My Take | Devil in the detail of government's case for interpretation

Many government critics are barking up the wrong tree. The government has every right as a litigant to suggest the top court ask Beijing for an interpretation of residency rights.

Rather, the problem is the scope of the question that the Department of Justice is asking the court to submit to the National People's Congress Standing Committee for clarification. It is short-sighted, wrong in principle and against the public interest.

The case in question involves the right of abode of foreign maids and is due for a hearing in the Court of Final Appeal in February.

In our adversarial legal system, litigants use whatever legal tools are available to win.

It would be exceedingly odd - you can even argue government lawyers are not doing their duty - if they don't use their strongest weapon, an NPC Standing Committee interpretation. The top court is, of course, perfectly free to refuse their request.

But the government is being more ambitious than that, and that's the problem and the real danger. The maids' appeal essentially involves interpreting a single provision in Article 24 of the Basic Law. Government lawyers can and should restrict their court request for an NPC interpretation to just that.