{"id":29172,"date":"2024-07-09T13:20:07","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T13:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prelive-tdw.visibleone.app\/insight-and-news\/the-court-of-final-appeal-revisits-the-approach-of-an-appellate-court-in-magistracy-appeals\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T03:07:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T03:07:47","slug":"the-court-of-final-appeal-revisits-the-approach-of-an-appellate-court-in-magistracy-appeals","status":"publish","type":"insight-and-news","link":"https:\/\/www.tannerdewitt.com\/zh-hans\/insight-and-news\/the-court-of-final-appeal-revisits-the-approach-of-an-appellate-court-in-magistracy-appeals\/","title":{"rendered":"The Court of Final Appeal Revisits The Approach of an Appellate Court in Magistracy Appeals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n    \n\n<div style=\"background-image:url('https:\/\/www.tannerdewitt.com\/wp-content\/themes\/tanner-de-witt\/images\/insightdetails.jpeg')\"\n    class=\"insight-news-detail-hero\" id=\"insight-news-detail-hero\">\n\n\t\t<div style=\"background-color:\" class=\"insight-news-detail-hero-overlay \"><\/div>\n            <div class=\"z-[0]\">\n                <div class=\"insight-news-breadcrumbs flex items-end practice-areas-featured-breadcrumbs \">\n                    <a class=\"page-link no-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tannerdewitt.com\/zh-hans\/\">Home<\/a>                <\/div>\n\n\n                <div class=\"hero-title\">\n                    <h1>\n                        The Court of Final Appeal Revisits The Approach of an Appellate Court in Magistracy Appeals                    <\/h1>\n                <\/div>\n                \n                    <div style=\"\" class=\"hero-date \">\n\n                        <span class=\"month\">Jul<\/span>\n                        <span class=\"day\">09<\/span>\n                        <span class=\"year\">2024<\/span>\n                    <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n    \n\n    \n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<script >\n    (function () {\n        document.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", () => {\n\n            const breadCrumbsContainer = Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\".practice-areas-featured-breadcrumbs\"));\n\n            breadCrumbsContainer.forEach(container => {\n                const breadCrumbLinks = Array.from(container.querySelectorAll('.page-link'));\n                const breadCrumbSeperators = Array.from(container.querySelectorAll('.separator'));\n\n                if (Array.from(breadCrumbLinks).length === 1) {\n                    const homeNode = breadCrumbLinks[0];\n\n                    if (!homeNode) {\n                        return\n                    }\n\n                    const postTypeNode = homeNode.cloneNode(true);\n                    postTypeNode.textContent = \"Insights and News\";\n                    container.insertAdjacentHTML('beforeend', `<span class=\"separator practice-areas-featured-breadcrumb-item-slash\">\/<\/span>`)\n                    container.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', postTypeNode)\n                    breadCrumbLinks.push(postTypeNode);\n\n                    if (\"Insights\") {\n                        const categoryNode = homeNode.cloneNode(true);\n\n                        categoryNode.textContent = \"Insights\";\n                        container.insertAdjacentHTML('beforeend', `<span class=\"separator practice-areas-featured-breadcrumb-item-slash\">\/<\/span>`)\n                        container.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', categoryNode)\n                        breadCrumbLinks.push(categoryNode);\n                    }\n\n\n                    const titleNode = homeNode.cloneNode(true);\n\n                    titleNode.textContent = \"The Court of Final Appeal Revisits The Approach of an Appellate Court in Magistracy Appeals\";\n                    container.insertAdjacentHTML('beforeend', `<span class=\"separator practice-areas-featured-breadcrumb-item-slash\">\/<\/span>`)\n                    container.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', titleNode)\n                    breadCrumbLinks.push(titleNode);\n\n\n\n\n                }\n\n                breadCrumbLinks.forEach((link, index) => {\n\n                    link.classList.add('practice-areas-featured-breadcrumb-item-name');\n                    const origin = window.location.origin;\n                    const href = window.location.href;\n\n                    const originSplitter = window.location.href.includes(\"insight-and-news\") ? \"insight-and-news\" : window.location.href.includes('insights-and-news') ? \"insights-and-news\" : \"\"\n\n                    const paths = href.split(originSplitter);\n                    const links = paths[1].split(\"\/\").filter(Boolean)\n\n\n                    const resolvedOrigin = originSplitter ? (href.split(originSplitter)[0] || \"\") : (origin + \"\/\")\n\n                    if (index === 0) {\n\n                        if (!originSplitter) {\n                            link.href = origin\n                        } else {\n                            link.href = resolvedOrigin;\n                        }\n\n\n                    } else if (index === 1) {\n                        link.href = resolvedOrigin + originSplitter\n\n                    }\n                    else if (index === 2) {\n                        console.log(links)\n                        link.href = resolvedOrigin + originSplitter + \"\/\" + (links[0] || \"\")\n                    }\n                    else if (index === 3) {\n\n                        link.href = resolvedOrigin + originSplitter + \"\/\" + (links[0] || \"\") + \"\/\" + (links[1] || \"\")\n\n                    }\n\n\n\n                    \/\/ const words = link.textContent.split(\" \")\n                    \/\/ if (words.length > 4) {\n                    \/\/     link.textContent = words.slice(0, 4).join(\" \") + \"...\"\n                    \/\/ }\n\n                })\n\n                breadCrumbSeperators.forEach(separator => {\n                    separator.textContent = \"\/\"\n                    separator.classList.add('practice-areas-featured-breadcrumb-item-slash')\n                });\n\n\n            })\n\n\n        })\n        removeDivTag()\n    })();\n\n    function removeDivTag() {\n        console.log(\"remasfljas\");\n        const editorContainer = document.querySelector(\".editor-wysiwyg\");\n        \/\/ editorContainer.innerText = editorContainer.innerText.replace(\"<\/div>\", \"\")\n        Array.from(editorContainer.childNodes).forEach(el => {\n            if (el.textContent.includes(\"<\/div>\")) {\n                el.textContent = \"\"\n            }\n        })\n    }\n<\/script>\n<div class=\"editor-wysiwyg my-[40px]\">\n<div class=\"single-section\"><div class=\"single-section\">\n<p>On 3 April 2024, the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) (the highest court in Hong Kong) handed down its judgment in <strong><em>HKSAR v Hui Lai Ki<\/em><\/strong> [2024] HKCFA 7 clarifying the correct approach to be adopted by an appellate court for an appeal by way of rehearing under section 113 of the Magistrates Ordinance (Cap 227) (<strong>\u201cMO\u201d<\/strong>).<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Background<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Appellant was charged with theft of various items (with an aggregate price of HK$648.70) from a grocery shop.\u00a0 She was convicted in the Magistrates\u2019 Court after trial and subsequently appealed the magistrate\u2019s decision pursuant to section 113 of MO.<\/p>\n<p>On appeal to the Court of First Instance, the Judge dismissed the appeal on the basis that the Court would not intervene the magistrate\u2019s findings of fact unless they were \u201c<em>plainly wrong, illogical or inherently improbable<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The Appellant took it to the Court of Final Appeal on the following questions of law:<\/p>\n<p>1. In what circumstances is the court bound to re-assess the evidence upon which the conviction was based on an appeal under section 113 of MO?<\/p>\n<ol><\/ol>\n<p>2. When is the court justified in overturning such conviction on the basis of its own view of the available evidence?<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>CFA Decision<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Below is a summary of the CFA\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n<p>1. An appeal under section 113 of MO is by way of rehearing the evidence, which include (i) evidence as contained in the transcript of evidence in the lower court and (ii) further evidence as may be admitted. \u00a0The appellate court also has the right to consider the magistrate\u2019s statement of findings which contains determinations made by the magistrate regarding the credibility of witnesses and the reasons for their decisions.<\/p>\n<ol><\/ol>\n<p>2. The CFA recognised that there are some limitations of the appellant court \u2013 the judge reviewing an appeal by way of rehearing does not have the advantage of receiving the witnesses\u2019 evidence at first-hand and usually does not conduct the rehearing on the whole of the evidence. Despite such limitations, however, <em>\u201cit remains the duty of the appellant court on an appeal by way of rehearing to come to its own conclusion on disputed issues of fact or law\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>3. In the present case, the Court of First Instance erred in adopting the \u201cplainly wrong\u201d test which is a test applied by the Court of Appeal in its civil jurisdiction when hearing a civil appeal.\u00a0 This test is <em>\u201cinconsistent with the principle that it is a criminal judge\u2019s duty to come to his or her own conclusion on the question of whether an appellant\u2019s guilt is proved beyond reasonable doubt on the evidence before the court on the appeal\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>4. As the Court of First Instance failed to properly discharge the appellate duty of rehearing the contested issue (i.e. whether the appellant dishonestly intended to misappropriate the items in the grocery shop), the CFA undertook the task to reassess the available evidence, and concluded that there is reasonable doubt as to whether the Appellant had the requisite intention to steal.\u00a0 As a result, the Appellant\u2019s conviction is quashed.<\/p>\n<p><em>Hui Lai Ki <\/em>is an example of an appeal from a magistrate\u2019s decision reaching the highest appellate court level. However, in its decision the CFA stresses that appeals of this kind will be limited, because leave to appeal against an appellate court\u2019s decision will only be available in exceptional circumstances, and on ground of substantial and grave injustice. \u00a0Unlike an appeal to a single judge in the Court of First Instance, an appeal to the Court of Final Appeal does not operate to provide an opportunity to re-argue factual issues for the third time.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>How can we help<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Tanner De Witt\u2019s Dispute Resolution team specialises in criminal defence regarding white-collar crime and regulatory investigations. Our team is well placed to represent clients in criminal trials at first instance as well as appeals against convictions.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><em><strong>Pamela Mak and Adam Hoi <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>If you would like to discuss any of the matters raised in this article, please contact<\/em> <em>via this<\/em> <a href=\"mailto:webenquiry@TannerDeWitt.com\">webenquiry@TannerDeWitt.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>The above is not intended to be relied on as legal advice and specific legal advice should be sought at all times in relation to the above.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 3 April 2024, the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) (the highest court in Hong Kong) handed down its judgment in HKSAR v Hui Lai Ki [2024] HKCFA 7 clarifying the correct approach to be adopted by an appellate court for an appeal by way of rehearing under section 113 of the Magistrates Ordinance (Cap [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"insight-category":[1121],"insight-month":[1160],"insight-practice-area":[],"insight-year":[1159],"class_list":["post-29172","insight-and-news","type-insight-and-news","status-publish","hentry","insight-category-legal-updates-and-insights","insight-month-july","insight-year-1159"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tannerdewitt.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insight-and-news\/29172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tannerdewitt.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insight-and-news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tannerdewitt.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/insight-and-news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tannerdewitt.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tannerdewitt.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insight-and-news\/29172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30385,"href":"https:\/\/www.tannerdewitt.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insight-and-news\/29172\/revisions\/30385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tannerdewitt.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tannerdewitt.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29172"},{"taxonomy":"insight-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tannerdewitt.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insight-category?post=29172"},{"taxonomy":"insight-month","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tannerdewitt.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insight-month?post=29172"},{"taxonomy":"insight-practice-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tannerdewitt.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insight-practice-area?post=29172"},{"taxonomy":"insight-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tannerdewitt.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insight-year?post=29172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}