eating, the Power This was done in Hong Kong in 1972 by section 4 of the Oaths and Declarations Ordinance (Cap. 11), HOW repealed.
6.
Its
The Legislative Council, as a colonial legislature, has always enjoyed the privileges summarised above. membership and the regulation of its proceedings were matters dealt with separately under the Letters Patent and the Royal Instructions Until the enactment of the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance 1985, the general question of privileges fell to be determined by reference to parliamentary law.
7.
•
The parliamentary law which applies to colonial legislatures by virtue of the doctrine of inherent necessity has never been codified in statutory form. It consists of the accumulated rulings and decisions of Parliament over many centuries. But these are not easily ascertainable except by recourse to specialist treatises such as the well-known "Erskine May - Parliamentary Practice" which is used through- out the Commonwealth as а source-book of parliamentary law. The primary objective of enacting the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance 1985 was "to declare and define" the privileges of the Legislative Council, in accordance with parliamentary law as it then applied and had always applied in Hong Kong.
8.
There has never been any doubt about the legislative competence of the Legislative Council under the Letters Patent to enact laws conferring such powers, privileges and immunities. However, the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance is based wholly on precedent; the comparative analysis in Part 3 of this commentary underlines its historical character. It also bears out the fact that none of the powers and privileges conferred by the Ordinance owes its origin to mere unilateral intervention or innovation on the part of the Hong Kong Government or the members of the Legislative Council.
9.
Part 2 Scope
In adopting the established precedents of parliamentary law, the Ordinance has the following purposes
(a)
(b)
(c)
to declare and define the powers, privileges and immunities of the Legislative Council, its members and officers;
to secure freedom of speech in the Legislative Council;
to regulate admittance to and conduct within the precincts of the Chamber of the Legislative Council;