The Legislative Council has endorsed the appointment of retired New Zealand judge William Gillow Gibbes Austen Young as a non-permanent judge of the city’s top court, effective later this month for a three-year term.

Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan Kwok-ki highlighted the significance of having distinguished overseas judges with extensive judicial experience serving on the Court of Final Appeal.

“This not only fully demonstrates the unique advantage of Hong Kong’s highly internationalized judicial system, but is also crucial to maintaining the city’s distinctive status as a high-standard common law jurisdiction,” he said at the LegCo meeting.

Photo: Courts of New Zealand

Young served as a permanent judge on New Zealand’s Supreme Court from 2010 until his retirement in April 2022.

The seasoned judge previously chaired the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings that resulted in 51 deaths.

Chan stated that Young has extensive legal expertise spanning criminal law, competition law and tax-related cases, emphasizing that his appointment would bring significant contributions to the court’s work.

He further noted that under the “one country, two systems” framework, Hong Kong remains the nation’s only common law jurisdiction and the world’s sole bilingual common law system operating in both Chinese and English.

According to Chan, the city maintained its strong global standing in the 2024 World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, ranking 23rd out of 142 jurisdictions worldwide, with its overall position remaining high and continuing to outperform several Western nations.

Legal sector lawmaker Ambrose Lam San-keung voiced support for the appointment while condemning attempts to smear the city’s rule of law and the alleged pressure campaign targeting overseas judges.

(Cheng Wong)

LegCo approves appointment of former NZ judge to HK top court