Tribute to towering jurist: how the late Sir Anthony Mason shaped Hong Kong courts

Sir Anthony Mason, one of Hong Kong’s first and greatest justices to sit on our Court of Final Appeal, passed away on Tuesday at the…

Sir Anthony Mason, one of Hong Kong’s first and greatest justices to sit on our Court of Final Appeal, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 100.

Not only was he a towering jurist in the common law world, but his contribution to Hong Kong’s legal system, particularly in its formative post-1997 years, was both profound and enduring.

Sir Anthony served on the High Court of Australia for 23 years, with the final eight years (1987 to 1995) as its chief justice.

He was perhaps best known to the Hong Kong people as one of our first non-permanent judges (NPJ) for our Court of Final Appeal, or CFA, but he was even better known to us in the Hong Kong Bar, as an honorary life member of the Bar Association.

The system of overseas judges deciding cases at Hong Kong’s apex court, of course, had its critics, particularly among those who questioned whether, since 1997, adjudication should be confined to local hands alone.

It would not be an understatement to say that in his 18 years serving on the Hong Kong bench, Sir Anthony converted many doubters into believers.

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