The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (HKCFA) is the final appellate court of Hong Kong.
The Court of Final Appeal was established on 1 July 1997, upon the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; the court replaced the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as the highest judicial institution of the jurisdiction of Hong Kong. As defined in Articles 19 and 85 of the Hong Kong Basic Law, the Court of Final Appeal "exercises judicial power in the Region independently and free from any interference." The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance and the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Rules set out the detailed functions and procedures of the court.
The hierarchy of the Hong Kong judiciary from high to low is: the Court of Final Appeal, the High Court (consisting of the upper Court of Appeal and the lower Court of First Instance), the District Court, and magistrates' courts.
The court meets in the Court of Final Appeal Building located in Central, Hong Kong. Court cases can be viewed online through live broadcast and webcast playback from April 2025 onward under a pilot scheme of 2 years.
History
Background and conception From the 1840s until the handover of Hong Kong on 1 July 1997, Hong Kong was a British Dependent Territory, and the power of final adjudication on the laws of Hong Kong rested with the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London.
The notion that Hong Kong should have a court of final appeal likely arose at some point in the early 1980s, during the Sino-British negotiations on the future of Hong Kong. Wong Man Fong, then a senior official at Xinhua News Agency, described himself as being part of a small policy task force in January 1982 that came up with twelve policy points that Beijing would adopt for Hong Kong,Wong Man Fong, China’s Resumption of Sovereignty over Hong Kong (Hong Kong: The David C Lam Institute for East-West Studies, 1997) among them the agreement in the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984 that Hong Kong should be vested with "independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication", which was in line with China's stated principle of "Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong". While it was reported that the Chinese government had considered having the court in Beijing,‘UK reveals its “bottom line” on future’, Hong Kong Standard, 4 November 1983 the idea was rejected by Deng Xiaoping before the second round of talks in 1983.James Tang, ‘Round Two on 1997 Opens Today’, Hong Kong Standard, 12 July 1983.
Creation of the court The Sino-British Joint Liaison Group agreed in 1991 that the Court of Final Appeal—consisting of a chief justice, three other Hong Kong judges, and one judge from a list of Hong Kong or foreign common law judges—should be set up before the handover on 1 July 1997, preferably by 1993, in order to lay the groundwork for a smooth transition. The decision to include only one foreign judge led to much criticism; Martin Lee asserted that while he was a member of the Basic Law Drafting Committee, it had been agreed that a majority of the judges sitting on the court would be foreign, and in any case, it appeared to be a contradiction of the meaning in the Joint Declaration and Basic Law suggested by the word "judges". The Bar Association and Law Society opposed the agreement, criticizing it for contravening both the spirit and the letter of the Joint Declaration and Basic Law. There were also concerns that the new CFA would need to be of similar stature and prestige as the Privy Council, and not simply the Court of Appeal in a different guise, in order to preserve confidence in Hong Kong's business environment and legal system.
The Legislative Council voted 38–2 on 25 October 1991 in rejection of the agreement, the first time it had voted in opposition to an agreement between Britain and China on the future of Hong Kong.
Role of the court Based on the one country, two systems principle, Hong Kong retains a high degree of autonomy and, in most areas, maintains its own legal system.
The Court of Final Appeal was established on 1 July 1997 and since then, it has served as the court of last resort. The court has the power of final adjudication with respect to the law of Hong Kong as well as the power of final interpretation over local laws—including the power to strike down local ordinances on the grounds of their inconsistency with the Basic Law.
The court's decisions can, however, be overturned by the Chinese government via a controversial process known as an "interpretation" via Article 158 of the Basic Law.
The Court of Final Appeal has no original jurisdiction; an appeal has to originate from the High Court (either from the Court of Appeal or, more rarely, from the Court of First Instance).
Court structure Judges
The Court of Final Appeal is made up of the Chief Justice, at least three Permanent Judges, and at most 30 non-permanent Judges who can come from Hong Kong or from any overseas common law jurisdiction. Under the Basic Law, Hong Kong remains a common law jurisdiction; Article 92 of the Basic Law allows judges from other common law jurisdictions to be recruited and serve in the judiciary as non-permanent judges (NPJs). To date, NPJs appointed to the court have served in the judiciaries of England and Wales, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Scotland. Aside from the Chief Justice, there is no nationality requirement for any of the permanent or non-permanent judges.
Demographics As of 2025, no woman has ever served as Chief Justice or as a permanent judge. Baroness Hale and Beverly McLachlin, who were both appointed as overseas non-permanent judges on 30 July 2018, were the first women to sit on the court.
Since 1997, a total of 11 individuals have held positions as chief justice or permanent judge. Of these, 8 obtained their law degree in the United Kingdom, including 2 from Oxford University (Henry Litton and Charles Ching) and 1 from Cambridge University (Andrew Li)). 3 judges graduated from the University of Hong Kong (Andrew Cheung, Patrick Chan and Johnson Lam). Andrew Cheung also holds a Master of Laws from Harvard University, making him the only judge with a degree from the United States. Of the 11, eight of the judges were previously QCs or SCs.
With the exception of Henry Litton, Joseph Fok and Roberto Ribeiro, who are Eurasian, and Kemal Bokhary, who is of Pakistani descent, all permanent judges have been of Chinese ethnicity, including each of the chief justices.
Judicial assistants Since 2009, under the auspices of the then-Chief Justice Andrew Li, judicial assistants have been appointed to provide legal support and research assistance to the judges of the court.
Registrar
There is also a registrar attached to the Court of Final Appeal, who assists with review of appeal applications and other administrative duties. The registrar is usually recruited from the district court level. The list of registrars and their dates of appointment is as follows:
Edward Timothy Starbuck Woolley (1997–1999) Christopher Chan Cheuk (1999–2000, acting) Betty Kwan Ka-ching (2000–2002, acting) Queeny Au-yeung Kwai-yue (2002–2007, acting) Simon Kwang Cheok-weung (2014–2018; acting from August 2007 to March 2014) Wong King-wah (since June 2023; acting from September 2018 to May 2023).
Procedure
Permitting an appeal Whether a prospective appellant is permitted to appeal or not is determined by a panel of three Hong Kong judges, usually the Chief Justice and two other permanent judges. Should the Chief Justice or a permanent judge not be available, the other permanent judge or a non-permanent judge from Hong Kong may be called in. Non-permanent judges from other jurisdictions do not sit on such panels.
Hearing an appeal All appeal cases are heard by a bench of five judges consisting of the Chief Justice, three permanent judges and a non-permanent judge from another common law jurisdiction. If the Chief Justice does not sit in an appeal, a permanent judge is designated to sit in the Chief Justice's place, and a non-permanent judge from Hong Kong will sit on the court as well. Similarly, if a permanent judge is unable to sit, a non-permanent Hong Kong judge will sit in place of that permanent judge. Technically, should a non-permanent judge from outside Hong Kong be unable to attend due to extraordinary circumstances (such as during the COVID-19 pandemic), two non-permanent Hong Kong judges may sit on the court or, or the overseas judge may sit via video conferencing.
As the role of a non-permanent judge is not a full time role, a serving High Court judge may be appointed as a non-permanent judge concurrently, such as Vice-President Robert Tang and Vice-President Frank Stock, as they were then known. This is extended only to the most eminent and senior serving High Court justices. There is no mandatory retirement age for a non-permanent judge.
Since the enactment of the National Security Law in 2020, no foreign non-permanent judges has sat during a National Security case, being replaced instead by designated Hong Kong non-permanent judges (not all local non-permanent judges have been designated to sit on NSL cases). As there is no nationality requirement regarding the judges that are eligible for designation as designated judges, it is remains unclear whether overseas NPJs have not participated because they have not been designated for such cases or because they have declined to do so.
Current court
The Cheung Court The Cheung Court began on 11 January 2021, when Andrew Cheung began his tenure as the 3rd Chief Justice. Currently, 14 justices serve on the Cheung Court, including the Chief Justice, 3 Permanent Judges, and 10 non-permanent judges (6 of whom are from other common law jurisdictions). It is the first court to be led by a Chief Justice who did not receive a legal degree in the United Kingdom; Andrew Cheung received his LLB from the University of Hong Kong and the LLM from Harvard Law School. It is also the first court to be led by a Chief Justice who has never taken silk. Andrew Cheung has been described as a "conservative", in contrast to his relatively liberal predecessors as Chief Justice. Nonetheless, the Cheung court has issued a number of liberal decisions, especially in the field of LGBT rights.
Cheung assumed the role of Chief Justice in the wake of the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, and immediately following the enactment of the highly controversial 2020 Hong Kong national security law. As a result, Cheung's tenure as Chief Justice has been underlaid by concerns regarding the rule of law in Hong Kong and the independence of Hong Kong's judiciary, with a record number of overseas non-permanent judges stepping down from the court between 2021 and 2024. Some of these judges have spoken publicly about their concerns over the function and independence of the court, and how it has changed with the legal changes imposed upon the island by the national government in Beijing. Nevertheless, during Cheung's tenure, three overseas non-permanent judges, Patrick Keane and James Allsop (Australia) and Sir William Young (NZ), have joined the CFA, and some of the other overseas non-permanent judges have renewed their appointments. Appointment to the court is considered a valuable and rewarding accoutrement to the career of a Commonwealth judge, and the work and employment arrangements often suit recently retired judges. In recent decades, such appointees have often sought to extend their appointments, for many years if they are able. However the rate and number of departures has noticeably increased since 2020.
Permanent members of the court The Hon. Chief Justice Andrew Cheung (since January 2021; first appointed Permanent Judge in October 2018) The Hon. Mr. Justice Roberto Ribeiro (since September 2000) The Hon. Mr. Justice Joseph Fok (since October 2013) The Hon. Mr. Justice Johnson Lam (since July 2021)