Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Hong Kong Case Law

Discretionary judicial review of costs
  • 27 Nov 2013

    HKSAR v. CHAN HOK PAN AND OTHERS

    Citation
    HKSAR v. CHAN HOK PAN AND OTHERS
    Court
    Court of First Instance
    Case number
    HCMA91/2013

    Magistrates must follow the procedural guidance in Lam Chiu Fong and Hui Yui Sang when considering costs after withdrawal; where the prosecution is unprepared and provides no summary of facts a magistrate may properly award costs; where prosecution does provide summaries and authorities the magistrate must give reasons for her exercise of discretion; deprivation of costs requires positive findings that the defendant's conduct brought suspicion on himself, which was not established on the evidence here; accordingly the appeals were dismissed and the magistrate's costs orders upheld.