Reforming Death Inquests and Legal Medicine in Hong Kong
Date: 15 May 2025 (Thursday)
Time: 6:30pm – 7:30pm
Venue: 11/F, Cheng Yu Tung Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU
Abstract:
Hong Kong courts have, through a series of landmark decisions, refashioned both the substantive content and procedural contours of inquests, aligning them with burgeoning human rights standards and evolving societal expectations towards coronial practice. Among other developments, the courts have infused the conduct of inquests with rights-based considerations, as exemplified in Sony Rai v. Coroner [2011] 2 HKLRD 245, and have liberalised the threshold for convening an inquest, as in Leung Shuk Ling v. Coroner [2023] 4 HKLRD 264. These decisions contribute, in concert, to the modernisation of Hong Kong’s coronial jurisprudence, rendering it more attuned to growing concerns for transparency, accountability, and the vindication of the public interest. This seminar critically examines these developments, situating them within the broader context of the evolving role of coroners in contemporary society.
About the Speaker:
Prof Trevor T. W. Wan
Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong
Trevor T. W. Wan is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), where he serves as Co-Director of the Bachelor of Social Sciences (Government and Laws) and Bachelor of Laws dual degree programme. His research harnesses interdisciplinary approaches drawn mainly from political science, among other fields, to study comparative constitutional and administrative law, law and practice of coroners, and legal medicine. His work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in leading peer-reviewed periodicals including the American Journal of Comparative Law, International Journal of Constitutional Law, Public Law, German Law Journal, Judicial Review, Asian Journal of Comparative Law, and Hong Kong Medical Journal. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Trevor holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School where he was the Hong Kong Jockey Club Fellow.
Chair: Prof Eric C. Ip, Co-Director, HKU Centre for Medical Ethics and Law
Co-organisers:
Centre for Medical Ethics and Law, HKU
Medical Ethics and Humanities Unit, HKUMed