Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Credibility vs propensity

Legal area

Court

11 Mar 1998

HKSAR v. TANG SIU MAN

Citation

HKSAR v. TANG SIU MAN
Court

Court of Final Appeal
Case number

FACC1/1997

Majority: Hong Kong will not adopt the Vye/Aziz regime as an invariable rule; trial judges retain a confined discretion to direct on good character so long as the summing-up is fair and balanced; where nothing useful can be said on propensity omission of the propensity limb is not reversible error; in this case the judge's omission did not render trial unfair and appeal is dismissed.
17 Dec 1997

HKSAR v. CHAN HING CHI

Citation

HKSAR v. CHAN HING CHI
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC375/1997

The conviction was quashed because cross-examination and answers relating to bad character (including disclosure of an acquittal) and the trial judge's failure to give the required directions on bad character, together with material factual misstatements in the summing-up and inappropriate judicial interruptions, produced material irregularities that rendered the conviction unsafe; a retrial was ordered.