BONFIRES WERE LIT, effigies burned, and fireworks let off all over Britain yesterday to commemorate the capture, almost 400 years ago, of the country's most notorious traitor.
Guy Fawkes, a member of a band of Catholics seeking a regime more tolerant to their religion, had the misfortune to be caught with 36 barrels of gunpowder intended to blow up parliament. He was convicted of treason and hanged, drawn and quartered.
The 'gunpowder plot' of November 5, 1605, may be far removed from the debate in Hong Kong over national security legislation proposed under Article 23 of the Basic Law. But this area of the law, dealing with treason, sedition, subversion and secession, is one where it is difficult to escape the past.
In March, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales said it could not be seriously contended that the statues dealing with treason, dating back to 1351, had left the law there in a satisfactory state. 'The statues have usually been framed in response to national emergencies which passed centuries ago,' the court said.
This is worth remembering when considering similar laws in other parts of the world and comparing them with the proposals for the SAR.
The government has sought to ease concerns by pointing to the existence of such laws in Western democracies such as Britain and Canada. On the day the consultation paper was released in September, Secretary for Security Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee was quick to say: 'Every nation has laws to protect such fundamental interests of the country.'