(Bloomberg) — Hong Kong has appointed a retired New Zealand judge to its top court, the first foreign justice named to the appellate body in over a year following record resignations that threatened to undermine confidence in the judicial system.
The city’s lawmakers on Wednesday approved William Young’s appointment as a non-permanent judge at the Court of Final Appeal. The move partly restores overseas judges who quit after Beijing imposed a national security law and curbed political freedoms.
The addition of Young, who retired from New Zealand’s Supreme Court in 2022, will bring the number of foreign judges in the financial hub to six, compared with 15 in 2019. Their presence has long been seen as a selling point for foreign companies looking to do business in the former British colony, which has kept its own judiciary since returning to Chinese rule.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee, who accepted an advisory body’s recommendation to appoint Young last month, praised his “eminent standing and reputation.”
“Their participation demonstrates a high degree of confidence in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s judicial system, and enables Hong Kong to maintain strong links with other common law jurisdictions,” Lee said of the bench of foreign judges in a statement at the time.
Young joins Australian James Allsop, who was appointed last year.
Since Beijing announced the national security law in 2020, about half of the CFA’s 15 overseas justices from a 2019 peak have either resigned or chosen not to renew their terms. Several, including UK judges Jonathan Sumption and Lawrence Collins, have openly cited political reasons for their departures.
In January, Chief Justice Andrew Cheung acknowledged that recruiting suitable overseas judges has become “less straightforward” due to geopolitical headwinds. He maintained, however, that these departures do not signify a weakening of the judiciary’s quality or independence.
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