British judges are right to cut ties with Hong Kong

The resignations of Lords Reed and Hodge from Hong Kong’s highest court is not much of a surprise, except perhaps to those who did not realise that serving British judges still administered justice in the territory. Their decision to quit follows soon after the Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, decided to withdraw government support for the continued presence of serving British judges in Hong Kong. It marks the end of a long association between the British judiciary and Hong Kong which goes back to the 19^th century, and is the inevitable conclusion of the ongoing crackdown on civil liberties there, which shows no signs of slackening.

When Hong Kong was handed over to the People’s Republic of China in 1997, the territory’s court of last resort became the Court of Final Appeal (CFA), which superseded the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. But in a bid to bolster confidence in Hong Kong’s legal system, provision was made for foreign judges from Commonwealth jurisdictions to be appointed to the CFA on a non-permanent renewable basis.