Secretary for Justice (Hong Kong)

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For other uses of "Secretary for Justice", see Justice ministry.

The Secretary for Justice (Chinese: 律政司司長) is a member of the Hong Kong Government responsible for prosecutions and legal matters. He or she heads the Department of Justice (Chinese: 律政司).

The Secretary for Justice is the third in line, after the Chief Secretary and the Financial Secretary, to act for the Chief Executive when he or she is on leave, outside Hong Kong, or when the position is otherwise temporarily vacant.

The Secretary for Justice ranks fifth in the Hong Kong order of precedence.

The current Secretary for Justice is Wong Yan-Lung (Chinese: 黃仁龍), SC.

Etymology

Before the 1997 handover to China, the position was known as the Attorney General (Chinese: 律政司), and the department was known as the Legal Department (Chinese: 律政署; also known as the Attorney General's Chambers (Chinese: 律政司署)). The office of the Attorney General was never localized during British rule and no Hong Kong Chinese ever held this key post.

List of Attorneys General before 1997

Office Holder	Term	Notes
Thomas Chisholm Anstey, QC	1855-1859	First Attorney General (AG) of Hong Kong
William Henry Adams, QC	1860-1875
George Phillippo, QC	1876-1879	First non-British-born AG - born in Jamaica
Edward Louchlin O'Malley, QC	1884-1889
W. Meigh Goodman, QC/KC	1890-1902
Sir Henry Spencer Berkeley, KC	1902-1906
Rees Davies, KC	1907-1912
J. A. S. Bucknill, KC	1912-1914
Sir Joseph H. Kemp, KC	1914-1930
Chaloner Alabaster (junior), KC	1930-1941
None	December 1941-March 1946	British administration suspended during Japanese occupation during World War II
G. E. Strickland, KC	1946	Acting AG
John Bowes Griffin, KC	1947-1951
Arthur Ridehalgh, KC/QC	1952-1961	Last AG to be a KC
Maurice Heenan, QC	1962-1966	Non-British-born (born in New Zealand)
Denys Tudor Emil Roberts, QC	1966-1973
John William Dixon Hobley, QC	1973-1979
John Calvert Griffiths, QC	1979-1983	Last non-British-born AG - born in Persia (now Iran)
Michael David Thomas, QC	1983-1988
Jeremy Fell Mathews, QC	1988 - 30 June 1997	Last QC to be AG; last AG

List of Secretaries for Justice

Office Holder	Term	Notes
Elsie Leung Oi-sie	1 July 1997-19 October 2005	First title holder who was not a QC (or KC) or SC
Wong Yan-Lung, SC	20 October 2005-present

See also

• Attorney General
• Justice minister
• Minister of Justice (France), who performs similar functions to his or her Hong Kong counterpart