https://www.scmp.com/rss/297147/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com As we get older, the question of who will look after us is likely to loom larger in our minds. There is no shortage of cases in which elderly people have promised substantial inheritances to relatives who agree to look after them. Whether these promises are legally protected is an interesting area of the law. What, though, of cases in which the promise of future reward was not enough and the elderly person is induced to make lifetime gifts to carers? These gifts may be open to the charge that... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2070418/hong-kong-parents-face-traps-making-gifts-return-care-children-old?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2070418/hong-kong-parents-face-traps-making-gifts-return-care-children-old?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Feb 2017 08:11:05 +0000 Who owns the family home? This question is especially relevant if a couple break up. In the case of a married couple, the court can make use of the powers available to it on divorce; it has a degree of flexibility as to how to divide the family's assets. In the case of an unmarried couple, however, the court has no such freedom and must strictly apply the principles of property law. The title deeds are the starting point. In principle, you are only an owner if your name is on the title. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1824968/what-do-family-home-after-couple-split?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1824968/what-do-family-home-after-couple-split?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Jun 2015 19:32:20 +0000 The film Overheard 3 tells the story of a battle for the control of a corporation set up to acquire the rights of the male indigenous residents of New Territories villages and engage in property development on a massive scale. The corporation is a giant machine acquiring the villagers' rights under the small-house policy and turning them into a torrential stream of cash. The opening scenes sketch out the villagers' rights under the policy, how they arose and why the policy is unsustainable in... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1554238/sustainability-big-problem-small-house-policy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1554238/sustainability-big-problem-small-house-policy?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Jul 2014 20:29:26 +0000 Mark Twain advised: "Buy land, they're not making it anymore." As the world's population increases, the advice may well take on extra significance. As the late Scottish writer Andro Linklater comments in his recent history of land ownership, Owning the Earth, "any realistic scenario of 2050 has to consider how the earth will be owned". The book charts the rise of the theory and practice of a form of private ownership of land that originated in England. Its characteristics are an assertion of... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1482250/have-we-forgotten-social-dimension-private-property?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1482250/have-we-forgotten-social-dimension-private-property?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Apr 2014 21:20:03 +0000 I have just finished reading Tomorrow's Lawyers by Richard Susskind, a law professor with a variety of roles advising governments and businesses on planning for the long term. Although he is writing primarily for an English audience, it contains much of interest to Hong Kong. Susskind's primary audience is the person who is thinking of a legal career or is in the early stages of such a career. He encourages young people to pursue a legal career while informing them of challenges and... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1439531/tomorrow-has-already-arrived-when-it-comes-legal-training?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1439531/tomorrow-has-already-arrived-when-it-comes-legal-training?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Mar 2014 21:13:26 +0000 Last August, I wrote a column praising Hong Kong's system for the management of multi-owned buildings and estates. Some system of collective decision-making is indispensable. I suggested that the ability to set up an owners' corporation is an elegant response to this very practical need. One of the main benefits of the system is that it establishes a management committee with the power to make operational decisions on behalf of all of the owners. This does away with the need to consult... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1409879/looking-deep-art-building-management?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1409879/looking-deep-art-building-management?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Jan 2014 20:45:00 +0000 I began to teach law in 1991. "Technology" then meant the word processor, the photocopier and the overhead projector displaying slides on sheets of acetate. Now we have, in our pockets, the ability to produce podcasts, e-books and presentation slides. Not only that, the smartphone, tablet or laptop allow us to share our ideas and knowledge through blogs and other social media. Schools and universities routinely use course management systems as platforms to make teaching materials available to... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1376921/technology-has-role-play-bringing-education-all?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1376921/technology-has-role-play-bringing-education-all?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Dec 2013 21:15:15 +0000 Contracts are an expression of the free will of the parties to them. This is obviously not the case where the signatory has an actual or metaphorical gun to their head. Contracts that have been induced by coercion can be set aside. The law goes further and offers protection in any case where entry into the contract is not a reflection of the informed consent of either of the parties. There may be no gun and both parties might be gentle, honest people, but if there is no informed consent, the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1342007/law-guards-against-coercion-when-making-contracts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1342007/law-guards-against-coercion-when-making-contracts?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Oct 2013 20:08:29 +0000 At the start of the academic year, the first lecture in the law programme offers the chance to explain to a new generation of students why land law is so important and fascinating (before the thought of impending exams begins to impose its own more urgent demands). It ought to be an easy task explaining the importance of land law in Hong Kong, where land is so scarce and there are so many competing demands upon it. Land law provides - for the most part - certainty as to who owns it and the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1316062/new-students-set-straight-law-land?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1316062/new-students-set-straight-law-land?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Visitors to Hong Kong are struck by how densely packed together we are. A single residential estate, occupying a relatively small area of ground, provides homes for thousands of families. Each estate is, effectively, a district, often with its own leisure facilities, gardens and links to the transport network. The property lawyer who visits Hong Kong would also be impressed by the elegance of the legal arrangements for the governance of these estates. It can be surprising to learn that the buyer... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1297842/hongkongers-home-his-corporate-entity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1297842/hongkongers-home-his-corporate-entity?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Aug 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Land disputes are very often about the interpretation of the words used in a lease or some other document. Dealings with land are based on the bargain struck between two parties, such as a buyer and seller or a landlord and tenant. The parties have to spell out the terms of their agreement. Lawyers have to be able to understand, think through and then express what the parties have in mind. That is a large part of what they are paid for. But no matter how well these tasks are performed, there... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1278154/disputing-meaning-words-contractual-clauses?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1278154/disputing-meaning-words-contractual-clauses?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Jul 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Signing a contract to buy a property (a flat, an office block or whatever) marks a point of no return. You have passed from the zone of negotiations to that of binding commitment. At least that is the idea. Once you sign the contract it should be all over bar the shouting. In principle, it only remains for the seller to execute and deliver the deed conveying title to the property to the buyer, hand over the keys and collect the money. There remains, however, one important matter to attend to.... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1242205/beware-pitfalls-buying-property?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1242205/beware-pitfalls-buying-property?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000 If land law brings any image to mind, it might be that of a pile of title deeds. Formality has a very important part to play in land law. When it comes to something as expensive and important as land, certainty is important. Having your name on the title deeds of a property allows you to prove you are the owner. For that reason, it is not usually possible to create or transfer an interest in land without some form of written instrument. The instrument must also be registered at the Land Registry... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1220828/failure-observe-formalities-can-lead-danger?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1220828/failure-observe-formalities-can-lead-danger?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 If you wanted to buy a flat, you would probably talk to the person who seemed to be the owner, the person who had the keys and acted like they owned the place. Later, your lawyer would look at the title deeds to make sure the seller really was the owner. The title deeds might not tell the whole story, though. For example, they would not tell you whether the ownership rights of the paper-title holder had been extinguished because someone else was in adverse possession of the property - such as... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1158540/squatters-rights-seem-wrong-possession-isnt-so-simple?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1158540/squatters-rights-seem-wrong-possession-isnt-so-simple?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000