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The legal rights of concubines were at issue yesterday during a 91-year-old widow's court battle for a share of her late husband's fortune.

 Wealthy Robin Sung So-chun's widow is fighting to prove the other women in his life were concubines - secondary wives as opposed to mistresses - thus making them part of a traditional Chinese family.

 A declaration to that effect would give widow Chan Chiu-lam and her children access to the fortune Sung left behind to mistress Chu Lee, since the inheritance will have, in effect, remained in the family.

 Sung married Mrs Chan in Shanghai in 1929 and brought two other women into his household through a 'union of concubinage'.

 After he came to Hong Kong in 1951, he was followed a year later by his second concubine, who ended up in control of his estate when he died. The multimillion-dollar inheritance case now hinges on the legality of concubines.

 In the Court of First Instance yesterday, lawyers for Sung's widow claimed concubines were afforded legal status in 1951 after the Communists took control.

 Concubines, whose existence was previously tolerated but who were given no rights against mistreatment, were afforded legal recognition, even though the practice was labelled bigamy and banned.

 When it came to women's rights, the People's Republic of China was 'more progressive than Hong Kong by at least 20 years', said the widow's lawyer, Nelson Miu.

 'Under the PRC, the taking of concubines was prohibited, but concubines taken before 1950 were given recognition,' he said. 'We say concubinage is lawful if the courts of the land enforce certain rights associated with the status of concubines.'  Chu died in 1987, shortly after gaining control of Sung's estate. It then fell to her sister and when she died, to Chu's niece, Yau Yee-ping. Ms Yau is named as the defendant in the case.

 Lisa Wong Kwok-ying, who represents Ms Yau, said laws against bigamy in 1951 had merely reinforced a rule that existed in China for many years.

 Under traditional Chinese law, a man who took another wife was liable to be punished by 90 lashes and that second marriage was likely to be annulled.

 Ms Wong said any new rights granted to concubines in 1951 did not mean they were recognised in law.

 A Chinese marriage expert called by Mr Miu, lawyer Zhang Guo Rong, said there were distinct differences between wives and concubines, and concubinage was different to bigamy in the Western sense of the term.

 The case continues before Mr Justice Brian Keith.



Widow seeks concubine's inheritance