【明報專訊】Judges are not renowned for their humour, admittedly, subject to a few glaring exceptions. Kemal Bokhary (包致金), our former Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal, as far as I remember, wasn't always cheered for his manifest humour while still at the bench. Rather he effortlessly loomed (at least to me and other non-frequenters of the CFA) so formidable and even so intellectually threatening, depending on the moments you pick. Formidable he's when speaking while intellectually threatening when he's about to speak. Nevertheless he is always celebrated for the cerebral quality exhibited in his many landmark judgements, sometimes more so in his dissenting ones. Many years ago, still in the recent past, I was attending a judgement writing class, aspiring to learn how to churn out an officially good judgement. The instructor was an appeal judge (you won't expect that I would dare disclose who his/her lordship/ladyship was, right?) who warmly reminded us not to assert our rhetoric talents in the judgement unless... Unless you're Mr Justice Bokhary! It was the time when the Congo judgement (Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ors v FG Hemisphere Associates LLC) was just out and it was Justice Bokhary who wrote the judgement. The appeal judge instructor then looked up and searched around the classroom, said, "I surmise one day you are not writing something like the opening lines of the Congo judgement. You know those lines?" I did and I do. I even enjoyed reciting them unwittingly in front of the class, just the two lines,