看到Legal Cheek這篇報導: Late night and early morning courts are ‘not a disguised attempt’ to force lawyers to work more, insists top judge, 不期然想起回歸後香港也試過開夜庭。英國嘗試朝8晚8開庭, 雖然只有6個試點, 已惹起很大反彈。英國施行這做法的目的, 據Legal Cheek報導:
New late night and early morning courts are not a cunning plan to get lawyers to work more, the leading judge in charge of their roll-out has vowed.
Lord Fulford’s move to pacify solicitors and barristers worried about 8am-8pm justice was delivered via a letter sent this week in which he set out to “demystify” the controversial pilot scheme.
He goes on to emphasise that court sessions will be split to enable a longer court day but “populated by different people”.......
New late night and early morning courts are not a cunning plan to get lawyers to work more, the leading judge in charge of their roll-out has vowed.
Lord Fulford’s move to pacify solicitors and barristers worried about 8am-8pm justice was delivered via a letter sent this week in which he set out to “demystify” the controversial pilot scheme.
......
In the missive, Fulford states that longer and more flexible court hours are “not a disguised attempt to persuade, or force, judges, court staff, legal professionals and others to spend more time at court than they do at present”.He goes on to emphasise that court sessions will be split to enable a longer court day but “populated by different people”.......
當年香港也有聲音, 打工仔要告假上庭, 故此希望在放工之後上庭以免影響生計。大老闆回歸後新上場, 四處巡視業務, 巡到標少那裏, 閉門傾談了1小時, 其中一個課題就是開夜庭的可行性。當時同一衙門工作的人都感奇怪, 標少卒仔一個, 大老闆竟會花這麼多時間傾談。我當時的看法是夜庭是可行的, 但不覺得效益會很大。我不知大老闆跟多少人傾夜庭的議題, 不久之後就試驗了。試驗範圍很細, 不涉刑事案件。試驗不久就告吹了。叫人返夜班, 當然「媽媽」聲, 但問題不單只是法庭人員晚上開工的麻煩, 你叫與訟雙方下班之後上庭也未必行得通。下班時間也不是很穩定的, 搞了一大輪也得個桔, 所以back to sqaure one。現時除了突發事件, 譬如臨時禁制令、人身保護令、精神健康的強制入院令及家事法庭緊急命令要法官在晚上也要當值外, 已沒有常規性夜庭的需要。法官晚上當值也只是候命式的而不是駐法院式的, 視乎性質, 有些是很少發市的。當然, 發市時可能半夜三更整兩劑畀你, 睇你好唔好彩。
英國試行的早晚加班庭我是不看好的, 尤其是那是涉及刑事案件的, 牽動的包括懲教署押解犯人, 譬如在晚上審訊之後被告被判監, 就涉及收犯入冊的程序, 加班的不單是法官、法庭職員、控辯雙方律師、證人及被告, 也涉及警方及懲教人員, 燈油火蠟的耗費, 生活作息習慣的影響, you name it, 犯得着嗎?
The benefits of night courts are mainly convenience to working litigants and better utilisation of courts. If my memory was correct, night courts used to be implemented in Labour Tribunal and I think it should have been continued - working class litigants chasing for unpaid wages etc. from unscrupulous employers will otherwise lose their wage for the court days which defeats the very purpose they are going to court.
回覆刪除For better utilisation of courts, what do you think about sharing of courts? I sometimes find it wasteful to see quite some courts in empty in the afternoon (in particular plea / mention / listing courts at all levels), and indeed the Audit Dept did comment on this some years ago and recommended Judiciary to implement shared courts, but this does not seem to be acted on now.
For criminal courts, I agree that it's too troublesome to do night courts. But I understand that a diligent HC judge occasionally sits on Saturdays for substantive JR/criminal hearings, I hope the court staff is still happy about it.
I think the feedback was not good when the night courts were trialled then. That was why it stopped after the trial period.
刪除It is difficult to fully utilise the court rooms. Where do you get judicial officers to occupy the vacant court rooms when there is no sitting? Sitting in court is not the only time a judicial officer works. I hear a lot of grievances about the workload. Many people have to return to their chambers during the weekend to finish their paper work or appeals.
http://www.aud.gov.hk/pdf_c/c34ch07.pdf
刪除Here's Audit Commission's report I talked about, from p.27. There was a review on court sitting hours that time.
I totally understand that judicial officers do not just sit in court. Thus my comment about the sharing of courts - e.g. Mag A and B both have half day sittings for transfer papers and delivering verdict respectively, so Mag A sits in AM and Mag B sits in PM in the same court.
For the workload problem, JJOs can be given "reading days" each week just like JJAs, and having shared courts is the best excuse for implementing that since there won't be enough courts for JJOs to sit everyday anyway.
But the reality is, there is no need to share court rooms. All magistrates, be they permanent or deputy appointments, are assigned a court to preside in. Basically, they are each assigned to a list of work. They have their own court and chambers. If we look at the listing condition in the magistrate courts, we may discover that in many magistracies, JJOs do not have sufficient work to do. The listing target is 6 to 8 weeks from the fixture to trial. If you look at KT, it is probably 3 weeks. "Reading days" for JJOs is no doubt a ground breaking idea. What happens now is they have their reading days at their own expense.
刪除七日無休才更重要
回覆刪除星期六下午因欠交罰款被通緝而被捕, 但仍然沒錢交擔保(多數為六十+長者,也多數為掉垃圾和禁烟區吸煙)
要被關四十多小時才能上庭
完全失去了懲罰和所犯錯誤之比例的合理性
上大人的思考永遠高來高去, 真正底層人士的慘況, 從來不在他們的概念之中
PS1:某次星期六上午十時左右就一個呢種欠罰款阿伯, 打電話去法庭預先通知, 職員不假思索就叫我困佢到星期一先上庭, 求佢好耐先肯通知法官
PS2:阿黃生犯更嚴重罪行, 不到四十小時就有人去申請人身保護令了
雖然我認為七天工作也是可行的建議，但警察一樣可以扣留阿伯四十多小時才帶他上庭。
刪除而且因欠交罰款而遇上週末被捕的阿伯為數不多。這種情況較為罕見。
七日無休? 好慘啫! 要揾機械人審案先得。
刪除大概好似星期六咁，淨係開一兩間、揾一兩個on call都應該可以解決到匿名君嘅問題嘅。
刪除另外舊時聽人講，有啲高院老爺鐘意凌晨兩三點揸車返去做吓嘢，做保安嗰啲都見慣。
其實法官唔一定朝朝都要開庭㗎嘛，調一調時間、麻煩多幾個法庭職員，影響又唔算係特別大。
不過咁，到時個官開到口話要非辦工時間審案，做律師又唔好意思話唔好，咁就會影響到成個行業生態。除非真係habeas corpus嗰啲好緊急嘅申請啦，否則將假日審案/開夜庭常規化都唔係理想嘅做法。
以前裁判法院是星期六起碼開一個庭, 及後大環境改變, 全港只開一個庭處理不予保釋扣押上庭的案件, 法官可以騰空星期六來進修, 譬如參與Judiciary Studies Board舉辦的講座, 警方也不再把可以給予保釋的新案在星期六提堂。當時的大環境是公務員改為五天土作, 不返長短週。每個人都有作息的日子, 也可以安排週末約會, 非緊急性的案件不會以常規方法帶上庭。
刪除其實我一直都有疑問，農曆新年同復活節呢類長假中間mag仔會唔會都有一兩日開庭處理不予保釋扣押上庭的案件？畢竟復活節至少4個紅日，如果好彩撞正清明就會5日假。
刪除>PS2:阿黃生犯更嚴重罪行, 不到四十小時就有人去申請人身保護令了
刪除印象中催淚彈當日高院法官在黃生因衝入公民廣場被扣留未夠48小時已經頒了人身保護令，還講明48小時的規則不代表說執法部門可以entitled to扣夠48小時先放人/落charge，不合理拖延也屬非法禁錮嘛
12:13
刪除一直都有holiday sitting.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/24/artificial-intelligence-judge-university-college-london-computer-scientists
回覆刪除http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/artificial-intelligence-prevails-predicting-supreme-court-decisions
機械人審案都唔係天方夜譚。
Terry
你都遲早無得撈, 由機械人代替。
刪除隨時個犯都係機械人
刪除機械人唔好諗申請habeas corpus.
刪除AI 代替前我都乘鶴遠去多年了，下二三代人就要想好那些工種不會被AI 取代。
刪除Terry
祝你好運, 你肯定退了休, 但乘鶴也是AI鶴。
刪除