James Kerr Findlay

James Kerr Findlay (25 January 1936 – 2 November 2019) was a Scottish-born barrister and judge who was successively Hong Kong's Law Draftsman, Solicitor General, and Director of Public Prosecutions. He was appointed to the High Court of Justice (now the Court of First Instance) of Hong Kong in 1994.

After retiring from the bench in 2000, Findlay was appointed as a visiting judge and judicial commissioner of the Supreme Court of Brunei Darussalam from 2001 to 2019.

Early years Findlay was born on 25 January 1936, in Scotland. Most of his formative years were spent in Wales. When he was about 18 years old, he moved for Rhodesia and from 14 March 1954 to 13 March 1958, he worked as a constable before switching to the Department of Justice. While he and others were escorting a dignitary, an intoxicated farmer struck him and seriously hurt him. He was in and out of the hospital for several years. He made the decision to leave the BSAP at that point and studied law from his bed.

Law career At the age of 25, Findlay began his career as a stipendiary magistrate in Rhodesia from 1961 to 1964. He handled criminal cases, but the majority of his interlocutory cases and trials were civil in nature. He was called to the Bar in 1963. Following a number of professional changes, he was employed as a Parliamentary Counsel at the Lords Advocate's Chambers in London from 1978 to 1981. During this time, he was in charge of authoring a significant quantity of significant legislation, including the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act.

Brunei Findlay retired in March 2000, began working as a chartered arbitrator, and was chosen to serve as a visiting judge in the Supreme Court of Brunei Darussalam from 2001 till his death in 2022. Since his initial appointment as Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court on 30 August 2001, he has been a member of the Brunei Judiciary. Since 2001, he has presided over matters in the High Court as a visiting judge.

The High Court in this city convicted another former employee of Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) guilty of 49 counts of corruption on 19 February 2017, and she was given a six-year prison sentence. After a trial, Findlay found a former Senior Operations Supervisor at the Production Operations Division of the Seria Crude Oil Terminal, guilty of taking bribes from Musfada Enterprise.

Personal life Findlay married South African-born Dawn Borchers in 1966. Dawn died on 6 September 2019, in Cape Town, while Findlay died a few months later.

National

Foreign Gold Bauhinia Star (GBS; 2001)