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CONFIDENTIAL
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Miss Brooks
CROWN PROCEEDINGS ORDINANCE
1.
(2)
I attach two letters of 10 and 22 April from Mr Orr (CAB) concerning proposals to amend the Hong Kong Crown Proceedings Ordinance.
2.
I
It has taken me some time to locate the 1988 references (they were dispersed throughout a file marked Basic Law parts A-Z!). My understanding of the proposals is as follows. should be grateful for your advice and that of copy addresses as indicated. The proposals cover two separate but related issues.
Implementation in Hong Kong of the Crown Proceedings (Armed Forces) Act 1987
3. On 20 April 1988, Mr Hendry wrote to Attorneys General of dependent t erritories (letter attached) asking them to implement the principal effect of the 1987 Act which was to repeal Section 10 of the Crown Proceedings Act 1947. This involved amending local law "to remove the immunity as respects members of the armed forces of the Crown in right of the Government of the United Kingdom". I understand that this would enable members of British forces to sue the Crown/UK in Hong Kong courts (which they cannot at present do). Mr Hendry's letter also suggested that dependent territories include in their amended legislation an appropriate mechanism for reviving in an emergency the provisions repealed.
4. This is the more straightforward of the two proposals. I should be grateful:
a) for Miss Brooks' comments on whether Hong Kong's draft
amendments satisfactorily achieve the aim:
b)
c)
for advice from Mr Hendry or Mr Holland on the experience of other dependent territories which may have enacted legislation since April 1988:
if Legal Advisers could supply the post titles necessary in sub-section 8 (A) (a).
Amendment to allow Hong Kong residents to sue the Crown/UK in Hong Kong
5. This proposal has a long and tangled history. The latest situation is summed up in Mr Wilson's teleletter to Mr Wood of 16 November 1988 and FCO telno 3161 of 6 December 1988 (both attached). The proposal originated when Hong Kong identified the need for some form of redress to deal with.
Civil dains can be broug
civil claims against the British Forces. (They gun de seat present but only in the UK courts which makes it an unrealistic and expensive option). MOD were originally
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CONFIDENTIAL