High court (Malaysia)
High Court of Malaya/ High Court of Sabah and Sarawak | |
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Mahkamah Tinggi Malaya/ Mahkamah Tinggi Sabah dan Sarawak | |
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Established | 1957 |
Composition method | Royal appointment with the advice of the Prime Minister |
Authorized by | Federal Constitution |
Appeals to | Court of Appeals of Malaysia |
Judge term length | Compulsory retirement at age 66 |
Number of positions | Peninsular Malaysia: 60 (including 16 vacancies) Sabah and Sarawak: 13 (including 5 vacancies) |
Website | www |
Chief Judge of the High Court of Malaya | |
Currently | Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah |
Since | 17 January 2023 |
Chief Judge of the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak | |
Currently | Abdul Rahman Sebli |
Since | 17 January 2023 |
The high courts in Malaysia are the third-highest courts in the hierarchy of courts, after the Federal Court and the Court of Appeal. Article 121 of the Constitution of Malaysia provides that there shall be two high courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction—the High Court in Malaya and the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak (before 1994, the High Court in Borneo). Before 1969, the High Court in Singapore was also part of the Malaysian courts system (see Law of Singapore).
The High Court in Malaya has its principal registry in Kuala Lumpur, with other registries to be found in all states in Peninsular Malaysia, while the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak has its principal registry in Kuching, with other registries elsewhere in Sabah and Sarawak. There are in total 22 high court registries across all 13 states in Malaysia.[1] The two High Courts also travel on circuit to other smaller towns.
The two high courts, the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court are classified as superior courts, while the magistrates' courts and the sessions courts are classified as the subordinate courts. The high courts function both as a court of original jurisdiction as well as an appellate court, and are each headed by a chief judge (before 1994, chief justice). The chief judges of Malaya and Sabah and Sarawak are the third and fourth highest positions in Malaysian judiciary after the Chief Justice of the Federal Court (before 1994, the Lord President of the Federal Court) and the President of the Court of Appeal.[2]
High court registries in Malaysia
All high court registries and the subordinate courts found in Peninsular Malaysia including the courts in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya are under the jurisdiction of the High Court in Malaya. Similarly, all courts found in East Malaysia are under the jurisdiction of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak including the courts in the Federal Territory of Labuan.
List of chief justices and chief judges
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Malaya
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Malayan Union (1946-1948)
1947–1948: Harold Curwen Willan[3]
Chief Justice of the Federation of Malaya (1957–1963)
- 1957–1963: Tun Sir James Thomson
Lord Presidents of the Federal Court of Malaysia (1963–1994)
- 1963–1966: Tun Sir James Thomson
- 1966–1968: Tun Syed Sheh Hassan Barakbah
- 1966–1974: Tun Mohamed Azmi Mohamed
- 1974–1982: Tun Mohamed Suffian Mohamed Hashim
- 1982–1984: Raja Tun Azlan Shah
- 1984–1989: Tun Salleh Abas
- 1989–1994: Tun Abdul Hamid Omar
Chief Justice of Malaya (prior to 1994, when the position was downgraded to Chief Judge of Malaya)
Source:[4]
- 1963-1966: Syed Sheh Barakbah
- 1966-1968: Mohamed Azmi Mohamed
- 1968-1973: Ong Hock Thye
- 1973-1974: Mohamed Suffian Mohamed Hashim
- 1974-1979: Pajan Sarwan Singh Gill
- 1979-1982: Raja Azlan Shah (later 34th Sultan of Perak and 9th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia)
- 1982-1984: Salleh Abas
- 1984-1989: Abdul Hamid Omar
- 1989-1992: Hashim Yeop Sani
- 1992-1994: Gunn Chit Tuan
Some modern texts will refer to them as Chief Judges.[5]
Chief Judge of Malaya (since 1994)
- 1994: Mohamed Eusoff Chin
- 1994–1997: Anuar Zainal Abidin
- 1997–2000: Wan Adnan Ismail
- 2000–2002: Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim
- 2002–2004: Haidar Mohamed Noor
- 2004–2006: Siti Norma Yaakob
- 2007–2008: Alauddin Sheriff
- 2008–2011: Arifin Zakaria
- 2011–2017: Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin
- 2017–2018: Ahmad Maarop
- 2018–2019: Zaharah Ibrahim
- 2019–2022: Azahar Mohamed
- 2023–present: Mohamad Zabidin
Borneo (North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak)
North Borneo | Sarawak | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Office | Justice | Tenure | Office | Justice | Tenure |
Chief Justice of North Borneo (until 1951) |
Charles Frederick Cunningham Macaskie CMG | 1934 to 1941 | Chief Justice of Sarawak (1930-1951) |
Thomas Jamieson Laycock Stirling Boyd | 1930 to 1939 |
H. Thackwell-Lewis | 1939 to 1945 | ||||
Japanese occupation | 1942 to 1945 | Japanese occupation | 1942 to 1945 | ||
Sir Ivor Llewellyn Brace | 1945 to 1951 | Robert Yorke Hedges | 1946 to 1951 | ||
Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei | |||||
Office | Title | Justice | Tenure | ||
Chief Justice of the Combined Judiciary of Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei (1951–1963) |
Sir | Ivor Llewellyn Brace | 1 December 1951 – 24 October 1952 | ||
Sir | Ernest Hillas Williams JP | c. 1957 | |||
Sir | John Ainley MC | 5 December 1959 – 1 January 1963 | |||
Sir | William Campbell Wylie QC | 2 January 1963 – 15 September 1963 | |||
Sabah and Sarawak | |||||
Office | Title | Justice | Tenure | ||
Chief Justice of Borneo (1963–1994) |
Sir | William Campbell Wylie QC | 16 September 1963 – 27 August 1965 | ||
Sir Tan Sri | Philip Ernest Housden Pike QC | 11 September 1965 – 27 August 1968 | |||
Tan Sri Dato' | Ismail Khan Ibrahim Khan | 2 September 1968 – 31 December 1973 | |||
Tan Sri Datuk Amar | Lee Hun Hoe | 1 January 1974 – 31 December 1988 | |||
Tan Sri Datuk Amar | Mohamad Jemuri Serjan | 11 March 1989 – 23 June 1994 | |||
Office | Title | Justice | Tenure | ||
Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak (since 1994) |
Tan Sri Datuk Amar | Mohamad Jemuri Serjan | 24 June 1994 – 9 September 1994 | ||
Tan Sri Datuk Amar | Chong Siew Fai | 16 June 1995 – 3 July 2000 | |||
Tan Sri Datuk Amar | Steve Shim Lip Kiong | 2 July 2000 – 25 July 2006 | |||
Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima | Richard Malanjum | 26 July 2006 – 11 July 2018 | |||
Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima | David Wong Dak Wah | 11 July 2018 – 19 February 2020 | |||
Tan Sri Datuk Amar | Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim | 25 February 2020 – 17 January 2023 | |||
Dato' | Abdul Rahman Sebli | 17 January 2023 – incumbent |
Singapore
Office | Title | Justice | Tenure |
---|---|---|---|
Chief Justice of Singapore (1963–1969 (as part of Malaysia, 1963–1965)) |
Tan Sri | Wee Chong Jin | 1963 to 1969 |
See also
- Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements
- Federal Court of Malaysia
- Malaysian Court of Appeal
- Judiciary of Malaysia
- Lord President of the Federal Court
- Chief Justice of Malaysia
- President of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia
- Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak
- 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal
References
- ^ "List of court addresses". Judiciary of Malaysia. Archived from the original on 23 October 2007. Retrieved 30 January 2008.
- ^ "Operation of the court". Judiciary of Malaysia. Archived from the original on 9 July 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2008.
- ^ "Supplement to the London Gazette, 12 June, 1947" (PDF). London Gazette. 12 June 1947. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- ^ "Assessing the Racial Composition of the Malaysian Judiciary | LoyarBurok". 11 February 2010.
- ^ (2015) p.107, The Malaysian Judiciary Yearbook 2015, http://www.kehakiman.gov.my/sites/default/files/YearBook2015.pdf Archived 26 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine