and Judicial Officers and appropriate deployment of judicial resources, with a view to handling as many cases as possible and shortening the waiting time.

In addition, to further explore the causes of this problem, the Chief Judge of the High Court formed some task groups in late 2015 to look into the different aspects of criminal listing and hearing matters, including a new draft Practice Direction on which the relevant stakeholders have been consulted. The Judiciary is following up on the matter and will make announcement at an appropriate juncture. On the other hand, in a judgment of a criminal appeal case in September 2016, the Court of Appeal of the High Court promulgated new guidelines on determining the discount on sentence upon a guilty plea. It is believed that, in the long run, it will be conducive to reducing the court waiting time for criminal cases.

The Judiciary will continue to closely monitor the waiting time for court cases, review the relevant measures and the judicial establishment, in order to cope with the increasing workload.

The Chief Justice appointed Judges and Judicial Officers and invited representatives from the legal profession and relevant government departments to sit on a number of boards and committees to contribute valuable views to issues that are important to the operation of the Judiciary. These boards and committees include the Civil Justice Reform Monitoring Committee, Working Party on Mediation, Civil Court Users’ Committee, Criminal Court Users’ Committee， Family Court Users’ Committee, Admiralty Court Users’ Committee, Competition Tribunal Users’ Committee, Sub-Committee on Companies and Insolvency Matters of the Civil Court Users’ Committee and the Governing Body of the Hong Kong Judicial Institute.

In 2016, the Judiciary arranged more than 300 visits for about 8700 visitors. Among all, most visitors are local students. In May 2016, the pilot scheme of guided visits to the Court of Final Appeal Building was extended to primary 5 and 6 students. We treasure all opportunities to meet with visitors and introduce to them the work of the Judiciary.

You are cordially invited to visit our Photo Gallery for various memorable moments of the Judiciary in 2016.