The death penalty will return, court staff will become corrupt, no one will bother to file lawsuits against the government and human rights lawyers will be thrown in jail: some of the dire predictions about the future of the legal system as the handover and a new constitutional era approached.
A decade later, the worst fears have not been realised. The common law remains in place and, in many respects, the system is much the same as it was in 1997. Even the traditional wigs and gowns have survived. But the transition has not been smooth.
'Things have gone much better than the worst pessimists thought. I know many people who thought 'one country, two systems' would not work and within a few months it would all be a memory,' said Paul Harris, SC, a founding member of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor.
'Ten years ago, both friends and opponents were telling me I should get out of Hong Kong, and I was told by some I would be sent to prison. Instead I have become a senior counsel. But it has been a very uncertain roller-coaster ride.'
The roller coaster took a steep dip when a landmark human rights ruling by the new Court of Final Appeal sparked a constitutional crisis. The decision was effectively overruled by Beijing, raising concerns about the integrity of Hong Kong's system and the rule of law.
The dust has largely settled since the dramatic events of 1999, but many troubling questions remain. 'There are lots and lots of unresolved issues. I am not sure it is necessary to rake over them all. But at least we should recognise they still exist and that they require sensitive handling on both sides,' former Bar Association chairwoman Gladys Li, SC, said.
The biggest disputes have arisen over the relationship between the two legal systems under the Basic Law, which came into force on July 1, 1997. Effectively a new constitution, the Basic Law underpins the 'one country, two systems' concept. But questions immediately arose as to how it should be interpreted and, crucially, by whom. The stage was set for a clash between Beijing and Hong Kong's courts.