2011年10月11日星期二

三談藐視法庭

今天東方日報跟進了向署理主任裁判官彭中屏罵粗案:

法庭:向法官爆粗兩男未甩難


【本報訊】兩名越南籍男子被控盜竊罪,早前在屯門法院提堂時涉向裁判官「爆粗」,但律政司表示會撤銷控罪,裁判官大表不滿昨日要律政司代表到庭解釋。代表指出裁判官就事件,可以行使《裁判官條例》第九十九條所賦予的司法權力裁決兩名被告;裁判官要求律政司研究,能否引用《普通法》起訴及在裁判法院處理,法庭將案押後至本月廿四日再訊。(節錄自東方日報11/10/2011)

標少之前寫了藐視法庭再談藐視法庭兩篇評論,建議可循普通法(common law)及香港法例第221章刑事程序條例第101I條檢控。可能彭法官和我有點心靈相通(mental telepathy),要求律政司研究一下。標少見識有限,手頭又沒有法律典籍,又喜歡和時常見報的資深大律師抬槓,見到彭官這次的處理方法,又是我免費學法的機會,實在快慰。

標少那兩篇拙文所引用的案例,都不是在裁判法院層面發生的藐視法庭案,過往在裁判法院層面發生的藐視法庭案,都用裁判官條例第99條處理,未試過引用普通法檢控,這一次由律政司做功課,讓標少開眼界。

5 則留言:

  1. Comments not allowed?

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  2. Sorry about the hiccup. I saw the comment sent to my gmail but not displayed here. I tried to copy and paste but to no avail. There is no restriction to post comment in my blog. Please feel free to do so.

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  3. Dear Anonymous,

    Thank your for your enlightenment. I cannot post the comment from google accoung and have to do it through URL.

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  4. Anonymous,

    I did not try to gag anyone from freedom of expression. I copied and pasted your comments twice from my gmail, but what I did is in vain. Your comments stayed for only a very short time and vanished without a trace.

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  5. 問心個句, 我唔覺得彭官今次好有道理, 反而有點兒賴皮, 時間所限, 我唔多講, 短短幾筆就算

    (1) 用普通法告藐視法庭,可能係法律書本上仲存在, 不過實際上久已不用, 或者稱得上名存實亡

    (2) 英國法庭早明言, 用普通法提出檢控, 係現今世代, 並不適宜, 見R. v. D [1984] 1 AC 778
    A criminal contempt was, a long time ago and is still, according to the opinion of Lawton L.J., expressed obiter in Balogh v. St. Albans Crown Court [1975] Q.B. 73, triable on indictment. However, the last reported case of trial on indictment for contempt is Rex v. Tibbits [1902] 1 K.B. 77 which involved the editor of a newspaper on a charge of conspiring with the author of certain articles appearing therein to pervert the course of justice.
    For a very long time now, decisions in all contempt cases have been made by judges who are best equipped to tell whether a contempt has been committed and may very well be able to do so on affidavit evidence alone. It is not, we think, in the best interests of anyone, that a by now almost ancient way of proceeding should be resurrected, …

    當然, 你可以話香港唔駛乜都跟英國, 不過既然已有案例, 仲係近期, 而彭官口中有先例可援, 似乎都係塵封居多, 起碼近年香港都係用Order 52 RHC, 甘我就要問, 有咩逼切理由一定要走翻舊路

    (2) 所謂集事主/提控人/法官於一身所帶來既不公, 坦白講, 我就覺得係好多情況下係more apparent than real. 如果係有事實上既爭議, 例於有做無做, 或者好borderline既案件, 比如話某d行為係咪真係藐視, 當然係由另外一個官審比較好, 呢個亦係採用Order 52 既好處, 由上級法院審理, 行之有效, 相反, 好似今次甘, 被告人擺明車馬用粗口鬧人, 我諗應該無其他結論, 甘點解由唔用cap 227 section 99 呢? 彭官堅持放棄合適既權力不用, 強行要求律政司用一個更花時間更花公帑既Order 52, 又有無道理呢? 我認為, 要比justification既, 似乎係彭官本人……唔好忘記, 幾日前, 另一位主任裁判官先用section 99懲罰辱罵佢既人, 可見彭官取向未必一定代表司法機構內的主流意見……

    (4) 我覺得, 係明顯既案件, 例如用粗口鬧, 甚至扔雜物襲擊裁判官, 其實用section 99係最直接了當, 亦都係最能令公眾見到公義, 案例對被告人已汰供保障, 例如法官有責任問佢是否道歉, 被告更可以要求律師代表, 難道都唔足夠? 我想講既係, 用彭官既諗法, 就可能單單案都要上原訟庭做, 費事失事…實質執行亦好有困難, 尤其好似本案呢D, 本身面對不太嚴重控罪, 唔會監禁好耐既被告人

    (5) 其實彭官唔想用section 99, 聽講似乎係受司法機構內部circular影響, 但係盡量唔用, 唔代表任何案件都唔用,因為引申彭官既邏緝, 似乎會代表永世都唔再用,亦即係由佢手廢左section 99武功…..似乎……

    拋磚引玉

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