A hushed silence fell over the crowded courtroom as Chief Justice Andrew Li Kwok-nang prepared to deliver judgment. There was a palpable sense that history was about to be made.
This was the moment, 10 years ago today, when a long-running legal battle over claims by mainland-born children to the right of abode was to reach its climax in the Court of Final Appeal.
It was also the first time since the handover that the top court had been asked to rule on issues of great constitutional significance. As senior counsel Denis Chang Khen-lee put it at the time: 'We are entering virgin constitutional territory.'
The chief justice, when he began delivering the judgment, highlighted the significance of the ruling.
'Questions involving the proper interpretation of the Basic Law are before us for the first time. These are questions of momentous importance for both the future of the people involved as well as the development of constitutional jurisprudence in the new order,' he said.
But no one could have predicted the dramatic and far-reaching repercussions which would flow from the decision.
Two related judgments greatly expanded the number of mainland-born children, with a parent who is a Hong Kong permanent resident, who could claim the right of abode under the Basic Law. This prevented families from being split and came as a huge relief to claimants who had spent months fighting for the right to stay here. But the rulings also sparked fears that a huge influx of migrants would swamp Hong Kong.