Knock it off, Judiciary: HK courts don't use gavels
19 October 2024
The online Legal Reference System of the Hong Kong Judiciary web site was recently subject to a minor overhaul. In the process, new iconography for the navigation menu was introduced, and rather sadly, they chose to perpetuate the myth that HK Courts use gavels when delivering judgments, verdicts or sentences. They don't, and they never have, nor have the UK courts, from which HK inherited its legal system. However, the general HK public might not be aware of this - unless they have taken the trouble to sit in the public gallery of a court. That's because, rightly or wrongly, photography is not permitted in HK courts.
Webb-site wrote to the Judiciary and asked them:
"Please comment or explain why you made this choice of icons, whether they will be removed, if so then when, and if not, then why not?"
Their reply:
Icons on a website are small visual symbols which help users to identify information and navigate the website. They do not necessarily have to represent any actual object being used in a modern courtroom.
The gavel is one of such icons. It is a widely recognised symbol of law and juridical work.
And of course, one of the reasons that the gavel is "a widely recognised symbol" is because HK courts and tribunals are promoting it, perpetuating the myth. Why don't they choose some other irrelevant object that isn't used in the courts, such as a rocket? That would be more fun. We first raised this issue in 2012 regarding the website of the Market Misconduct Tribunal, and a gavel-picture is still there even after a subsequent website revamp. The only place in HK that you are likely to see a real-life gavel is in an auction house. By comparison with the HK Judiciary, the UK Judiciary actually dispels the myth on its web site:
Gavels
Although they’re often seen in cartoons and TV programmes and mentioned in almost everything else involving judges, the one place you won’t see a gavel is an English or Welsh courtroom – they are not used there and have never been used in the Criminal Courts.
Our verdict, in one sentence: the continued promotion of the gavel myth in HK exhibits poor judgment.
© Webb-site.com, 2024
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