LEGISLATORS are set to unite to challenge a draft bill on the Court of Final Appeal if the Government restricts the number of overseas judges to one. The legal profession has also voiced its opposition to a ''watered down'' version of the court's composition. United Democrat James To Kun-sun said the Government's earlier warning about a ''legal vacuum'' if the court was not set up by 1996 was groundless. He said his party would put forward an amendment to relax the restrictive four local plus one foreign judge formula if it were proposed. He said the Government was being ''irresponsible'' by threatening to withdraw the bill and not set up the court if the draft was opposed by the Legislative Council. ''[It] is actually threatening Legco and wants it to be a rubber stamp. I hope the Government would not set a bad precedent,'' Mr To said. The party's proposal was backed by liberal camp colleagues, Frederick Fung Kin-kee from the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, and Meeting Point's Zachary Wong Wai-yin. Mr Wong said the Government would face a ''legitimacy crisis'' if it withdrew a bill successfully amended by the legislature. Their political counterparts, the Liberal Party, also threw its weight behind the challenge. The party would either raise or support amendments which were in line with the Basic Law, said Selina Chow Liang Suk-yee. The Bar Association said it would rather have no final appeal court before 1997 than a compromised one. Bar Association vice-chairman Gladys Li QC said: ''I don't see there would be a devastating effect on the judicial system [if there was no court set up before 1997]. The problem about a legal vacuum is not huge in terms of the number of appeals.'' A government official said the average number of cases appealing to the Privy Council every year was 12.
