Public blind to justice

Nearly half the public have no idea what justice means in the courts, a survey has shown.

Only 54 per cent could correctly name 'distinguishing factual truth' as the role of a judge under the common law system.

More than one-third misunderstood justice as 'pursuing the truth', while 29 per cent thought judges should gather evidence as well.

The rest just mentioned interrogations of witnesses or simply said they had no idea, according to the survey by the Commercial Press.

Fifty-one per cent of the 561 respondents thought judges could be removed for making wrong judgments.

The pledge by Chief Justice Andrew Li Kwok-nang to use more Chinese in lower courts had apparently escaped public attention.