2
Basic Law, since the fundamental provisions of the Basic Law, and
in particular the terms of the 'continuation of laws' provision
that is now found in Article 8 of the Basic Law have been broadly known since 1984 and have been widely publicised in Hong Kong and
in the United Kingdom since that time. The content of Article 8
is the same in the April 1988 and February 1989 drafts and the
final text.
3. By the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong [the Joint Declaration], initialled on 26 September 1984 signed on 19 December 1984 and ratified on 27 May 1985, the legal system of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was
guaranteed to remain separate from that of the rest of People's
Republic of China, and the Joint Declaration and its Annexes were
agreed to be binding in international law. Paragraph 8 of the Joint Declaration stated that "This Joint Declaration is subject to ratification which shall take place in Beijing before
30 June 1985. The Joint Declaration and its Annexes shall be
equally binding." The continuation of the system of law presently in force in Hong Kong was ensured by paragraph II of
Annex I of the Joint Declaration which provides that "After the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the laws previously in force in Hong Kong (i.e. the common law, rules of equity, ordinances, subordinate legislation and customary law) shall be maintained, save for any that contravene the Basic Law and subject to any amendments by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region legislature The laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be the Basic Law, and the laws previously in force in Hong Kong and laws enacted by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region legislature as above." A true copy of the Joint Declaration is now produced and shown to
me marked exhibit [] 1.
Draft
4. The first draft Basic Law was published in April 1988. Article 8 and draft Article 17 (Article 18 of the final text)
reproduced the above words.
A second draft of the Basic Law was published in February 1989 and copies were widely distributed in Hong Kong and the
5.
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