鄭念慈

English

Cheng Lim-chi is a magistrate in Hong Kong, born in Hong Kong in 1968. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Hong Kong in 1990, passed the Common Professional Examination and obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Laws from the University of Hong Kong in 1993 and 1994 respectively, was called to the Hong Kong Bar in 1994 and has been in private practice since 1995. On 17 September 2012 he was appointed a Permanent Magistrate, by the Chief Executive on the recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission. Cheng read arts at the University of Hong Kong before turning to law, a humanities-to-law path uncommon among judicial officers. Coming from the Bar after some seventeen years in private practice before joining the Judiciary, he brings substantial litigation experience. He has chiefly sat at West Kowloon and Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts, and in recent years has handled cases that attracted public attention. The magistracy is Hong Kong's court of first instance for criminal matters, handling the great majority of criminal cases and exercising jurisdiction in certain others. All judges and judicial officers are appointed by the Chief Executive on the independent recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission, under the Basic Law, whose Articles 88 and 92 set out the recommendation mechanism and the criteria for selection. In recent years Cheng heard a case involving former legislator Lam Cheuk-ting, who was accused of obstructing legislators in the discharge of their duties during a Legislative Council meeting, and acquitted him after trial. The case shows that, beyond its routine caseload, the magistracy also deals with cases involving public office-holders, placing heavy demands on a magistrate's legal analysis and fact-finding.