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proposed amendment when the Bill is published. We should
still, however, make our intention to amend the Letters
Patent known SO as to allay fears over the lack
entrenchment of the BOR.
of
Practice of Subordinating all Future Legislation to BOR
76.
This Council decided on 6 March 1990 that there
should be a practice that all future ordinances should contain a clause which expressly made them subordinate to
the BOR. This was a form of political entrenchment of the BOR which would endure for as long as the legislature was prepared to enact ordinances which contained this clause. It would supplement the constitutional safeguard provided
by the amended Letters Patent.
77.
We are aware now of a drawback
a drawback to this proposed
practice. It is intended that the courts should have the opportunity to interpret the amended Letters Patent in a way which might influence the interpretation of Article 39
of the Basic Law after 1997. However the proposed practice will prevent that from happening because the issue of whether legislation is compatible with the amended Letters Patent will not arise if an ordinance contains an express
subordination clause. On balance we recommend that
should not pursue such a practice.
we
LEGISLATIVE TIMETABLE
78.
Subject to Members' approval of the introduction of this bill into the Legislative Council, the legislative
timetable will be :
CONFIDENTIAL 機密