Hong Kong law on oaths must change before four legislators can be unseated, court told

Hong Kong courts have no power to disqualify lawmakers for making improper oaths unless the relevant laws are amended to accommodate Beijing’s interpretation of the Basic Law, a court heard on Thursday.

The argument emerged in the government’s challenge to unseat four pro-democracy lawmakers as defence counsel Martin Lee Chu-ming SC said the requirement for a solemn and sincere swearing-in emerged only after the interpretation of the city’s mini-constitution last November.

But lawmakers could only be disqualified on such grounds if they were stipulated in the Oaths and Declarations Ordinance, he said.

Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun SC further warned it would be dangerous to take the interpretation as a context in considering the present case as that would create a “back door” to admit statements made by a foreign body into the Hong Kong system.

“The fundamental principle of ‘one country, two systems’ is the laws of two systems are clearly separated,” he told High Court judge Mr Justice Thomas Au Hing-cheung.