The Court of Final Appeal Building, also known as the Old Supreme Court Building, is the home of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. It housed the former

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

from 1912 to 1983 and the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

from 1985 to 2011. It is located at 8 Jackson Road, in Central, along the eastern side of Statue Square, directly west of Chater Garden. As the Old Supreme Court, its exterior is one of the

declared monuments of Hong Kong Declared monuments of Hong Kong are places, structures or buildings legally declared to receive the highest level of protection. In Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a spec ...

History

The building was designed by Sir

Aston Webb Sir Aston Webb, (22 May 1849 – 21 August 1930) was a British architect who designed the principal facade of Buckingham Palace and the main building of the Victoria and Albert Museum, among other major works around England, many of them in par ...

and Ingress Bell, the British architects responsible for the eastern façade of

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

and the Cromwell Road frontage of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

in London. Construction of the building started in 1900 and it was opened on 15 January 1912 by the Governor Sir

Frederick Lugard Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard (22 January 1858 – 11 April 1945), known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator. He was Governor of Hong Kong (1907� ...

. The two-storey

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

building is neo-classical in style supported by Ionic columns. It is surmounted by a 2.7 m high blindfolded statue of Justice, represented by

Themis In Greek mythology and religion, Themis (; ) is the goddess and personification of justice, divine order, law, and custom. She is one of the twelve Titan children of Gaia and Uranus, and the second wife of Zeus. She is associated with oracles a ...

, the Greek goddess of justice and law. This statue was inspired by the one erected at London's

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

. During the

Japanese occupation of Hong Kong The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began when the governor of Hong Kong, Mark Aitchison Young, surrendered the British Crown colony of British Hong Kong, Hong Kong to the Empire of Japan on 25 December 1941. His surrender occurred after Batt ...

(December 1941 to August 1945), the building was used as the headquarters of the '' Kempeitai'' (Military Police). In 1978, this building was severely affected by the construction of

MTR The Mass Transit Railway system, known locally by the initialism MTR, is a rapid transit system in Hong Kong and the territory's principal mode of Rail transport in Hong Kong, railway transportation. Operated by the MTR Corporation (MTRCL), ...

, requiring restoration work. As a consequence, for part of the early 1980s, the Supreme Court was moved to the Former French Mission Building, which was then used by the Victoria

District Court District courts are a category of courts which exists in several nations, some call them "small case court" usually as the lowest level of the hierarchy. These courts generally work under a higher court which exercises control over the lower co ...

. In 1985, the building took up service as home to the Legislative Council, when it was known as 'the Legislative Council Building', while the Supreme Court moved to the Supreme Court Building in Admiralty - renamed the High Court Building in 1997. In 2011, the Legislative Council moved into the new Legislative Council Complex within the

Central Government Complex The Central Government Complex has been the headquarters of the Government of Hong Kong since 2011. Located at the Tamar, Hong Kong, Tamar site, the complex comprises the Central Government Offices, the Legislative Council Complex and the ...

at Tamar site. On 7 September 2015, the building reverted to its former judicial function. It now houses the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. The opening ceremony was held on 25 September 2015 by the

Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal The chief justice of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, sometimes informally known as the chief justice of Hong Kong, is the head of the Judiciary of Hong Kong and the President of the Court of Final Appeal. The chief justice is one of fo ...

Geoffrey Ma Tao-li.

Architectural features

The building was erected on

reclaimed land Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamatio ...

. Its foundation was formed by driving hundreds of Chinese fir tree trunks into the mixture of reclamation materials and

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...

on the site. As a consequence, the building is in effect "floating" on a timber raft. Such a foundation system requires the

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

level to be maintant level, and a groundwater replenishment system is installed to replace groundwater as required. The plan of the building follows a rectangular pattern and is symmetrical. The building occupies an area of around (about ) and is surrounded by columns. Its height, fronze

Tudor Crown The Tudor Crown was a crown created in the early 16th century for either Henry VII of England, Henry VII or Henry VIII, the first House of Tudor, Tudor monarchs of Kingdom of England, England, and destroyed in 1649 during the English Civil War. ...

, is about . HK Central Statue Square Legislative Council Building n Themis n Lions n Dieu et mon droit

A pediment surmounts the central section of the building facing Statue Square. The pediment is topped by a Statue of Justice and under it is the inscription "Erected AD MDCCCCX" (Erected AD 1910). The pediment incorporates a semi-circular window and the carving of the British royal coat of arms is above it. The shield shows the various royal emblems of the various parts of the United Kingdom: the three lions of England in the first and fourth quarters, the lion of Scotland in the second and the harp of Ireland in the third. The shield is supported by the English lion and Scottish unicorn and is surmounted by the royal crown. The motto of the sovereign, ''

Dieu et mon droit (, ), which means , is the motto of the monarch of the United Kingdom. It appears on a scroll beneath the shield of the version of the coat of arms of the United Kingdom used outside Scotland. The motto is said to have first been used by Ri ...

'' (God and my right), is displayed underneath it. The figures of Mercy and Truth are located on both sides of the British royal arms.

Gallery

Interior of the building as the Legislative Council Building (1985 to 2011)

File:HKLCB ConferenceRoomA.jpg, Conference Room A File:HKLCB ConferenceRoomB.jpg, Conference Room B File:HKLCB ConferenceRoomC.jpg, Conference Room C File:HKLCB PresidentOffice2007.jpg, President's office File:HKLCB PressConferenceRoom.jpg, Press Conference Room File:HKLCB MembersRoom.jpg, Office for the members of the Legislative Council File:HKLCB AnteChamber.jpg, Ante Chamber File:HKLCB Chmber PresidentSeat.jpg, President's seat File:HKLCB DiningHall.jpg, Dining Hall File:HKLCB ChamberCeiling.jpg, Ceiling of the Main Chamber File:RLCW7086.JPG, Chamber interior File:HKLCB Chamber.jpg, Chamber interior

References

External links

Antiquities and Monuments Office The Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) is a Hong Kong government organization established in 1976 under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance to protect and preserve historic monuments. Housed in the Former Kowloon British School, the AMO ...