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CONFIDENTIAL
5.
No modern society could halt its entire legislative machine for 13 years. Nor could any common law system, such as is preserved by Annex I(II), halt the judicial development of the common law for a similar period. Equally it would be quite unrealistic, having continued to legislate for 13 years, to expect the legislative clock to be turned back at a single stroke on 1 July 1997 for the same period. This was well understood by the Chinese negotiators. The only reasonable interpretation of the Joint Declaration is that the whole body of Hong Kong law as it exists on 30 June 1997, to the extent that it consists of the common law, rules of equity, ordinances, subordinate legislation and customary law, will survive on 1 July 1997, save for any law that may be inconsistent with the Basic Law.
6.
The latter qualification is not likely to pose any great difficulty since it is expected that the Basic Law will be published in sufficient time before 1 July 1997 to enable any incompatible provisions of Hong Kong law to be removed before that date. Indeed a substantial number of Hong Kong's laws which will be enacted between the entry into force of the Joint Declaration and 1 July 1997 will be for the express purpose of terminating the application to Hong Kong of UK statutes, and indeed of removing any links with the UK which would be incompatible with the restoration of Hong Kong to China in 1997. It would be absurd to suggest, as the Chinese author seems to do, that none of those laws are to survive on 1 July 1997.
У Виного
F Burrows
Legal Counsellor
11 January 1985
Copies to:
Dr Wilson Mr Hum, HKD
CONFIDENTIAL