https://www.scmp.com/rss/503413/feed Henry Litton is a retired Court of Final Appeal judge and author of "Is the Hong Kong Judiciary Sleepwalking to 2047?". en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com This is the story of a professional career ruined by a heartless work environment and of efforts by government agencies to deprive the victim of redress using black letter law. Yeung Lai-ping (the plaintiff) qualified as a dentist when she was 23. She practised for about four-and-a-half years, then obtained a Master of Dental Surgery degree when she was 30. In February 1997, she joined the Department of Health as a dental officer, and in the course of her practice performed a considerable number... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3184622/hong-kong-dentists-20-year-struggle-court-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3184622/hong-kong-dentists-20-year-struggle-court-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Jul 2022 01:15:09 +0000 When Britain and China began formal negotiations over Hong Kong’s future in 1982, Hong Kong was an outright autocracy. The governor had plenipotentiary powers. He presided over the Legislative Council, with senior government officials serving as members, and the rest were the governor’s appointees. The same held true in December 1984 when the joint declaration was signed, “settling” the future of Hong Kong. The joint declaration made no provisions for representative government of any kind. That... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3183323/hong-kong-needs-common-law-local-characteristics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3183323/hong-kong-needs-common-law-local-characteristics?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Jun 2022 22:45:16 +0000 In a free and liberal society, it is not easy to define who is a “patriot”. For instance, many supporters of former US president Donald Trump, waving the national flag, would say that he was a patriot, striving to “make America great again”. Other citizens, however, claim he is a traitor to the US constitution. In such a fractured society, it is difficult to find unanimity within the adult population on a subject as amorphous as “patriotism”. Settled societies do not spring into life perfectly... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3166516/patriots-driving-seat-upholding-basic-law-hong-kong-pointing-right?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3166516/patriots-driving-seat-upholding-basic-law-hong-kong-pointing-right?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Feb 2022 01:45:20 +0000 Britain and China began negotiations over the future of Hong Kong in 1982. This was a “democracy” speaking to an “autocracy”, seeking to reach the near-impossibility of a consensus. In the Western world view, there could only be confrontation and contest to see who would ultimately come out on top. Assume that, at the time, China had a different governing system – a democracy akin to the US model. Could the Joint Declaration, signed in 1984 as the product of those negotiations, have come about?... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3155426/could-democracy-us-have-crafted-one-country-two-systems-policy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3155426/could-democracy-us-have-crafted-one-country-two-systems-policy?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Nov 2021 22:45:09 +0000 “In the beginning was the Word”, goes the first sentence in Saint John’s gospel. Words are powerful. They change lives. In communities governed by the rule of law, it is through the words of magistrates and judges that the fabric of society is maintained. These tribunals have no executive power. It is by words alone that issues are determined, and the reasons behind them expressed. But words are also limited by the language in which they are expressed. A court judgment in English is meaningless... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3152350/hong-kongs-judiciary-whether-english-will-remain-official?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3152350/hong-kongs-judiciary-whether-english-will-remain-official?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Oct 2021 22:45:22 +0000 To redress the situation of Hong Kong’s acute home shortage, the government has an ambitious plan: to reclaim at least 1,000 hectares of land east of Lantau for housing. The first step was to commission a feasibility study and, for this purpose, the government put before the Legislative Council a request for HK$550 million. This was approved on December 4, 2020. On July 27 this year, Kwok Cheuk-kin took out a Form 86 under the Rules of the High Court, to apply for leave to start proceedings for... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3146428/how-hong-kongs-judiciary-has-allowed-basic-law-be-used-political?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3146428/how-hong-kongs-judiciary-has-allowed-basic-law-be-used-political?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Aug 2021 22:45:11 +0000 On April 16, a District Court sentenced nine prominent “activists” to imprisonment, with some sentences suspended, for organising and taking part in an unlawful assembly, under the Public Order Ordinance. This is a long-standing statute dating back to colonial times. The sentencing led immediately to condemnation by Western leaders and the media. Chris Patten said the sentences showed Beijing’s “comprehensive assault on Hong Kong’s freedoms”. An editorial in The Australian carried the headline... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3131259/hong-kong-pro-democracy-activists-were-jailed-sound-legal-grounds?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3131259/hong-kong-pro-democracy-activists-were-jailed-sound-legal-grounds?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Apr 2021 22:45:11 +0000 The arrest of 53 people earlier this month in Hong Kong on suspicion of subversion has, once again, led to a frenzy of condemnation by Western leaders and the media. All those arrested have been released on police bail as investigations continue. These are likely to take some time. Most of the 53 are “pro-democrats” who sought to take part in the September 2020 Legislative Council elections (since postponed); the rest are organisers of an event known as the “35-plus” primaries which took place... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3119167/mass-arrests-sinister-aspect-democrats-35-plus-primaries-strategy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3119167/mass-arrests-sinister-aspect-democrats-35-plus-primaries-strategy?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 Jan 2021 03:30:16 +0000 Recent events have made three matters blindingly obvious. First, Hong Kong’s cultural values and way of life have, over the past 170-odd years, evolved very differently from mainland China’s. The “one country, two systems” policy is the key to preserving those attributes and maintaining Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity, way beyond 2047. Second, for the one country, two systems formula to work properly, there must be trust between the central government and the Hong Kong administration. Third, as... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3099763/hong-kongs-sake-judiciary-must-regain-beijings-trust?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3099763/hong-kongs-sake-judiciary-must-regain-beijings-trust?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Sep 2020 22:15:12 +0000 The new national security law has 66 articles and is harsher in tone and substance than most people expected. Its terminology, in places, lacks the precision one finds in common law statutes. It leaves much room for judicial interpretation and it creates a dynamic tension between its own wording and that of Hong Kong’s Basic Law. This is likely to create particular challenges for the Hong Kong courts when dealing with enforcement. The central government’s Office for Safeguarding National... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3094747/how-hong-kong-courts-resolve-tension-between-national-security-law?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3094747/how-hong-kong-courts-resolve-tension-between-national-security-law?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Jul 2020 01:30:10 +0000 Immediately after the draft proposal on Hong Kong’s national security legislation was announced by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee on May 22, and before the NPC itself had considered the matter, Chris Patten, former governor of Hong Kong, made a statement. Hong Kong’s autonomy was “guaranteed” under the “one country, two systems” principle, he said, and “enshrined” in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration. And, he added, “What we are seeing is a new China dictatorship. The... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3088645/western-leaders-have-been-quick-denounce-beijings-national-security?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3088645/western-leaders-have-been-quick-denounce-beijings-national-security?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Jun 2020 00:15:18 +0000 Every nation on Earth, unless a failed state, has laws protecting national security. In Hong Kong, there is a set of laws, inherited from the colonial government, dealing in a haphazard way with some of the complex issues involving national security. These can be found in Part I of the Crimes Ordinance, the Societies Ordinance and the Official Secrets Ordinance. No one pretends that these laws are anywhere near adequate to deal with the complicated matters today. This problem was recognised by... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3086677/why-beijings-national-security-law-hong-kong-deserves-full-support?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3086677/why-beijings-national-security-law-hong-kong-deserves-full-support?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 31 May 2020 22:30:10 +0000 On November 18, 2019, two High Court judges delivered a judgment striking down the Prohibition on Face Covering Regulation. The principal ground was that the enabling statute – the Emergency Regulations Ordinance – under which Hong Kong’s chief executive had issued that regulation was unconstitutional, being in contravention of the Basic Law. The judgment evoked an immediate negative response from the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People’s... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3046561/why-challengers-hong-kongs-anti-mask-law-have-no-case?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3046561/why-challengers-hong-kongs-anti-mask-law-have-no-case?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Jan 2020 22:00:13 +0000