https://www.scmp.com/rss/328183/feed Wing Kay Po is a practising barrister in Hong Kong. She is a member of the Bar Council and chairman of the Bar's Special Committee on Constitutional Affairs and Human Rights. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com On July 31, the chief executive announced that the Legislative Council elections – scheduled for September 6 – would be postponed for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, discussions have shifted to how to handle the “vacuum” in legislative business and whether the National People’s Congress Standing Committee should appoint all incumbent legislators to a “transitional” legislature or whether some should be disqualified. Such discussions are understandable, but they miss the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3096280/legco-elections-why-government-has-failed-make-case-extraordinary?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3096280/legco-elections-why-government-has-failed-make-case-extraordinary?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Aug 2020 22:20:16 +0000 The public is anxiously awaiting definitive news as to whether the government will indeed invoke the long-dormant but draconian Emergency Regulations Ordinance to enact measures to quell the political unrest. So, it is worth reviewing whether, from a constitutional perspective, the ordinance is indeed a “legal means” which the government has at its disposal to deal with the present circumstances, as Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has claimed.   The ordinance gives the Chief Executive... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3025261/if-carrie-lam-declares-emergency-hong-kong-she-will-be-defying-rule?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3025261/if-carrie-lam-declares-emergency-hong-kong-she-will-be-defying-rule?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Sep 2019 22:30:07 +0000 The legal profession has undoubtedly come a long way since the witty and intelligent Portia, disguised as a male law student, Balthazar, gave Shylock his comeuppance for seeking a pound of flesh from the hapless Antonio in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. In Hong Kong, women may (mostly) practise law freely as barristers and solicitors, and sit as judges, without having to pretend to be men. “Mostly” because the clichéd “glass ceiling” does exist for women and there is a lack of sufficient... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3011973/how-hong-kong-barristers-can-strike-blow-gender-equality?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3011973/how-hong-kong-barristers-can-strike-blow-gender-equality?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 May 2019 01:00:12 +0000 The Hong Kong government recently refused to renew the work visa of Financial Times journalist Victor Mallet. How does the government fare in this regard when compared with others? Carl David Goette-Luciak is an Austrian-American reporter. Until last week, he was working in Nicaragua, covering the political upheaval and bloodshed that had arisen since April from the widespread opposition to the government of President Daniel Ortega. Last week, Goette-Luciak was arrested by law enforcement... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2167586/hong-kong-ranks-ahead-us-and-france-its-rule-law?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2167586/hong-kong-ranks-ahead-us-and-france-its-rule-law?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Oct 2018 04:00:30 +0000 In recent years, there seems to be a tendency for mainland Chinese officials to omit or avoid references to the Sino-British Joint Declaration in any discussion about “one country, two systems”, as if the Joint Declaration were non-existent or wholly irrelevant. It is an undeniable historical fact that for about 150 years between 1842 and 1997, Hong Kong was under British jurisdiction. The British government introduced to Hong Kong, among other things, the common law system and a free capitalist... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2158137/how-chinas-constitution-ensured-basic-law-remains?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2158137/how-chinas-constitution-ensured-basic-law-remains?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Aug 2018 22:00:45 +0000