The Chief Justice has dropped the Army and the church from today's ceremony opening the new legal year.
Andrew Li Kwok-nang said he had decided to break with tradition.
'We have progressed to a new era and we have made some new arrangements for the 1998 legal year opening ceremony. A comparison of this year's arrangements with those in the past may not be meaningful,' he said.
However, some lawyers are disappointed that the People's Liberation Army will not be forming the guard of honour to be inspected by Mr Li this year.
'It has been seen as a way of showing the Army's respect for the law and it would have been nice to see the PLA there,' one barrister said.
Instead, there will be 33 instructing officers from the Police Training School.
There was a mixed reaction to the decision to abandon the church service usually held before the ceremony.
