TNAG-1036-FCO40-1286-Future-of-Hong-Kong-1981 — Page 103

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Footnote:

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-7A-

1. It is true that the Colonial Office were careful to

treat the New Territories as far as possible as ceded

territories rather than as a protectorate, for instance

by the use of an Order in Council without parliamentary

endorsement rather than by reliance on the Foreign

Jurisdiction Act (1890) as the means of assumption

of authority over the territories.

(The latter course

was used for the leased territory of Weihaiwei).

2. But in the view of Sir Gerald Fitzmaurice, while in

practice the territories had been treated as cessions

not leases, 'the residual sovereignty

remains in

the lessor and when the term is up he automatically

resumes full control without the necessity for any

special instrument conferring it upon him'.

(Fitzmaurice: Position of leased territory in China

during war CO 129/564

53852).

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