British Judge Becomes 5th to Step Down From Hong Kong’s Top Court

Lord Nicholas Addison Phillips (C), a non-permanent judge, attends a ceremony held to mark the opening of the legal year in Hong Kong on Jan. 22, 2024. Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images

A former chief justice of the UK Supreme Court is leaving Hong Kong’s top court, the city’s official confirmed, making him the fifth foreign judge to quit the court this year amid Beijing’s ongoing security clampdown.

British Judge Nicholas Phillips, 86, has decided to step down as a non-permanent member of the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong as his three-year current term ends on Monday, the city’s judiciary told The Epoch Times.

“He indicated recently that he did not wish to have his term of appointment extended upon its expiry” on Sept. 30 due to “personal reasons,” the judiciary’s spokesperson said in a statement via email.

Phillips, also a former president of the Supreme Court in the UK, was first appointed to Hong Kong’s top court on Oct. 1, 2012. He served four terms totaling 12 years in that position.

“The Judiciary is grateful to Lord Phillips for his valuable contributions to the work of the CFA and his support for the rule of law in Hong Kong during his tenure in the past years,” the spokesperson said.

As a common law jurisdiction, Hong Kong invites both foreign and local judges to join its top court, which sets it apart from the opaque legal system in mainland China. The unique structure is part of the deal that was reached when the British handed the territory to China.

These foreign judges—often highly experienced seniors from common law jurisdictions such as the UK, Canada, and Australia—have long been seen as a symbol of the city’s commitment to the rule of law, which is essential to its status as a global financial center.

However, with China’s communist regime tightening its grip on Hong Kong, an unprecedented number of overseas judges have left. Phillips is the fifth judge to leave this year and the ninth since Beijing introduced its national security law in the city in 2020.

Critics say the tough law—which grants the authorities great power to suppress free speech or punish acts deemed secessionist, subversive, or collusion with foreign forces—brings Hong Kong closer to being an authoritarian state like China.

Despite the widespread concerns among foreign governments, Hong Kong’s judiciary stated that “an overwhelming majority of the serving and departed [non-permanent judges] have publicly reiterated their continued confidence in judicial independence in Hong Kong and the commitment of the Hong Kong courts towards upholding the rule of law.”

The judicial spokesperson said that the top court’s operation will not be affected and that it will continue to identify suitable local and overseas candidates for appointment.

Phillips’s exit will leave the Hong Kong top court with only six foreign judges, two from the UK and four from Australia.

Reasons for foreign judges’ departure vary. Canadian judge Beverley McLachlin departed from Hong Kong’s top court in July after serving since 2018. McLachlin, 80, cited her age and wish to spend more time with her family.

Two British judges—Jonathan Sumption and Lawrence Collins—announced their decision to resign from the Hong Kong court in June, days after 14 pro-democracy lawmakers and activists were convicted of “conspiracy to commit subversion.”

Collins has told The Epoch Times that his departure was related to “the political situation in Hong Kong.”

Sumption, in a June op-ed published in the Financial Times, said that he had remained on the court hoping that overseas judges’ presence would help sustain the rule of law in the Asian financial hub but that the political climate created by the Chinese Communist Party made this hope “no longer realistic.”

“​​Hong Kong, once a vibrant and politically diverse community, is slowly becoming a totalitarian state,” he wrote. “The rule of law is profoundly compromised in any area about which the government feels strongly.”

Two additional foreign judges will reach the end of their terms next year. One of them is British Judge Leonard Hoffmann, 90, who has been on the court since 1998. His term is set to expire in January 2025.