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CONFIDENTIAL
Brief No (V) HONG KONG
HONG KONG CONSTITUTION
Status
1.
POLITICAL
Hong Kong is a Colony consisting of three areas:
(a) Hong Kong Island, which China ceded to Britain in perpetuity
in 1842 by the Treaty of Nanking.
(b)
(c)
Kowloon and Stonecutters Island which were similarly ceded
in 1860 by the first Convention of Peking.
The New Territories which China leased to Britain for 99 years in 1898 by the second Convention of Peking.
The Formal Constitution
2. As a Colony the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs is directly responsible to Parliament for the government of
Hong Kong. The Constitution is contained in the Letters Patent and
Royal Instructions.
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3. Under the Constitution, the Governor has wide powers. These include the power to make laws (called Ordinances in Hong Kong) for
the "peace, order and good government of the Colony". However, the Crown reserves the power of disallowance in respect of all Ordinances enacted in Hong Kong and also the power of disallowance in respect of all Ordinances enacted in Hong Kong and also the power to legislat
for the Colony by Orders in Council where this may be considered
necessary.
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14. The Governor is advised by an Executive Council (known as 12 Co)
of 14 members comprising the 5 ex-officio members and 9 others who may be either official (ie a member of the Hong Kong Government or
unofficial. The ex-officio members are: the Commander of the
British Forces, the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney General, the
Secretary for Home Affairs and the Financial Secretary of the Colony.
At present, there is one other official member - the Director of bodies i
J
and Health Services and 8 other unofficial members, all of whom appointed by the Governor, with the consent of HMG, for terms of
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TVILNECIANO
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