According to
Article 31 and Sub-section 13 of Article 62 of our constitution, our country will resume sovereignty over Hong Kong on 1 July 1997 and will establish the Hong Kong SAR. In 1999 it will also establish the Macao SAR. When Taiwan eventually returns to the motherland and reunification is achieved a Taiwan SAR will also be established. Within these SAR the socialist systems and policies will not be practised. The carrying out of this policy of one country two systems' will entail considerable changes in the legal system of our country and will present certain new characteristics:
i.
The implementation of one country two systems' will break down the previous single legal system we have in our country and will produce circumstances where two different legal systems coexist within our boundaries. Under normal circumstances, the fact that there is just one unified legal system in country that has only one system is not only because there is just one supreme legislative organ in a country with one system and one constitution with supreme legislative authority, it is also because all the various legal departments and laws and regulations within the legal system are unified on the foundation of a similar social and economic system and they have a common nature and common guiding principles. This is an important characteristic of one country's legal systems of a unified nature. In our country before the implementation of `one country two systems', as far as the mainland is concerned, there has just been one unified socialist legal system and there has just been a unified socialist legal system including all the various departments under the guidance of the Constitution of the PRC. This legal system is founded on
the basis of a common socialist economy and reflects the common aspirations of the whole people and it has the four basic principles as its guiding ideology which act as important guarantees and standards for its unified nature. However, after the implementation of `one country two systems', when the SAR is established in Hong Kong, the pre-existing laws of Hong Kong will be basically maintained. The Hong Kong SAR will enjoy legislative power and can, according to the economic, political and cultural developmental needs of Hong Kong decide on laws. These pre-existing laws and the laws decided on by the legislative organs of the Hong Kong SAR are all suitable to the capitalist system of Hong Kong and serve its interests. They are decided upon and applied according to capitalist principles. Therefore, insofar as the nature of these laws is concerned, they belong within the bounds of the capitalist legal systems. Thus under the guiding principle of `one country two systems' we have situation where two different legal systems, one with a socialist nature and one with a capitalist nature will have begun to coexist. within the boundaries of one country.
This sort of between the system does
a
`coexistence' within the borders of one country socialist legal system and and the capitalist legal not mean that they have equal precedence or equal importance. This sort of coexistence is predicated upon the socialist legal system being the main system. Therefore, firstly, it is the socialist legal system that is enforced in the main part of our country with 1.1 billion people and the capitalist legal system is only permitted to exist in a very small part with a small population; secondly, the capitalist legal system that exists in certain areas must always accept restrictions from the socialist legal system. No matter whether they are laws maintained from the previous Hong Kong or whether they are
laws passed by the legislative organ of the Hong Kong SAR they must all
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