Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Hong Kong Case Law

Matrimonial causes ordinance (cap.179)
  • 6 Mar 1992

    CHIU CHEE KAN, PETER v. CHIU KUNG TIEN MING, TAMMY

    Citation
    CHIU CHEE KAN, PETER v. CHIU KUNG TIEN MING, TAMMY
    Court
    Court of Appeal
    Case number
    CACV121/1991

    The appeal was allowed because the trial judge misdirected himself in his rejection of a key witness (Teresa To) for plainly wrong reasons; that misdirection fatally undermined a credibility‑based decision on whether consortium had been determined. Given the centrality of that misassessment to the finding on s.11A(1)(e), the District Court decision was unsustainable and a retrial was ordered. The court reaffirmed that 'living apart' requires both physical separation and subjective cessation of recognition of the marriage, but deferred factual determination to a fresh trial.