TNAG-1842-FCO40-2617-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1989 — Page 60

FCO40 Hong Kong Department Records 聯邦事務部香港部檔案 All

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Independence of Judiciary

ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH PROVISIONS FOR INDEPENDENCE OF JUDICIARY?

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Articles 79-92 set out in detail functions, structure and power of

judiciary.

Article 81 provides that "power of final adjudication is vested in Court of Final Appeal of SAR".

Article 84 provides that "Courts of the SAR exercise judicial power independently and free from any interference".

ARTICLE 157 MAKES MOCKERY OF JOINT DECLARATION PROVISION THAT SAR WILL BE VESTED WITH INDEPENDENT JUDICIAL POWER, INCLUDING THAT OF

FINAL ADJUDICATION.

Hong Kong will after 1997 be a Special Administrative Region of China. Some provision for resolving disputes on interpretation must be found. Would not be reasonable to expect sovereign authority to

exclude itself entirely.

But revised draft has gone considerable way in conferring judicial

Hong Kong Courts authorised power of interpretation on SAR organs. to interpret on their own those provisions of Basic Law falling within range of SAR's autonomy.

WHY WAS ARTICLE 19 THE ONLY ARTICLE NOT APPROVED BY BLDC?

Article 19 provides that SAR will be vested with independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication, subject

_ existing restrictions like those that restrict the High Court here

where a matter of international relations is concerned. This Article not yet been approved by BLDC because of difficulties OVER trying to define "act of state" (in international law sense) terms which are understandable under Chinese system.

that wording can be found to achieve this.

Every

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Human Rights

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Human Rights

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