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No. 3 of 1873.
SUPREME COURT.
Interpreta-tion.
2. In this Ordinance, (a) "The court means the Supreme Court and includes any of the judges sitting together or separately, in court or in chambers.
(b) "The Supreme Court" means the Supreme Court of the Colony as reconstituted by this Ordinance.
3. The Supreme Court heretofore established by law shall continue to exist as reconstituted by this Ordinance, and shall be as heretofore a court of record and the Supreme Court of Judicature of the Colony.
Seal of the court.
Operation of laws of England.
Operation of practice of English courts.
Jurisdiction at common law.
4. The Supreme Court shall continue to use the same seal as heretofore, that is to say, a seal bearing a device and impression of the Royal Arms, within an exergue or label surrounding the same, with this inscription, "The Seal of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong," and all writs and other process issuing out of the court shall be sealed therewith.
5. Such of the laws of England as existed when the Colony obtained a local legislature, that is to say, on the 5th day of April, 1843, shall be in force in the Colony, except so far as the said laws are inapplicable to the local circumstances of the Colony or of its inhabitants, and except so far as they have been modified by laws passed by the said legislature.
6. The practice of the English courts for the time being shall be in force in the Colony, subject to the same exceptions as are contained in section 5 in relation to the laws of England.
7. The Supreme Court shall have the same jurisdiction in the Colony as His Majesty's Courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer lawfully have or had in England, and shall be a Court of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery, Assize, and Nisi Prius.
Jurisdiction in equity.
8. The Supreme Court shall be a court of equity, with such jurisdiction as the Court of Chancery has or had in England; and shall have and execute all and singular the powers thereof.
* As amended by Law Rev. Ord., 1937.
+ See No. 3 of 1906, s. 3, by which the Supreme Court has also such jurisdiction in lunacy as may be exercised in England by the Lord Chancellor under the Lunacy Act, 1890.