HONG KONG – Deputy Secretary for Justice Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan said on Saturday that Hong Kong people should have every confidence in the city’s legal system given that both serving overseas judges and others who have just left fully recognize the rule of law in the city.

“We should recognize that there are very good remarks made by the other serving overseas judges in Hong Kong and overseas judges who just left; they fully recognize the rule of law in Hong Kong and we must have every confidence in our own rule of law, in our legal system,” he said at a media session after attending a radio program.

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Cheung stressed that he fully recognized the contributions made by the overseas judges in the special administrative region.

“Several of them left, maybe for different reasons, some for personal reasons and some for other reasons that may not be disclosed,” he said.

Cheung iterated that he is certain that the Judiciary will continue to look for other outstanding judges in overseas jurisdictions.

“I will say that we recognize their contributions. But, as you can see, many excellent common law jurisdictions in the world, they do not have such kind of mechanism.”

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Pointing out that the mechanism of overseas judges is a unique feature of the SAR’s judicial system, he said, “It doesn't mean that if you do not have overseas judges, you do not have good rule of law, as you can see from the other examples of other jurisdictions all over the world.”