Mr Whitney
HKD
(18
HKB 012/5
RECEIVED IN EGISTRY
24 MAR 1993
From:
Miss S Brooks
Legal Counsellor
DESK OF
INDEX
PA
REGISTRY Action Taken
Date:
10 March 1993
CC:
Mr Chamberlain, Deputy
Legal Adviser
/
AMENDMENTS TO LETTERS PATENT
1.
I have revised the draft Letters Patent produced by Hong Kong Government. I enclose the revised draft. Please forward it to Hong Kong for comments. I would like their comments by 2.00pm on 15 March.
2a). The heading in HKG's Article 1 "Citation and commencement" should read "Citation, construction and commencement". I have also amended the coming into operation provision to synchronise it with the coming into operation provision of the Royal Instructions. I am assuming they will be gazetted on the same day. I have also made the coming into operation provision subject to paragraph 2.
b). In Article 1, paragraph 4, I have amended the reference to laws which may be made "or to provide for the election of members" of Legco. It now reads "and for the holding of elections" which seemed to me more appropriate and it is a phrase which has been used in similar contexts in previous Letters Patent.
c). In the same paragraph, I have dropped the reference to paragraph 3. I consider it unnecessary but if it were included, it would seem that a reference to HKG's Article 2 (on the amendment of Article VI of the principal Letters Patent) should also be included.
3. In HKG's Article 2, paragraph 2 I have used the word "revoked" instead of "deleted". As far as I can discover from previous practice, if the word "amend" is used, it is combined with "delete" but not with "revoke". It may be that "revoke" should only be used to revoke Letters Patent as a whole, rather than in part, but this does not accord with past practice.
4. In HKG's amendment set out in their Article 2, paragraph 3, there would seem to be no need to have the whole phrase "the members of the Legislative Council"; "members" is sufficient because the following words "shall hold their places in the Legislative Council" make it clear that the "members" are members of Legco. I have also replaced "a law" by "the laws" in accordance with the HKG Instructions to the draftsman but not followed by the draftsman.
1
/5a).