譚思樂

English

Tam Sze-lok is a judge of the District Court of Hong Kong. He qualified as a solicitor in 1993 and spent much of his career in the Department of Justice: he was appointed a Senior Government Counsel in 1997, promoted to Deputy Principal Government Counsel in 2013 and became a Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions the same year, supervising criminal prosecutions. He spent nearly twenty years in the prosecution service and has a deep knowledge of criminal law and prosecution practice. On 2 April 2014, Tam was appointed a District Judge, by the Chief Executive on the recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission. Because he had been a Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions before his appointment, the Judiciary stated specifically that he would not hear criminal cases during his first six months in the Judiciary, so as to avoid any conflict of roles or perception of one. He later sat as a Deputy Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court. The District Court is one of Hong Kong's original courts. It deals with civil claims of moderate value and the more serious criminal cases, with a sentencing limit generally of seven years' imprisonment, and its judges are appointed by the Chief Executive on the recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission. Article 89 of the Basic Law provides that a judge may be removed only for inability to discharge the duties of office or for misbehaviour, ensuring that judicial power can be exercised independently. Senior prosecutors moving to the bench are a common source of judicial appointments in Hong Kong; such judges are thoroughly familiar with criminal procedure and prosecution practice, though the transitional restriction above applies at the outset, and Tam's case illustrates the care the Judiciary takes over the separation of roles. Having long supervised criminal prosecutions, he is experienced in the prosecution strategy of complex commercial and serious criminal cases, which is useful when the District Court hears similar matters; the practice of a former prosecutor not hearing criminal cases at first is a common arrangement by which the Judiciary guards against any appearance of bias.