Forcing wealthy litigants to contribute to court costs would discriminate against the rich, legal experts said yesterday.
They were responding to comments on Thursday by Mr Justice David Yam Yee-kwan, who presided over the probate action centred on Teddy Wang Teh-huei's $27 billion Chinachem empire.
The 172-day civil trial involving Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum and her father-in-law was the longest in Hong Kong's history.
Initially set down for 30 days, it caused a backlog of cases in the Court of First Instance and left Court 17 cluttered with legal documents, statements and exhibits.
In the conclusion of his 576-page judgment, Mr Justice Yam said the Chief Justice's Working Party on Civil Justice Reform was addressing the circumstances that allowed the hearing to drag on for so long.
'No doubt many taxpayers will be asking the question as to why should the executive government provide the judicial service free of charge to everyone when in some cases the parties should, when they could, pay for the resolution of disputes in the court,' he said.
'No doubt certain drastic and innovative suggestions will be made in [the working party's] final report.'