Temple Chambers is delighted to announce that Lord Sales, Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, will deliver the HKU-Temple Chambers Law Lecture on 24 September 2026.

The lecture, entitled: “The Role of Equity in the Law of Contract”, will address the distinct moral foundations of contract law and Equity, and how contract law and Equity interact as legal categories. Contract draws on the morality of promise-making and also the morality of reasonable reliance, which is the foundation for the objective approach to the interpretation of contracts. The theme of the lecture is that Equity operates as a corrective mechanism to bring contract back into line with the requirements of promise-based morality when the balance struck by contract law in its objective approach to interpretation and enforcement of contracts unjustifiably departs from that morality. The lecture will address substantive doctrines such as fraud on a power and relief from forfeiture as well as remedies in contract and Equity.

The HKU–Temple Chambers Law Lecture series began in 2024. Previous speakers have included Lord Briggs of Westbourne and Lord Richards of Camberwell of the Supreme Court.

Lord Sales was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court in January 2019, and took up appointment as Deputy President of the Court in January 2026. He was educated at the Royal Grammar School in Guildford, before reading law at both Churchill College, Cambridge, and Worcester College, Oxford. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales at Lincoln's Inn in 1985 and was appointed First Treasury Junior Counsel in 1997. He was an Assistant Recorder from 1999 to 2001, Recorder from 2001 to 2008, and Deputy High Court Judge from 2004 to 2008. Lord Sales became a Queen's Counsel in 2006 and continued to act in the re-named post of First Treasury Counsel (Common Law) until his appointment to the High Court, Chancery Division in 2008. He was a member of the Competition Appeal Tribunal between 2008 and 2015, and Vice-President of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal between 2014 and 2015. Between 2009 and 2014, Lord Sales served as Deputy Chair of the Boundary Commission for England. He was appointed as a Lord Justice of Appeal in 2014.

Academic Conference Room, 11/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower, The University of Hong Kong

If you would like to attend, please register via the QR code in the poster.

 [2026] HKCFI 4724 arises out of the longstanding legal battle between Mr Lau Wing Yan and Mr Chu Kong over the shipping empire that they had built up.

The Defendant alleged that the transfer of two vessels, and the Plaintiff’s subsequent operation of them, formed part of an “Asset Stripping Arrangement” orchestrated by Mr Chu Kong. The Defendant alleged that the Plaintiff had no legal right to charter or trade the vessels, had dishonestly assisted in or knowingly received the fruits of wrongdoing, and was involved in possible money laundering and the proceeds of crime. The Court observed that “

[w]ords accusing a commercial operator and manager of the subject vessels of dishonestly assisting in a fraudulent scheme of asset-stripping and of knowingly receiving its fruits strike at the core of maritime commerce

The Court found the Defendant liable in defamation in respect of four communications published to charterers and an insurer of vessels operated by the Plaintiff.

The Defendant accepted that the words complained of were generally defamatory, but contended that they were justified and protected by qualified privilege, which the Court rejected.

: the Court held that the Defendant failed to prove the substantial truth of the defamatory imputations concerning the alleged Asset Stripping Arrangement. Corporate documents relied on by the Defendant only showed that certain transactions had occurred, but did not without more establish fraud. Further, whilst the Defendant relied heavily on pleadings filed by liquidators in other proceedings, the Court emphasised that those pleadings are not evidence of the facts alleged.

: the Court held that the Defendant could not rely on the defence of qualified privilege. Charterers and insurers may have a commercial interest in information concerning a vessel’s ownership, arrest risk or litigation, but that general interest was insufficient to establish a privileged occasion. In particular, the Defendant’s asserted indirect minority interest was insufficient to establish that publication of the allegations to the particular recipients was objectively necessary to protect any legitimate interest.

 further, the Court found that the Defendant had in any event published the allegations with malice. The allegations were presented as established facts without adequate verification, and coupled with their form, tone and timing, supported an inference of reckless disregard for the truth rather than mere advertence.

, instructed by Holman Fenwick Willan, acted for the Plaintiff.

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