The high courts in Malaysia are the third-highest courts in the hierarchy of courts, after the Federal Court and the Court of Appeal. Article 121 of the Constitution of Malaysia provides that there shall be two high courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction—the High Court in Malaya and the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak (before 1994, the High Court in Borneo). Before 1969, the High Court in Singapore was also part of the Malaysian courts system (see Law of Singapore).

The High Court in Malaya has its principal registry in Kuala Lumpur, with other registries to be found in all states in Peninsular Malaysia, while the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak has its principal registry in Kuching, with other registries elsewhere in Sabah and Sarawak. There are in total 22 high court registries across all 13 states in Malaysia. The two High Courts also travel on circuit to other smaller towns.

The two high courts, the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court are classified as superior courts, while the magistrates' courts and the sessions courts are classified as the subordinate courts. The high courts function both as a court of original jurisdiction as well as an appellate court, and are each headed by a chief judge (before 1994, chief justice). The chief judges of Malaya and Sabah and Sarawak are the third and fourth highest positions in Malaysian judiciary after the Chief Justice of the Federal Court (before 1994, the Lord President of the Supreme Court) and the President of the Court of Appeal.

High court registries in Malaysia All high court registries and the subordinate courts found in Peninsular Malaysia including the courts in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya are under the jurisdiction of the High Court in Malaya. Similarly, all courts found in East Malaysia are under the jurisdiction of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak including the courts in the Federal Territory of Labuan.

List of chief justices and chief judges

Malaya and Malaysia (on the federation level)

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Malayan Union (1946 – 1948) 1946–1948: Sir Harold Curwen Willan

Chief Justice of the Federation of Malaya (1948 – 1957)

1948–1950: Harold Curwen Willan 1950–1951: Sir Stafford Foster-Sutton 1951–1956: Sir Charles Mathew

Chief Justice of the Federation of Malaya (1957 – 1963) 1957–1963: Tun Sir James Thomson

Lord President of the Federal Court (1963 – 1985)

1963–1966: Tun Sir James Thomson 1966–1968: Tun Syed Sheh Hassan Barakbah 1966–1974: Tun Azmi Mohamed 1974–1982: Tun Mohamed Suffian Mohamed Hashim 1982–1984: Raja Tun Azlan Shah 1984–1985: Tun Salleh Abas

Lord President of the Supreme Court (1985 – 1994)

1985–1989: Tun Salleh Abas 1989–1994: Tun Abdul Hamid Omar

States of Malaya (since 1963)

Chief Justice of Malaya (1963 – 1994, after which the designation was changed to Chief Judge of Malaya)

Source:

1963–1966: Syed Sheh Barakbah 1966–1968: Azmi Mohamed 1968–1973: Ong Hock Thye 1973–1974: Mohamed Suffian Mohamed Hashim 1974–1979: Sarwan Singh Gill 1979–1982: Raja Azlan Shah (later 34th Sultan of Perak and 9th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia) 1982–1984: Salleh Abas 1984–1989: Abdul Hamid Omar 1989–1992: Hashim Yeop Sani 1992–1994: Gunn Chit Tuan

Some modern texts will refer to them as Chief Judges.(2015) p.107, The Malaysian Judiciary Yearbook 2015, http://www.kehakiman.gov.my/sites/default/files/YearBook2015.pdf

Chief Judge of Malaya (since 1994) 1994: Mohamed Eusoff Chin 1994–1997: Anuar Zainal Abidin 1997–2000: Wan Adnan Ismail 2000–2002: Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim 2002–2004: Haidar Mohamed Noor 2004–2006: Siti Norma Yaakob 2007–2008: Alauddin Sheriff 2008–2011: Arifin Zakaria 2011–2017: Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin 2017–2018: Ahmad Maarop 2018–2019: Zaharah Ibrahim 2019–2022: Azahar Mohamed 2023–2024: Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah 2024–2025: Hasnah Mohammed Hashim 2025–present: Hashim Hamzah

Borneo (North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak)

North Borneo Sarawak Office Justice Tenure Office Justice Tenure Chief Justice of North Borneo(until 1951) Charles Frederick Cunningham Macaskie 1934 to 1941 Chief Justice of Sarawak(1930-1951) Thomas Jamieson Laycock Stirling Boyd 1930 to 1939 H. Thackwell-Lewis 1939 to 1945 Japanese occupation 1942 to 1945 Japanese occupation 1942 to 1945 Sir Ivor Llewellyn Brace 1945 to 1951 Robert Yorke Hedges 1946 to 1951 Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei Office Title Justice Tenure Chief Justice of the Combined Judiciary of Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei(1951–1963) Sir Ivor Llewellyn Brace 02009-10-01-031 December 1951 – 02009-10-01-0324 October 1952 Sir Ernest Hillas Williams Sir John Ainley 02009-10-01-035 December 1959 – 02009-10-01-031 January 1963 Sir William Campbell Wylie 02009-10-01-032 January 1963 – 02009-10-01-0315 September 1963 Sabah and Sarawak Office Title Justice Tenure Chief Justice of Borneo(1963–1994) Sir William Campbell Wylie 02009-10-01-0316 September 1963 – 02009-10-01-0327 August 1965 Sir Tan Sri Philip Ernest Housden Pike 02009-10-01-0311 September 1965 – 02009-10-01-0327 August 1968 Tan Sri Dato' Ismail Khan Ibrahim Khan 02009-10-01-032 September 1968 – 02009-10-01-0331 December 1973 Tan Sri Datuk Amar Lee Hun Hoe 02009-10-01-031 January 1974 – 02009-10-01-0331 December 1988 Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohamad Jemuri Serjan 02009-10-01-0311 March 1989 – 02009-10-01-0323 June 1994 Office Title Justice Tenure Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak(since 1994) Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohamad Jemuri Serjan 02009-10-01-0324 June 1994 – 02009-10-01-039 September 1994 Tan Sri Datuk Amar Chong Siew Fai 02009-10-01-0316 June 1995 – 02009-10-01-033 July 2000 Tan Sri Datuk Amar Steve Shim Lip Kiong 02009-10-01-032 July 2000 – 02009-10-01-0325 July 2006 Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Richard Malanjum 02009-10-01-0326 July 2006 – 02009-10-01-0311 July 2018 Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima David Wong Dak Wah 02009-10-01-0311 July 2018 – 02009-10-01-0319 February 2020 Tan Sri Datuk Amar Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim 02009-10-01-0325 February 2020 – 02009-10-01-0317 January 2023 Dato' Abdul Rahman Sebli 02009-10-01-0317 January 2023 – 25 July 202502009-10-01-03Azizah Nawawi28 July 2025 – Incumbent

Singapore

Office Title Justice Tenure Chief Justice of Singapore(1963–1969 (as part of Malaysia, 1963–1965)) Tan Sri Wee Chong Jin 1963 to 1969

See also Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements Federal Court of Malaysia Malaysian Court of Appeal Judiciary of Malaysia Lord President of the Federal Court Chief Justice of Malaysia President of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal

References