Vallejos v Commissioner of Registration
Throughout the rest of October and November, Lam heard arguments and delivered judgments in two further FDH residence cases, namely "Irene R. Domingo and Daniel L. Domingo v. Commissioner of Registration" (HCAL 127 and 128/2010) and "Josephine B. Gutierrez and Joseph James Gutierrez v. Commissioner of Registration" (HCAL 136 and 137/2010). Among those applicants, only Daniel Domingo was found to have satisfied the "ordinary residence" requirement entitling him to apply for permanent residence; Lam found that Domingo's wife Irene's period of ordinary residence was interrupted by a period of overstay in which she remained in Hong Kong without the authority of the Director of Immigration. He separately ruled that Josephine Gutierrez had not taken positive steps to establish Hong Kong as her only place of permanent residence, meaning that she and her son Joseph James were not entitled to apply for permanent residence either.
Judges of the Plains
Judges of the Plains, originally the judicial official Spanish and later Mexican officials called the Jueces del Campo, were judges that decided all disputes over ownership of cattle, horses, and other livestock. They attended all the yearly roundups and branding of cattle (rodeos), and horses (recogidas), where their decisions were final, with no appeal. The Juez del Campo was also a law enforcement officer in cases of theft of livestock, fraudulent brands or certificates of ownership. The laws concerning livestock were mostly traditional, handed down from decisions established during the Spanish Empire in the Americas and from Spain before that. The office was held for a year and was unpaid, taken up for the honor, usually by landowners with large holdings in the district.