16 Jul 2021
Leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal was refused because the application was wholly without merit: the Court properly reviewed the Deputy Judge’s decision and found no specific errors identified by the applicant; the issues raised did not amount to questions of great general or public importance under s22(1)(b), and there was no basis to disturb the lower court’s decision.
6 Apr 2006
Article 35, read in context of the Basic Law, protects access to the courts of judicature only; the Listing Committee Disciplinary Committee is not a court of law under Article 35; consequently the respondents have no absolute constitutional right under Article 35 to unrestricted legal representation at the disciplinary hearing; common law fairness governs and, on the facts, the chairman permissibly left the question open and the challenge was premature and should have awaited further proceedings and exhaustion of domestic remedies.
4 Mar 1992
The Council's sentence was affected by extraneous unproved allegations introduced during mitigation (an assertion that the doctor had purchased excessive quantities of drugs), and because the Legal Adviser did not caution the Council or the Council state it had ignored such material, the appellate court must give the benefit of doubt to the appellant and vary the sanction. Sentencing must be confined to offences proved; accordingly the Court substituted a lesser removal period (18 months) for the two-year order.