Hong Kong

Canadian judge is latest to resign from Hong Kong’s top court

Beverley McLachlin, former chief justice of Canada’s supreme court, steps down amid warnings rule of law in city is ‘in grave danger’

Associated Press
Mon 10 Jun 2024 15.15 EDT

A former chief justice of Canada’s supreme court is stepping down from Hong Kong’s top court, the city’s officials said Monday, the latest in a string of resignations from the court amid concerns about Hong Kong’s judicial independence.

Hong Kong’s judiciary confirmed late on Monday that Beverley McLachlin would end her term serving as a non-permanent overseas judge at Hong Kong’s court of final appeal.

The news came as a British judge who resigned from the same court last week warned that rule of law in the city was in “grave danger” and said judges were operating in an “impossible political environment created by China”.

Lord Sumption, who had served as a non-permanent overseas judge on Hong Kong’s court of final appeal, described a growing “paranoia of the authorities” and judges being intimidated by a “darkening political mood” in the Asian financial hub, in an article published by the Financial Times on Monday.

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