Hong Kong Court of First Instance

The Court of First Instance is the lower court of the High Court of Hong Kong, the upper court being the Court of Appeal. In the territory's judicial hierarchy it sits below the Court of Final Appeal and the Court of Appeal and above the District Court and the magistrates' courts. It is the highest court in Hong Kong that can hear cases at first instance with unlimited jurisdiction in both civil and criminal matters. It deals mainly with civil claims above HKD 3 million and with the most serious crimes, such as murder, manslaughter, rape, serious drug offences and major commercial fraud, and it is the only court in Hong Kong where trials sit with a jury. It also hears appeals from decisions of Masters and from certain lower courts and tribunals. Under British rule it was the High Court of Justice of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong, and the Basic Law renamed it after the handover. It follows the precedents of higher courts, including those of the Privy Council, but is not bound by its own earlier decisions. It sits in the High Court building in Admiralty, and has occasionally sat elsewhere, as in the 47 democrats case.