Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Hong Kong Case Law

Magistrate transfer powers
  • 7 Nov 1977

    CLIFFORD WONG CHUN-FAI v. ATTORNEY GENERAL

    Citation
    CLIFFORD WONG CHUN-FAI v. ATTORNEY GENERAL
    Court
    Court of Appeal
    Case number
    CACV43/1977

    The combined statutory scheme of the Magistrates' Ordinance (ss.88-90) and the District Court Ordinance (including s.6 and s.75) manifested the Legislature's clear intent to make transfer to the District Court mandatory on the Attorney General's application for indictable offences, thereby removing the common law right to trial by jury in respect of offences so transferred; the Attorney General's exercise of that statutory discretion was not shown to be unlawful or tainted by improper motive and certiorari was therefore not available to quash transfers of the indictable charges, though the er…