The increase in workload,
if any, of the Judiciary, the Legal Aid and the Social Welfare Departments will be absorbed as far as possible within existing resources. Any request for additional resources will be examined in the normal way.
Public reaction
15
The proposals are likely to attract favourable public reaction in particular from the sections of the community referred to in paragraph 9.
16
A contentious issue, likely to arouse opposition in some quarters, is that
is that the proposal
the proposal fetters the fundamental right of a property owner
(a)
(b)
to exclude whomsoever he or she wishes from his or her own property; and
in some circumstances, to assign or otherwise deal in his Or her own property once an exclusion order has been made.
17
The idea of extending protection to cohabitees might be criticised as giving legal recognition and thus some form of official sanction to those who choose
choose to cohabit
cohabit rather than marry (cohabitees already have some legal protection and recognition in Hong Kong law in the Employees Compensation Ordinance (Chapter 282)*). Those of
a
more traditional outlook might also find it psychologically difficult to accept that а wife, whatever the circumstances, should be in a position to apply for her property-owning husband to be thrown out of the ancestral' home.
Publicity
18
If Members were to support in principle the introduction of such legislation, this fact would be announced by way of a press release which would stress that the public would have the opportunity of commenting on the proposed legislation in due course after its publication in the normal
way.
*Footnote in the definition of "dependants" in section 3 of the Employees Compensation Ordinance the court may order that a woman be deemed a dependant if, inter alia, "such woman and the deceased were living together as man and wife at the time of the accident".
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