Hong Kong’s national security law must follow common law, former chief justices say

While calling Beijing’s move understandable, Andrew Li argues that offences must be limited in scope, trials openly carried out and defendants presumed innocent

Li’s predecessor, Sir Yang Ti-liang, agrees city served ‘well for centuries’ by its legal system

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Holding a foreign passport does not affect a judge’s ability to fulfil his oath to serve the city and Basic Law, says former chief justice Andrew Li. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 2:00am, 2 Jun 2020Updated: 4:20pm, 2 Jun 2020

In a rare move, two former Hong Kong chief justices have publicly highlighted the importance of the city’s common law principles, as Beijing moves to draft its national security law for the former British colony.

Beijing’s proposed legislation for Hong Kong must conform to such principles as a restricted scope of offences, open trials and the presumption of innocence, the city’s first post-handover chief justice Chief Justice Andrew Li Kwok-nang said on Tuesday.

In a commentary published in the South China Morning Post , Li said barring foreign judges from presiding over national security trials would be detrimental to the judicial independence guaranteed by the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution.

That same morning, Li’s predecessor, Sir Yang Ti-liang, agreed common law principles had served Hong Kong “well for centuries”.

There is no nationality requirement for Hong Kong judges, except that the chief justice and the High Court chief judge must be Chinese citizens and permanent residents with no right of abode in any other country. Photo: Robert Ng

“I am happy to understand from recent news reports that these values are to be inviolable in formulating the legislation in question,” he said in a statement. Yang served as the city’s first Chinese chief justice from 1988 to 1996.

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