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MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 1992
THE CHIEF JUSTICE EMPHASISED THAT THE FINAL STAGE MUST BE TRANSFORMATION - A PROCESS BY WHICH THE SPIRIT OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM IS SO INTERMINGLED WITH THE CULTURE AND ETHOS OF THE NEW SOCIETY THAT A NEW SYSTEM EMERGES, STILL LARGELY BASED ON THE ANCESTRY WHENCE IT CAME,
BUT EVIDENCING A METAMORPHOSIS WHICH HAS ERADICATED ITS FOREIGNNESS.
SIR TI LIANG DID NOT DOUBT THAT THE COMMON LAW SYSTEM NOW APPLICABLE IN HONG KONG WAS GENERALLY ACCEPTABLE BY THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY, BY THE INTELLECTUALS AND THE PROFESSIONALS.
"THEIR EDUCATION AND THEIR EXPOSURE WOULD HAVE AT ONE ANOTHER BROUGHT THEM INTO CONTACT WITH THE ESSENTIALS OF THE
TIME OR
SYSTEM.'
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HOWEVER, HE WAS THINKING MORE OF THE GRASSROOTS, COMPRISING POSTMEN, BUS DRIVERS, STALL KEEPERS, CRAFTSMEN, FARMERS, AND OTHERS.
"I SUSPECT THAT TO THIS VAST GROUP OF PEOPLE OUR LAW IS STILL AN ALIEN THING IMPORTED FROM A COUNTRY THEY KNOW HARDLY ANYTHING ABOUT, WRITTEN IN A LANGUAGE THEY DO NOT UNDERSTAND, EXPRESSING CONCEPTS THEY PROBABLY FIND OUTLANDISH AND PERHAPS EVEN IMMORAL OR UNJUST. THE TRANSPLANTATION OF THE ENGLISH LAW ON TO CHINESE SOIL HAS THEREFORE ONLY BEEN PARTIALLY SUCCESSFUL, HE NOTED.
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"QUITE APART FROM LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES, A MORE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM LIES IN THE VERY MAKEUP OF THE CHINESE AND THE MODERN WESTERN MAN, IN HIS VIEW OF HIMSELF, IN HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH NATURE, AND IN HIS APPROACH TO LIFE," HE ADDED.
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THE
ACCORDING TO PROFESSOR WU TEH YAO OF SINGAPORE, "MODERN WESTERN MAN, UNLIKE THE EAST ASIAN MAN
THINKS THAT HE IS CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE, THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS, THE CAPTAIN OF HIS OWN SOUL. HE WANTS TO SCALE THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN, GO DOWN TO THE DEEPEST REACHES OF THE SEA; HE WANTS TO CONQUER NATURE ON EARTH AND SPACE TOO.
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ON THE CONTRARY, THE EAST ASIAN MAN, OR THE CHINESE, SEES HIMSELF AS PART- AND A MINUTE PART AT THAT OF THE UNIVERSE, AND HE STRIVES NOT TO CONQUER IT BUT LIVE IN HARMONY WITH IT, THE CHIEF JUSTICE OBSERVED.
"AT ONE WITH THE HILLS AND THE STREAMS, THE BREEZE AND THE SINGING OF THE BIRDS, HE IS AT PEACE, WITH THE WORLD AND WITHIN HIMSELF. HE HAS NO IDENTITY CRISIS."
TURNING TO THE GAP-BRIDGING BETWEEN THE WESTERN CULTURES, SIR TI LIANG ADMITTED THAT THE MEASURES WOULD BE TERMS OF TIME, MONEY, AND HUMAN RESOURCES AND THERE WAS NO EASY SOLUTION,
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AND ORIENT COSTLY IN QUICK AND
WITH
THE
NEVERTHELESS, THE CHIEF JUSTICE CONCLUDED HIS ADDRESS FOLLOWING HOPEFUL AND OPTIMISTIC REMARKS HONG KONG HAS HAD ONE AND A HALF CENTURY IN WHICH TO BUILD UP A TRADITION: A TRADITION OF JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE AND EXPEDITIOUS DISPOSAL OF CASES FAIRLY, A TRADITION OF AN INDEPENDENT AND FEARLESS LEGAL TRADITION OF RESPECT AND CO-OPERATION ACCORDED BY THE JUDICIARY.
PROFESSION, AND A THE EXECUTIVE ΤΟ
/"THIS LONG
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