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Following is a question by the Hon Ma Lik and a written reply by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Donald Tsang, in the Legislative Council meeting today (January 26):

Question:

Regarding the languages used in court hearings, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a) it knows the number of cases heard in Chinese and its percentage in the total number of cases heard by various levels of courts in each of the past five years, and the respective numbers of civil and criminal cases heard in Chinese and their percentages in the total numbers of similar cases heard by the District Courts and courts of higher levels;

(b) it knows if the language used in hearing an appeal case is the same as that used by the trial court for the case concerned; if not, the arrangements and principles adopted by appellate courts; and

(c) the Basic Law provides protection of the right of Hong Kong residents who are the plaintiffs or the defendants in litigation cases to use the official language of their choice in court hearings; if it does, whether the authorities have assessed if the existing requirements on the use of official languages in judicial proceedings stipulated in the Official Languages Ordinance contravene such protection under the Basic Law; if they have, of the assessment results and the justifications?

Reply:

Madam President,

The first two parts of the question relate to the operations of the court and case statistics. Having consulted the Judiciary, we now provide the following information.

(a) The statistics relating to cases heard in Chinese are set out in the Annex (PDF Format).

(b) An appeal in court is usually conducted in the same official language as that used at the trial. However, if a party applies for the appeal to be conducted in the other official language as that used at the trial, the court may grant the application if it is satisfied that this is just and expeditious for the disposal of the appeal. In such a case, a certified translation of such documents (including the transcript or part thereof) as are necessary for the appeal are required to be arranged for use by the court and the parties to the proceedings.

(c) Article 9 of the Basic Law provides that "in addition to the Chinese language, English may also be used as an official language" by the Judiciary. Therefore, a person has a constitutional right to use either official language in court proceedings. Section 5 of the Official Languages Ordinance (Cap 5) provides that even though a judge before whom the proceedings take place may determine to use one official language, his decision does not restrict the parties to the proceedings or their legal representatives from employing the other official language. Where necessary, the Judiciary will arrange for translation and interpretation services. The current legislative provisions are consistent with the Basic Law, as has been confirmed in a judicial decision.

Ends/Wednesday, January 26, 2005

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