independence of the judiciary in Hong Kong after 1997.
But it is not impossible that China will recognise the
great utility to it, and to the world, of a prosperous and
Prosperity and confidence will more
confident Hong Kong.
likely survive if the promise of the Basic Law is
fulfilled. I do not think that many observers, least of all
in Hong Kong, ever saw the fifty years interregnum as a total
postponement of the change of systems. The fifty years was
clearly contemplated as a time-cushion. Within that period
it may be hoped that the autocratic features of China itself
will change, just as
as change has lately been achieved with
remarkable speed in central and eastern Europe and
Similarly, it may be expected that Hong Kong's
It will adapt to its new
elsewhere.
legal system
will change.
environment. In this way, it might be expected that two
systems of law, at first SO different, might come more
closely to resemble each other.
We should not be too pessimistic
too pessimistic about the future of
the common law in Hong Kong. As I have demonstrated, it is a
flower which, once planted, proves difficult to eradicate.
It takes on the features and attributes of the societies it
serves. It may even provide lessons and an example for China
which will prove beneficial to that great land. And in the
end, Hong Kong, though a cosmopolitan and Eurasian community,
is
overwhelmingly Chinese. The natural return of that
community to harmony with its geographical, cultural and
linguistic environment is probably inevitable and may in the
long term prove beneficial both for Hong Kong and for China.
problem in hand is essentially
The
transition.
It will doubtless be painful.
the time of
It will require
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