Sir William Young’s sense of propriety is intact, according to Sir William Young. The former New Zealand Supreme Court justice says that “he would not have accepted an appointment to Hong Kong’s top court unless it was proper to do so.”
Eleven other foreign judges, many of whom had long served in Hong Kong’s judicial system, quit their posts in the wake of the Chinese Communist Party’s crackdown on the rights and freedoms of Hongkongers after 2020. Five foreign judges remain (“NZ judge would not have accepted Hong Kong court appointment ‘unless proper,’ ” The Post [NZ], May 11, 2025).
Some of the foreign judges stuck around in Hong Kong’s corrupted judicial system much longer than was reasonable. Sometimes they took their leave with much weeping and gnashing of teeth. But if they left, they left because they realized that by remaining they would not be serving justice, only lending their sanction to a system now entirely or almost entirely subordinated to the dictates of the Chinese Communist Party.
Sir William Young’s appointment as a non-permanent judge at the city’s Court of Final Appeal last week came amid an exodus of overseas judges from the bench—including five last year—since the introduction of a national security law in 2020. Dozens of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists and opposition lawmakers had been jailed under the legislation.
“I would not accept appointment to that Court unless satisfied that it was proper for me do so,” Young, who sat on New Zealand’s Supreme Court between 2010 and 2022 and led the Royal Commission into the Christchurch terror attack, told The Post on Friday.
“Apart from that, I have nothing to say that has not already been said. This being so, I do not see any point in engaging in debate about my appointment.”
Either Judge Young doesn’t get it or doesn’t care. If it’s the former, maybe a few months on the job will cure him of his illusions. But his comments about why he won’t condescend to explain—“debate”—his decision suggest that the latter may be the case.
We also have a hint that he is not an apt pupil of experience: “Young was also appointed to Dubai’s international financial court in 2022 but stepped down less than a fortnight in the position following criticism from human rights campaigners.”
Maybe for Young the important thing is only to travel, see the world, stay active.
