O
Bill, it will be made perfectly plain that subsection (1)
will not confer on any police officer the right to enter
any premises. And there is no other statutory power which
would allow a policeman to enter another person's private
premises without invitation or warrant in order to prevent
that person
from committing an offence but from
committing suicide, which is not an offence under our law.
In this connection, it is pertinent to note that
the police officer in England had, before the law there was
had, ago,
not codified not so long ago, certain powers conferred by certain powers conferred by
the Common Law to enter
private premises
without the
warrant in order to
breach of the peace. But there is at least a doubt as to
save life or limb or to prevent the
whether police officers
in Hong Kong enjoy these Common
Law powers for there is a strong and respectable body of
legal opinion in Hong Kong both from academics and
practising laywers that there is a distinction between
police officers in England and their counterparty in Hong
Kong because the former
former were the creatures of the Common
Law and
and therefore enjoy these Common Law powers whereas
the latter are creatures of
of statute and
and therefore only
enjoy statutory powers.