TNAG-2225-FCO40-3196-Political-relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-Australia-1991 — Page 17

courts

the

6 law

is extended to common justice of the litigants. The growth of public and administrative law,

which has been such a feature of the common law in recent

decades, has protected individuals and minorities and brought the great power of the Executive Government under control.

to the courts. Now It has rendered that power answerable

there

can use

are new weapons which courts

reference to international human rights law

-

including by

in fashioning

It

For

common law principles and construing ambiguous statutes. is not necessary to put all the eggs of the future into the

basket of the Bill of Rights Ordinance in Hong Kong.

notions of rights and of the rule of law permeate the whole

system of the

For practical day to day

problem-solving, that law,

that law, for default of others,

continue to apply in the courts of Hong Kong;

common

law.

will

Sixthly, the judges of Hong Kong of the future, and the

magistrates, will not be isolated. They will remain part of

They the company of the judicial officers of the common law. will have links, professional and personal, with judges

throughout the Commonwealth of Nations and beyond.

never be alone in their Chambers.

They will

With them will be the

from Coke and

from Marshall and Holmes

-

to Atkin,

Dixon,

spirits of the great judges of our tradition

Mansfield,

Laskin, Reid and Wilberforce. Their words, captured on the

pages of lawbooks, will always be there to give support,

In the field of human

is now an international

encouragement, strength and courage.

rights jurisprudence there

treasurehouse available for use.

Giving meaning to the

Ordinance and to basic rights beyond the Ordinance is not a job where the judge need feel beleaguered and lonely.

He or

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