Judicial reviews fundamental to rule of law in Hong Kong, says former top judge Andrew Li

Hong Kong's first chief justice after the 1997 handover, Andrew Li Kwok-nang, has defended the rising number of judicial reviews taking up officials' time as a positive outcome of good governance, pointing out that justice and convenience were "sometimes not on speaking terms".

Li, who presided over the judiciary from 1997 to 2010, maintained that the judiciary was in good shape and dismissed as unjustified recent criticism by a retired Court of Final Appeal judge that it had failed to meet contemporary needs.

In a robust defence of the judicial reviews that may inconvenience the authorities, he emphasised that the courts had an effective mechanism to stop any attempt to abuse the process.

Describing judicial reviews by an independent judiciary as "fundamental to the rule of law", Li urged that they not be viewed as a "nuisance" to government.

His remarks, in an article for today's , came two weeks after retired judge of the Court of Final Appeal Henry Litton hit out at what he described as the abuse of judicial reviews, singling out a former head of the University of Hong Kong's student union, Yvonne Leung Kai-kwok.

READ MORE: Hong Kong’s legal system ‘misused’ and ‘drowning in irrelevance’, says former top judge

Leung's application for a judicial review to challenge the government's political reform package was rejected in June. Litton called it "simply grandstanding that should be roundly condemned", accusing Leung of hoping to put in her CV that she had sued the chief executive.