V: THE JUDICIARY AND THE LAW
The Judiciary
the Joint
36. As with the Executive and the Legislature, Declaration excludes "foreign and defence affairs" from the SAR's judicial power. It now needs to be considered how
the Basic Law deals with these exclusions and whether there will be any other, restrictions on the jurisdiction of the Hong Kong courts [63]
37.
Article 19 of the Basic Law provides that the SAR has independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication and that the courts shall have jurisdiction over all cases in the Region, except that the restrictions on their jurisdiction imposed by the legal system and principles previously in force in Hong Kong shall be maintained.
That passage could well be construed as limiting the courts only in respect of those acts of state - ' actions and facts relating to the conduct of foreign affairs and defence which are outside the courts' jurisdiction under the common law system as practiced in Hong Kong at present; and, like the present system, provision is made for the courts to seek and obtain from the executive (which in future will mean the CPG through the Chief Executive) a certificate on the relevant question. However, Article
-
19 goes on to state that the courts shall have по
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