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Hong Kong’s Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok said the recent “judicial copying” case had reflected the city’s well-established appeal mechanism, showing that the legal system in Hong Kong can be self-correcting.
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High Court judge Wilson Chan Ka-shun, also a national security judge, had previously received a serious reprimand from Chief Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung after the Court of Appeal ruled that he had plagiarised a plaintiff's submission in his ruling on a trademark case. A retrial under a different judge was also ordered.
Lam told Sing Tao in an inquiry that the case demonstrated Hong Kong’s well-established appeal mechanism, in which an upper court accepted a defendant’s appeal on the grounds of a judge’s wrongdoings, while the judge of the upper court rectified the mistakes in an open trial.
"Clearly this was an unfortunate incident and I am confident that the same mistake will not be repeated in the future,” he said.
Lam also noted that the Hong Kong Judicial Institute had been instructed to strengthen its training on judges and members of the judiciary over the matter to prevent making similar mistakes.
"Our legal system does not cover up [mistakes], we will learn of the mistakes and correct them to enable the parties to have a fair trial."
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Security law judge at fault as High Court orders retrial of trademark dispute
