The courts will continue to 'do what is right' and apply the law in sensitive cases even if there is a risk of sparking another constitutional crisis, a leading judge said yesterday.
Mr Justice Kemal Bokhary, a permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal, dismissed fears that the right-of-abode controversy had damaged the Judiciary's independence.
'On this question of a crisis, ultimately we have to do the right thing. Hopefully, doing the right thing will not result in a crisis,' he said at a press conference following a trip by SAR judges to the mainland this month.
'We have to do justice according to the law.' Asked if he was giving an assurance that the courts would not be swayed by political pressure in sensitive cases, the judge said: 'Absolutely. We will just apply the law because it is our duty.
'Sometimes people say, 'Is the Judiciary wholly independent?' Of course the Judiciary is wholly independent. The mere fact that there was a crisis shows you how straight the system is.' Controversy erupted in January last year when mainland legal experts attacked a landmark right-of-abode ruling by the Court of Final Appeal.
The judgment was effectively overturned last June with a reinterpretation by the National People's Congress Standing Committee.
Mr Justice Bokhary said the trip by 15 SAR judges and magistrates to Tsinghua University in Beijing could help avoid the kind of misunderstanding which led to the crisis.
