XN000022-1985-12-09 — Page 3

MONDAY, DECEMBER 9,

1985

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IMPORTANCE OF 'RULE OF LAW STRESSED

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HONG KONG, WITH THE ESTABLISHED TRADITION OF THE COMMON LAW BEHIND IT, HAD AT ITS DISPOSAL POWERFUL WEAPONS WITH WHICH TO PRESERVE LIBERTY AND TO CHALLENGE OPPONENTS OF FREEDOM, THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, MR MICHAEL THOMAS, SAID TODAY.

THAT TRADITION WAS ACCORDED THE TITLE RULE OF LAW, + MR THOMAS SAID, IN A SPEECH AT THE FIGHT CRIME COMMITTEE AND DISTRICT FIGHT CRIME COMMITTEE CONFERENCE.

SPEAKING ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RULE OF LAW, MR THOMAS SAID THAT THE PHRASE THE RULE OF LAW WAS A FAMILIAR ONE, BUT MANY WHO USED IT READILY ENOUGH DID NOT FIND IT EASY TO EXPLAIN WHAT IT MEANT.

THE CONCEPT OF THE RULE OF LAW COULD PROBABLY BE BEST DESCRIBED AS A REFERENCE TO SOME OF THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF LAW, EVOLVED OVER MANY CENTURIES, THAT GOVERNED THE WAY IN. WHICH POWER WAS EXERCISED.

MR THOMAS SAID THAT, UNLIKE IN SUCH COUNTRIES AS THE UNITED STATES, RUSSIA AND CHINA, WHICH HAD WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS, THE PRINCIPLE OF THE RULE OF LAW IN BRITAIN AND HONG KONG WAS BASED ON COMMON LAW.

THOSE OTHER COUNTRIES, HE SAID, HAD ALL BEEN THROUGH REVOLUTIONARY CHANGES IN FAIRLY RECENT TIME, AND THERE HAD TO BE A NEW BASIS FOR LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT, NEW LAWS, NEW ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE EXERCISE OF POWER.

+AND SO NEW CONSTITUTIONS WERE DRAWN UP TO SET OUT THE NEW RULES FOR ALL TO SEE.+

BRITAIN, HE SAID, HAD, THROUGHOUT ITS LONG HISTORY, AVOIDED REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE.

THE ABSOLUTE POWER OF ITS KINGS WAS TAMED GRADUALLY AND ON THE WHOLE PEACEFULLY AT FIRST BY THE BARONS AND LATER BY ITS PEOPLE IN PARLIAMENT.

+ IN THE MEANTIME, THE JURISTS WERE EXPOUNDING THE LAW AND THE JUDGES WERE APPLYING THEM TO CASES THAT CAME TO COURT.

+ IN THIS WAY THE COMMON LAW DEVELOPED OUT OF THE TEXTBOOKS AND REPORTS OF DECIDED CASES. EVEN TODAY, LAWYERS CAN REFER A JUDGE TO A DECISION THAT WAS MADE HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO TO SHOW WHAT THE LAW IS NOW,+ MR THOMAS SAID.

INSTRUCTIONS BUT

HONG KONG HAD ITS LETTERS PATENT AND ROYAL THEY WERE SKELETAL INSTRUMENTS ABOUT THE MODE OF GOVERNMENT. THEY DID NOT DEAL WITH THE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THOSE WHO LIVED IN HONG KONG OR THE PRINCIPLES OF LAW AND ADMINISTRATION BY WHICH THEY WERE GOVERNED, HE SAID.

THE POWER