(524
Private Secretary
HONG KONG LEGAL SYSTEM
CONFIDENTIAL
"Sevety A State
FROM: R D CLIFT, HKD
DATE: 6 September 1983
CC:
(with encs):
20: Sunsh
22
MKKOAO!!
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
14 SEP 1983
DESK OFFICER INDEX
PA
PEGISTRY
Action Taken
|CH22 19
PS/ Mr Luce
PS/PUS
Mr Giffard
Mr Thomson, FED
Sir I Sinclair
Mr Burrows, Legal
Advisers
Mr Walker,
Research Dept
1. Mr Holmes's minute of 1 September drew attention to the Times
report of the same date on the language used in the legal system in
Hong Kong and reported the Secretary of State's query whether
English would, or should, have any particular status in Hong Kong
after 1997.
S
2. It is correct that the Laws of Hong Kong are in English. Some
have been translated into Chinese for the benefit of local
residents, but the English text is always the authoritative one. English is used in courts, although translation facilities are
available. In so far as it is considered essential that the present legal system, based on English law and administered by judges who are British expatriates, should be retained in Hong Kong after 1997, it is obviously important that English should continue to be used. It is difficult to see how the Hong Kong legal system could
- otherwise continue to keep abreast of developments in the UK and
other Commonwealth countries, or how existing judges would be persuaded to stay or how new ones could be recruited. There is, however, obvious scope for the translation of all Hong Kong laws
into Chinese.
3.
On the wider point, the fact that English is the main language
CONFIDENTIAL
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