THE power to select judges for the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) is to pass from the Governor to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
The change was announced yesterday by the Attorney-General, Jeremy Mathews, as he outlined the first details of the CFA Bill, which will be sent for consultation to the Bar Association tomorrow.
The Bill, which appears before Legco in the new year, was rejected three years ago by legislators as it only allowed for one foreign judge to sit on the five-person bench.
But legal chiefs and legislators feel the Bill will be passed by the Legislative Council this time as opposition to the 4:1 option is crumbling.
The increase in the power of the JSC is part of a package on judge selection and procedures that Mr Mathews hopes will be made law next year as a replacement for the Privy Council, which disconnects from Hong Kong on July 1, 1997.
Answering criticisms that the bench make-up will affect judicial independence, he said: 'The procedures in the bill for appointing all categories of judges [will] ensure that judicial independence is fully protected.' The five-person court will be made up of a Chief Justice, three permanent Hong Kong judges and one judge from a selected panel of non-permanent Hong Kong judges or from a list of overseas judges.
Mr Mathew's CFA Bill proposes that the JSC selects the three permanent Hong Kong judges, a function previously executed by the Governor with JSC advice, and that the Chief Justice, a Chinese national, to be selected by the Governor.