Yang Ti-liang

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Sir Yang Ti Liang GBM JP(楊鐵樑) (born 1929 in Shanghai, China) is a retired judge in Hong Kong and a former Chief Justice of Hong Kong (1988-1996). He was the first ethnic Chinese to hold the office under British colonial rule.

Yang was born in Shanghai, into an old, wealthy and influential family. His people originally hailed from Shanxi Province before migrating to Hongnong in Henan Province, and then to Nanguan in Hebei Province before moving, possibly in the sixth century, to Guangling (now Yangzhou). It is thought his people belonged to the same clan as the emperors of the Sui Dynasty who invaded Guangling in 589. It is said one of his earlier ancestors was Vice President of the Censorate but known records date from circa 1100, which consist of scholars, mandarins and courtiers. His direct forebears include a member of the famous Hanlin Academy in the Southern Song Dynasty, a Provincial Commander-in-Chief in an area in southern China that forms the current Guangdong Province just before the Yuan Dynasty, a Prefect of Guilin in the Qing, and a military strategist who took part in the quelling of the Taiping Rebellion. His father, grandfathers and great-grandfather were compradors to great foreign trading houses.

The youngest of four children, little is known about his early years, except that he attended St. John's Middle School and then went on to law school at the age of 17 at Soochow University. After his law studies were interrupted by the Chinese Civil War (1946-1949), he moved very briefly to Hong Kong, which was then under British colonial rule.

He then continued his studies at University College London, graduating with honors from its faculty of law (LLB, 1953). After passing his bar finals in 1954, he entered into private practice briefly and joined the Colonial Legal Service of Hong Kong in 1956 as a temporary magistrate.

Also in 1954, he married Eileen Barbara Tam in London. She was the daughter of the Hon. William Thomas Tam O.B.E, a one time Legislative Councillor in Hong Kong before the second war.

Yang rose through the ranks and was appointed Principal Magistrate in 1963, District Judge of the Victoria District Court in 1968, and Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong (later Judge of the High Court) in 1975. He was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 1980, and became Vice President of that Court in 1987.

In 1988, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, upon the recommendation of Sir David Wilson, then Governor of Hong Kong, appointed Yang Chief Justice of Hong Kong and conferred upon him the customary knighthood.

He was appointed on 24 May 1988 as President of Court of Appeal of Brunei, until 16 May 1993, when he was succeeded by Dato Kutlu Tekin Fuad, CBE, a retired Hong Kong Court of Appeal judge, on 17 May 1993. [1]

Yang, aside from discharging his judicial duties, also served as chairman of the council of the University of Hong Kong between 1985 and 2001. In 1996, he resigned his Chief Justiceship to run for the office of the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong, and lost the bid to Tung Chee-Hwa, a shipping magnate. Yang was subsequently appointed to the Executive Council, the cabinet of Tung, where he served for a five-year term as an at-large member (1997-2002).

Currently Yang serves as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Chinese University of Hong Kong School of Law, and was appointed Honorary Professor in 2006. He is also Honorary Professor of Chinese at the University of Hong Kong and adjunct lecturer in rhetoric and literature both at that institution and at YMCA, Hong Kong. Over the years, he has been honored by various institutions, being elected Honorary Fellow of University College London, Honorary Bencher of the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, and President of the Bentham Club. He also holds a number of honorary doctorates from local universities.

Yang is a renowned translator and has translated numerous Chinese classics into English, including General Yue Fei, Peach Blossom Fan and Officialdom Unmasked. He is also a connoisseur of Chinese antiques and art.

Yang received the Order of Chivalry, First Class, Seri Paduka Makhota Brunei (SPMB) from the Sultan of Brunei, and was awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal from the Hong Kong SAR Government.

His younger son is married to the youngest daughter of Patrick Yu.

Preceded by: Dato Seri Paduka Sir Denys Tudor Emil Roberts - also Chief Justice of Brunei Darussalam

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong 1988-1996

Succeeded by: Sir Noel Power (Acting)