楊鐵樑

繁體中文

楊鐵樑（Sir Ti-liang Yang，1929–2023）1929年6月30日生於上海，祖籍廣東中山，先後在蘇州東吳大學及英國倫敦大學學院修讀法律，1954年在格雷律師學院取得大律師資格。1955年他回港執業，1956年6月加入香港司法部任裁判司，展開長達四十年嘅司法生涯，歷任高級裁判司（1963）、署理地方法院法官、地方法院法官（1968）、高等法院按察司（1975）、上訴法院按察司（1981）及上訴法院副庭長（1987）。1975年2月他在維多利亞地方法院主審外籍總警司葛柏貪污案，經六日審訊判處葛柏入獄四年，轟動一時；他亦曾主持1972年「六一八」雨災調查委員會、1976年梁榮生案調查委員會及1980年麥樂倫事件聆訊，並任法律改革委員會同性戀法例研究小組主席。1988年3月他成為首位華人出任香港首席按察司（後改名首席大法官），任內推動司法機構改革以配合主權移交，包括1995年首度為法庭引入中文聆訊，1996年10月卸任。同年他辭職參選第一屆行政長官選舉，敗於董建華；1997年獲董建華委任為行政會議非官守成員，至2002年卸任，其間曾任外匯基金投資有限公司主席（1998–2002）及廉政公署事宜投訴委員會主席（1999–2004）。他自1985年至2001年任香港大學校董會主席、1994至2001年任港大副校監，1998年起任香港紅十字會主席、2012年起任會長，2003年起在香港電台主持英語教學節目《楊鐵樑留言信箱》。2023年6月24日在香港逝世，終年九十三歲。

English

Sir Ti-liang Yang (1929–2023) was born in Shanghai on 30 June 1929 and studied law at Soochow University and then University College London, being called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1954. He returned to Hong Kong in 1955 and joined the judiciary in June 1956 as a magistrate, beginning a forty-year career that took him through senior magistrate (1963), acting district judge, district judge (1968), High Court judge (1975), Court of Appeal judge (1981) and Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (1987). In February 1975 he tried Chief Superintendent Peter Godber, the expatriate police chief accused of corruption, and after a six-day trial jailed him for four years in a case that gripped the city. He also chaired the inquiry into the June 1972 rainstorm disasters, the 1976 Leung Wing-sang inquiry and the 1980 MacLennan inquiry, and led the Law Reform Commission's sub-committee on homosexual legislation. In March 1988 he became the first Chinese Chief Justice of Hong Kong, driving reforms to ready the judiciary for the handover — including, in 1995, the first use of Chinese in court proceedings — and stepped down in October 1996. That year he resigned to contest the first Chief Executive election, losing to Tung Chee-hwa; he served on the Executive Council from 1997 to 2002, chaired the Exchange Fund Investment Office (1998–2002) and the ICAC Complaints Committee (1999–2004), was chairman of the University of Hong Kong's council from 1985 to 2001 and its Pro-Chancellor from 1994 to 2001, led the Hong Kong Red Cross from 1998 and hosted the RTHK English-teaching programme 'Yang Ti-liang's Message Box' from 2003. He died in Hong Kong on 24 June 2023, aged 93.