So that they will operate to sustain the polity it lf.
Generally too, by referendum or other process, the rights themselves derive their legitimacy from the people making up
that polity. And they may be so altered by those people.
None of these considerations will be true in the case of
basic rights.
The
Joint Declaration
Hong Kong's
statement of sovereign nations.
is a
The Basic Law is made
exclusively by the NPC of China. Even the Bill of Rights
Ordinance is not made by a legislature elected by direct suffrage held amongst all of the people of Hong Kong. 77
Hong Kong and its people have
a western democracy it has been
its
To the extent that
enjoyed rights typical of
because its lawmakers have been ultimately beholden to the
democratically elected Parliament at Westminster,
Governor appointed by the elected Government of the United Kingdom and its courts subject to the judges in the Privy
Council, most of them Englishmen. When these vital
underpinnings are removed, it is not self-evident (either in
law or in practical politics) that the notions of fundamental rights which have accompanied the people of Hong Kong will
long survive their passing.
self-interest, and the example given to the greater prize of Taiwan, would indeed sustain the post-colonial aberration for the 50 years promised to Hong Kong. However, the events in
China in June 1989 have cast а shadow over
78 this hope. Judges do not ride the tiger of politics. But they cannot be
wholly indifferent to the environment and the
the society in
which they work.
That
It was once said that
is why the provision of a reference point, related to the nature of that society excepted as the goal, is an essential ingredient in an effective workable law
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