Chapter 25 Who will restrain the "judge"?

Every day, Hong Kong has countless lawsuits. I have been looking for opportunities to go to the court to see and hear how Hong Kong judges decide cases. On August 22, 2006, I walked into a court in Hong Kong for the first time with all my dignity.At 9:30 in the morning, this is the exact court time that the court notified both the plaintiff and the defendant two months ago. The Hong Kong Island where I live is not only separated by the sea, but also separated by a large piece of land in Kowloon, so I left the house when I came together that morning.However, when I arrived at the court, half an hour later, it was already ten o'clock in the morning, and there was no movement; another hour later, it was eleven o'clock, and the call from the court was still not heard.In the end, both the plaintiff and the defendant waited until the early twelve o'clock before someone notified us that it was our turn. Everyone held back their dissatisfaction, especially my friend, who was the "defendant". He was worried about his own fate and complained all the time. The "atmosphere" dare not come out.

I used to be in the Mainland, because I often needed to interview cases and went in and out of the court many times, so I am no stranger to the courts in the Mainland. In my imagination, the courts in the Mainland and those in Hong Kong may be more formal and sacred.However, that day, I accompanied the "defendant" into the two courtrooms of No. 2 and No. 1. "Unexpected" appeared one after another in front of my eyes, which made me not only confused my vision, but also confused my position. Let me talk about No. 2 first. This court is not big and there is no jury.The judge's seat is high above, and below it are the clerk's desk, the representatives of both parties, and the "defendant"'s long table. On the left hand is an L-shaped area surrounded by white steel pipes. I think it should be provided for the "defendant" who has not been released on bail. Standing place, and further back, the left and right sides are auditoriums.

Fortunately, as soon as he sat down, the justice walked into the courtroom through the inner door within seconds.The bailiff immediately shouted "stand up", everyone stood up quickly, and then sat down, the court was already "open".The prosecution began by a Mandarin interpreter reading the "indictment" to the defendant, and then the judge gently asked the "defendant": "Do you plead guilty?" My friend said according to the preparations that he had discussed with the lawyer in advance: "I don't admit it." Then everyone thought that a "marathon" judicial battle was about to begin. However, my ears were erect and I waited for the judge to speak. The judge was from Hong Kong and spoke in a low voice. I spoke a series of Cantonese, but before I had time to understand it thoroughly, I just remembered in a trance that at the end the judge said "I'll give you a little time now, go out and discuss it", and he got up and left the seat first, and the whole process took about a moment bell--

What did the justice say at the height of the court?When it was outside the court, the big lawyer (barrister) and his assistant lawyer explained to us slowly.It turns out that what the judge said in court just now is that he has no time this morning, and he can try another two hours in the afternoon, but the two-hour trial of this case will definitely not be finished, and he has another appointment for tomorrow, so the judge Let the "defendant" come out to discuss, it is to suggest that we accept the court's next rescheduled hearing time, and change the judge... What? "Reschedule the court date"? "Another judge"?Isn't this a joke?

This time, the "defendant" has been waiting tremblingly for two months for the hearing. Two months, what kind of "waiting" life did the "defendant" live?People are not allowed to leave Hong Kong for a single step. The body is like an immigration prison, and the torment of the mind is even worse.For this trial, how many relatives and friends of the defendant came to Beijing, apart from asking for leave and missing work, travel expenses, and all of them have a heavy heart. Lawyers don't know either? ! The laws of Hong Kong are completely different from those of the Mainland. One applies the "European and American legal system" and the other applies the "Continental legal system".When the judge opened the court, he didn't have to listen to the case at all, and didn't let the lawyers of both parties produce physical or witness evidence. Instead, he asked the prosecution to read the "indictment" as soon as the court opened, and then directly asked the defendant whether he pleaded guilty. If the defendant said " After admitting”, all subsequent procedures, including lawyer defense, court debate, and the defendant’s self-reporting, etc., will not need to go, and the fine, imprisonment, and execution can be carried out immediately; but if the defendant says, “I don’t want to Guilty plea", the judge must really get busy at this time, and then he will seriously understand the facts of the case, and the trial and judgment will then begin.

"Reschedule the court date"? I don't know how many months it will be until the next time. The "defendant" cried on the spot. Because the assistant lawyer of the "big case" is also a woman, he still has some sympathy, and he couldn't help but start to "blame" all kinds of "bad" Hong Kong courts in front of a group of us mainlanders: "Hey, you don't understand Hong Kong, Hong Kong courts It’s just very messy. The judge can make appointments for 4 cases a day, but the one that dragged the court yesterday, you see, took up a whole morning today. We are still the first one today, and there are still cases waiting. There is no way, there is really no way Method."

In a society ruled by law, Hong Kong's laws are sacred and awe-inspiring, but who will restrain the judges? "The time for the court session was set by the judge himself, and now he says there will be no trial? Isn't this just making fun of people?!" I thought that in the face of a group of people's questioning, "Big Law" would be as embarrassed as his assistant lawyer, and would comfort the "defendant" with nice words.But there was no "big statement", and he couldn't see any compassion, because as soon as he closed the door of the court, he saw the "defendant" who was already crying, and asked, "Oh, why are you crying?" I really don't understand, or I think another trial is not necessarily a bad thing for the "defendant", and then said: "It may be better not to hold a trial in this judge's court, because this judge is bad, and the next one will be good." I listened. What he said was simply inexplicable, so he interrupted and asked him, "How do you say this?"Why do you say "this judge is bad, the next one will be good"? The "big case" explained: "This judge has a lot of convictions in the case, and the next judge has a lot of acquittal records." Due to the language barrier, I don't know how to comfort us in Mandarin.However, if you knew that "this judge is bad", why didn't you do your homework in advance to avoid the trial today?If it is impossible to choose, with the same logic, how can the "big case" predict that the next court session will definitely catch up with "a good judge"?

In Hong Kong, the qualifications of lawyers are different, and the asking price and fees for representing the defense are also different.I don't know the qualifications of the "big case" requested by the defendant in this case, but I can tell from my friend that the "big case" is very good. He insisted that although the two defendants violated the laws of Hong Kong, they "don't know The defendant is not guilty", so the chances of winning the case are relatively high (otherwise the defendant would have pleaded guilty in the first trial).However, every time this "big lawyer" meets with the defendant for a "conversation", the fee is very high, as high as 6,000 Hong Kong dollars an hour, and his assistant is 3,500 yuan an hour. How can one hour last for each "conversation"?The agency fee for a court session is 18,000. Even if the "court" only opened at the beginning this time, "rescheduling the court session", another fee must not be less-not less than half a cent!

Due to repeated consideration of the pros and cons of reputation and greater loss of property, the "defendant" and his family finally had to accept the judge's suggestion and wait for the next hearing.Then everyone was led by the assistant lawyer to court No. 1, where I experienced another scene of the Hong Kong court—— To put it simply, Court No. 1 is bigger than Court No. 2, and looks more like foreign movies, but the atmosphere here is very "chaotic" (if this description is a bit derogatory, I can change it to "busy"), why is it so Say?First of all, we were brought into the court and sat quietly in the public gallery. The last case was not finished, and people kept coming and going around us; above the court, there were several voices like a passer and a volleyball player on a volleyball court. The second biography, one after another, makes people's ears have no spare time.It turns out that Hong Kong is an international city, and the people involved in the crime also have different nationalities. Before we came in, the judge (not Chinese, but a foreign old man with white hair) was trying a Malaysian woman's theft case. The "indictment" is carried out in English, and the translation first translates English into Cantonese, and then translates from Cantonese into Malay, so that you pass it on to me and I pass it on to you, and the translation is simultaneous without interruption.

Finally, the female criminal in Malaysia was taken out of the court by the bailiff. We thought it was our turn to accept our "application". Who knew that another foreigner was actually ahead of us, so different languages ​​began to spread. Two, two, three, simultaneous translation, one after another; when this person also pleaded guilty in court, another man was still ahead of us. This middle-aged Hong Kong man was accused of being with a 16-year-old girl?When?Changdi had sex, and the "indictment" was stumbled and read by a young woman in the courtroom, the voice was so small that I still couldn't hear it clearly.At this time, I really admire the judges in Hong Kong. How many days do they have to sit in this eternal place of right and wrong 365 days a year? concentrated?

It was useless to be anxious, I don't know how long it took, the court finally called my friend's name, and the lawyer immediately turned around and shouted "defendant", but at this time, my friend left the auditorium and went out to make a phone call to inform Her sister's court is closed, so don't rush here in the afternoon, so someone went out immediately and pulled the flustered "defendant" back from the outside... Oh, the courts in Hong Kong. market?Clinic?That was the association in my head at the time. What is sanctity and dignity?At this time, "quietness" has become the first need in my opinion.However, in Hong Kong's courts, where is there a minute of "quiet"?At least in Court No. 1 that day, my friend was still aggrievedly "applying" to the foreign judge to change the time to reopen the court. The sound was crackling, and the clerk was already handling the relevant legal documents of the previous case.The whole court is doing its own thing, everyone is busy, everything seems normal and efficient, and no one seems to be a disturbance to anyone. Seeing this situation, I suddenly thought that I should stop being idle, and quickly take out my notebook and write down some "memos" or "sketches" in court, but I just took out the notebook and pen from my schoolbag, and just now I wrote the year, month, and day on it, and a fat male bailiff immediately walked up to my seat with a solemn face and asked me: "Have you applied before writing something in court?" "?I was surprised, and I didn't have time to lie, so I said, "No, I don't know, can't I?" Not everyone can write in the courts in Hong Kong." After speaking, he smiled and went to stand aside with a good temper. At this moment, I am so angry that I really want to become an animal , what animal?Preferably an elephant, so that I can roar out my anger, and at the same time drown out all the noise in the courtroom...