A SOLICITOR v. THE LAW SOCIETY OF HONG KONG

cacv 246/2004

in the high court of the

hong kong special administrative region

court of appeal

civil appeal no. 246 of 2004

(on appeal from THE FINDINGS AND ORDER OF THE

SOLICITORS DISCIPLINARY TRIBUNAL DATED 26 JULY 2004)

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J U D G M E N T

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Hon Rogers VP:

1.  This is an application for leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal and also coupled with that was an application to reopen the application that was made to this court.

2.  Many of the issues, which have been sought to be raised, were dealt with by the Court of Final Appeal in its original judgment.  Others were dealt with by us in our judgment and there is one remaining matter: it is said that there was fraud conducted on the Law Society which caused this original matter to arise.

3.  If that is so, then there may be a cause of action for the applicant and he can bring separate proceedings but in our view this is not an appropriate case for this court to grant leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal as being a matter of great general public importance.

4.  If the applicant wishes to take the matter further and to apply to the Court of Final Appeal itself, so be it.  In any event, in most instances, whether a matter should be heard by the Court of Final Appeal on the basis of section 22(1)(b) of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance, Cap. 484, appears to me to be a matter primarily for the Court of Final Appeal itself to decide and not for this court.

Hon Stock JA:

5.  I agree.

Hon Sakhrani J:

6.  I also agree.

(Submission re costs)

Hon Rogers VP:

7.  The only order that we can really make today is to dismiss this application with costs and, of course, if you succeed in the Court of Final Appeal then you get the costs back.