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C. PRESSURES FELT BY THE HONG KONG SYSTEM
| 36. | It is undoubtedly the case that many who are concerned with the civil justice system believe that the abovementioned problems and their causes apply equally to Hong Kong. |
| 37. | Such views can be found in the collection of papers edited by Professor Michael Wilkinson and Janet Burton and published in 2000. (Note 32) |
| 37.1 | In its Foreword, Mr Justice Litton, then a Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal, stated :- |
| "Civil litigation is in crisis. It has been so for some time. The situation has now been aggravated by the sharp increase in the number of writs issued in the High Court following the economic down-turn over the past two years." (Note 33) | ||
| 37.2 | Professor Wilkinson put it in the following terms :- |
| "Despite some impressive assessments in comparative tables, there is a widely held perception that the civil justice system in Hong Kong is in urgent need of reform. There are complaints that it is too costly, too slow, too complex and too readily susceptible to abuse. These criticisms are not, of course, peculiar to Hong Kong. Almost identical criticisms have been voiced in recent years in England, Australia, Canada, Singapore and other common law jurisdictions." (Note 34) | ||
| 37.3 | Similar views were expressed by Mr Justice Seagroatt, a judge with particular experience of personal injury cases :- |
| "...... the problems which gave the impetus to the Woolf proposals also exist here: delay, unwieldy procedure, excessive use of resources to advance or rebut a claim, and an unacceptable level of cost." (Note 35) | ||
| 37.4 | This was echoed by Mr David Leonard, recently retired from the High Court bench :- |
| "There has long been disillusion with the civil justice system amongst those whom it is supposed to serve. Civil litigation has been slow, complex and expensive and the outcome uncertain." (Note 36) |
Notes
| 32 | Michael Wilkinson & Janet Burton, Reform of the Civil Process in Hong Kong (Butterworths Asia, 2000). <back> |
| 33 | W&B, p v. See also Henry Litton, "Old Wine in New Bottles: Civil Justice Reform in Hong Kong: (2000) 30 HKLJ 351. <back> |
| 34 | W&B, p 2. <back> |
| 35 | W&B, p 142. <back> |
| 36 | W&B, p 63. <back> |
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