'More than 3,000 correctional services officers who took a claim for overtime pay all the way to the Court of Final Appeal - and lost - must pay nearly HK$50 million in legal costs, their union said.'
SCMP, June 25
And now we go to junior class for our civic responsibility lesson for today. Did you know, Johnny, that the purpose of law is to provide employment for lawyers?
You didn't know?
Well, it is, and very lucrative employment, too, as our lawyers in this town have successfully fought off all reforms that would make the pricing of their services transparent and introduce some competition among them. Such reforms, you see, would be inconsistent with the dignity of the law as best exemplified in the wearing of flea-prone 17th century horsehair hats while in court.
And if for some unfathomable reason you still do not entirely understand this, Johnny, then do at least remember that you must not display your ignorance by asking the chief justice how justice can be justice when the costs of justice in settling a minor dispute on overtime pay can go as high as HK$50 million.