where the exercise of jurisdiction is concerned. It will be appreciated that any new system of divorce as regards Chinese or other marriages, if it requires any administrative or judicial act, will involve the exercise of jurisdiction. In the Sub-Committee's view it would be extremely unfortunate if the exercise of such a jurisdiction as the Report proposes, namely the registration of divorces by consent after investigations, were confined to the Chinese community. Once again, the question would arise of trying to define the expression "Chinese", which would be almost impossible in the circumstances of modern Hong Kong, as well as most anachronistic. The Sub- Committee would therefore suggest that on this ground also there is an overwhelming case in favour of creating a single category of jurisdiction to dissolve marriages, as well as a single category of marriage, for Hong Kong people.
68. Accordingly, the Sub-Committee feels that dissolution of marriage by consent ought to be made part of the general law of Hong Kong, available to all people subject to the divorce jurisdiction, and it is in that wider context that the topic of dissolution by consent is dealt with.
69. With regard to the actual proposals of the Report for the regulation of dissolutions by consent, the Sub-Committee was unable to reach complete agreement, particularly in respect of the nature and extent of the safeguards which might be necessary to prevent abuses. Hu felt that the existing law on the dissolution of Chinese marriages by consent was quite adequate as it stood and that it ought to continue in force, subject to the sole requirement of registration of the agreement. He felt that it was essentially up to the parties to make their own equitable agreements, subject to the pressure of general social opinion and of their consciences, perhaps, but not to the interference of agencies of the state, which he felt to be entirely contrary to Chinese tradition. He did not feel that the law as it now stands was likely to lead to substantial injustices.
70. De Basto and Dicks, on the other hand, agreed entirely with the authors of the Report in their conclusion that safeguards were necessary and should be introduced by statute as part and parcel of the statutory divorce by consent. Such safeguards would
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