CO129-615-6 Royal Institute of International Affairs- paper on future of Hong Kong 30-12-1947 - 8-1-1948 — Page 13

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War.

Such inclusion would, of course, have entailed

possible transfer to, say, Mauritium or Nigeria, which

might have been unpalatable.

But the difference between Hong Kong and Shina

in the matter of the judiciary is a much more

of

fundamental one than all this. The complete independence

of the Judiciary from Executive control, and its simple

duty of interpreting the declared will of the Legislature,

so self-evident to all of us as hardly to need enunciation,

these are surely the lessons that East Asia must start by

learning; and in no country will they be more difficult

than in China, with centuries of mandarin rule and more

recent memories of local War-lords. Whether a truly

representative legislature (unified or possibly federal)

can be devised to lay down a code of laws, and whether

judges and magistrates can be appointed who will

administer those laws with complete independence,

these questions are far beyond the scope of this

Hong Kong is conveniently placed for a

microscopic view of those fundamental principles in

action; and it affords a possibly useful picture

of a million odd persons of Chinese race who have

chosen to live under such a regime in preference to

paper.