THE JOINT DECLARATION & THE BASIC LAW FOR HONG KONG
It is important to remind ourselves of these
characteristics of the common law tradition in the context of
the subject matter
matter of this
this conference. Hong Kong, as a
colony, is a child of the common law. Its lawyers are
Commonwealth lawyers. Its judges wear the same robes, take
the same oath and perform the same basic functions as do
Commonwealth judges throughout the world. The resilience of
the common law in the post-imperial and post-colonial age is
itself a source of optimism for the future of Hong Kong and
its people when, in July 1997, the colony becomes a Special
Administrative Region of the Peoples' Republic of China
(PRC). The Sino-British Declaration of 1984 promised that:
"The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will be vested with executive, legislative and independent judicial power including that of final adjudication. The laws currently in force remain basically
in Hong Kong will unchanged.
"2
The declaration also agreed:
of
of
of
"The current social and economic systems in Hong Kong will remain unchanged, and so will the lifestyle. Rights and freedoms, including those of the person, of speech, of the press, assembly, of association, of travel, movement, of correspondence, of strike, choice of occupation, of academic research and of religious belief will be ensured by law in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Private property, ownership of enterprises, legitimate rights of
rights of inheritance and foreign ownership will be protected by law."
It was stipulated that the foregoing "Basic Policies" of the
PRC would, amongst others, be contained in a Basic Law to
be adopted by the National Peoples' Congress (NPC) of the PRC
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