being the most senior by tenure in office. List of current judges Overseas work The UK Supreme Court has since its inception sent some of its justices to sit on Hong Kong's top court, the Court of Final Appeal. This practice was established when the Court of Final Appeal was first set up in 1997, and before the founding of the UK Supreme Court, when the House of Lords was still the final appellate court in the UK. When British justices sit on the top court of Hong Kong, they are required by law to take the judicial oath with the pledge of allegiance to the Hong Kong SAR of the People's Republic of China. Because of that, they are not "overseas judges" as many mistakenly assume. They become local Hong Kong judges themselves. Along with their oaths taken to be justices of the UK Supreme Court, these judges owe a double allegiance and serve on the top courts of both jurisdictions at the same time. The participation of UK Supreme Court's justices in Hong Kong's judiciary is highly welcomed by the Hong Kong government because it helps bolster the international reputation of the courts in Hong Kong. However, there have been calls advocating the discontinuation of this practice since the implementation of the controversial national security law in Hong Kong by China in July 2020. More specifically, members from both Houses of Parliament across the political spectrum have on various occasions either called for the termination of this practice or questioned the appropriateness of it. In June 2021, Baroness Brenda Hale, former president of the UK Supreme Court, announced her decision not to seek reappointment on the Hong Kong court after the end of her term in July while mentioning the impact of the national security law. She became the first senior British judge to quit Hong Kong's top court after the enactment of the security law. Amid the controversy, in August 2021, Lord Reed issued a statement certifying that Hong Kong's judiciary "continues to act largely independently of government". However, about three months later, the US-China Commission submitted its annual report to US Congress detailing China's situation. In the report, not only did the Commission explicitly state that the independence of Hong Kong's judiciary existed “in name only”, in direct conflict with Lord Reed's certification, but also questioned whether or not overseas judges, including British judges, serving on