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The Legal System
Law in Hong Kong
Generally, the law of Hong Kong follows that of England and Wales. The Application of English Law Ordinance was passed in 1966 to declare the extent to which English law is in force in the territory. Section 3 provides that the common law of England and the rules of equity shall be in force in Hong Kong so far as they are applicable to the circumstances of Hong Kong or its inhabitants subject to such modifications as such circumstances may require.
Additionally, the ordinance applies some English Acts to Hong Kong, such as the Justices of the Peace Act of 1361 and the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679.
On occasions, English laws are applied to Hong Kong either directly or by order of Her Majesty in Council, the power to make all such law as may appear necessary for the peace, order and good government of the territory being expressly preserved by Article IX of the Letters Patent. In practice, this is largely confined to matters which have a bearing on Hong Kong's international position. For example, the Air Navigation (Overseas Territories) Order 1977 is an Order in Council applying provisions of civil aviation treaties, to which the United Kingdom is a party, to the United Kingdom's overseas territories, including Hong Kong.
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In order to ensure that by 1997 Hong Kong possesses a comprehensive body of law which owes its authority to the Legislature of Hong Kong, it will be necessary to replace such English laws by local legislation on the same topics. A legislative programme has therefore been adopted by the Hong Kong Government to disapply English laws applying to Hong Kong and replace them by Hong Kong ordinances. The Hong Kong Act 1985 gave power by Order in Council to confer on the Hong Kong legislature the necessary additional powers in specified fields and the Hong Kong (Legislative Powers) Order 1986 specified the fields of civil aviation, merchant shipping and admiralty jurisdiction. It is anticipated that further orders will be made in future conferring similar powers in other fields.
Local legislation (that is, ordinances passed by the Legislative Council and assented to by the Governor) usually starts with one of the policy branches of the Hong Kong Govern- ment formulating drafting instructions for the Drafting Division of the Attorney General's Chambers. The instructions are prepared after consultation with the relevant government departments and, if appropriate, with interested public groups, as to the policy to adopt. After a Bill has been drafted, it is submitted to the Governor in Council for approval to submit it to the Legislative Council. If the Bill is passed by vote of the Legislative Council, the Governor is empowered to enact by giving his assent to it and it is passed into law.
In much the same way that the common law of England has evolved, so has that of Hong Kong, based on the English common law and rules of equity, following and applying local