何慧嫻

English

Vivian Ho Wai-han was born in Hong Kong and is a Permanent Magistrate. She obtained an LL.B. from the London School of Economics and Political Science in the United Kingdom and a Postgraduate Certificate in Laws from the University of Hong Kong. She was called to the Hong Kong Bar in 2005 and has practised privately since that year. On 15 August 2022 she was appointed a Permanent Magistrate on the recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission. The Magistrates' Courts are the lowest tier of the criminal courts in Hong Kong and handle the great majority of criminal cases, including summary offences and the mention of indictable offences. Magistrates normally sit alone without a jury; the normal maximum sentence for a single offence is two years' imprisonment and a fine of $100,000, rising to three years where two or more indictable offences are dealt with at the same time, and some Ordinances provide for higher penalties. Magistrates also handle a heavy daily caseload of mentions, bail applications, pleas and trials, as well as summary matters such as traffic offences, hawking and littering. The court also includes the Juvenile Court and conducts committal proceedings, transferring more serious cases to the District Court or committing them to the Court of First Instance of the High Court. Judges and judicial officers of the HKSAR are appointed by the Chief Executive on the independent recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission; Article 88 of the Basic Law provides that judges shall be appointed by the Chief Executive on the recommendation of an independent commission, and Article 92 that they shall be chosen on the basis of their judicial and professional qualities and may be recruited from other common law jurisdictions. Trained in the United Kingdom and in Hong Kong and called to the local Bar, Ho was appointed on the same day as Charmaine Lo in 2022 and moved from private practice to the bench.