TNAG-2327-FCO40-3371-Hong-Kong-Bill-of-Rights-implementation-and-conferences-1991 — Page 9

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the Director of Legal Aid ("the Director"), acting on behalf of the judgment creditor, applied

to the District Court, under section 52E of the District Court Ordinance (cap. 336), for an

order prohibiting the judgment debtor from leaving Hong Kong ("the prohibition order"); and

that application was granted on the 9th May 1991.

The prohibition order lapsed on the expiry of one month, in accordance with section

52E (5) (a) (i) of cap. 336. The precise date of its expiry is somewhat uncertain because of

the wording of the statute; but it must have happened shortly after the Hong Kong Bill of

Rights Ordinance 1991 (Ord. No. 59 of 1991) ("the Ordinance") came into operation on the

8th June 1991. On the 4th June 1991, the Director had filed a further affidavit seeking an

extension of the prohibition order for a further period of two months from the 9th June 1991. That application did not come before me until the 25th June 1991. The unexplained delay is regretted, but I do not think that it has caused any prejudice to the judgment creditor, since the application for an extension lacked supporting evidence in certain respects. As it appeared

to me that the Court's jurisdiction to make a prohibition order may have been taken away by the entire or partial repeal of section 52E of cap 336 in consequence of section 3(2) of the Ordinance, I invited the Director to satisfy me that I still had jurisdiction to make the order sought. The Director's application for extension, like the original application, was made ex parte, in accordance with Order 44A r. 2 of the Rules of the Supreme Court, which apply to proceedings in the District Court by virtue of rule 9 of the District Court Civil Procedure (General) Rules. In view of the importance of the issues involved and the fact that there was then no evidence before the court that the judgment creditor had taken any steps to serve the prohibition order on the judgment debtor, the Director of Immigration, or the Commissioner of Police (as required by section 52E (6) of cap. 336), I directed that short notice of the

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