TNAG-2329-FCO40-3373-Hong-Kong-contacts-with-academics-and-writers-1991 — Page 124

5.34.

5.35.

(2) the holders of political power, particularly the leading members of the executive, are basically sympathetic to the values of human dignity, human rights and the Rule of Law,

(3) the judiciary and the legal profession remain strong, independent and committed to the Rule of Law, and

(4) access to justice by lower income and less privileged groups is assured through a satisfactory legal aid system."

"Whether these conditions will exist in Hong Kong after 1997

remains to be seen. This underlines the importance of striving to maintain and improve existing legal and judicial institutions in the transitional period before 1997 and of educating the general public in Hong Kong about the Rule of Law, human rights and the fundamentals of the common law system. It is to be hoped that Hong Kong's legal profession will take on this mission with courage and dedication."

It is not the legal profession alone who have this responsibility; all sectors of Hong Kong have felt the need to find Hong Kong solutions to Hong Kong problems. So, very importantly, if I may say so, the actions of government, and the attitudes of governance implicit in the methods of law and administration between now and 1997 will have an educational effect. To the general public in Hong Kong, these issues may seem detailed and arcane. I believe them to be crucial to their well-being. Accordingly, I believe that the recent example of a senior Hong Kong civil servant uttering words which seemed to amount to pressure on a High Court Judge is the sort of behaviour that this community simply cannot afford in the long term.

Returning briefly to a point of the criminal law, I must mention that in a prosecution concerning a charge of unlawfully collective funds, I heard the following in Court from the bench:-

"I now turn to the collection of donations. [One defendant] said "donation boxes were displayed and used to collect donations to continue to sponsor our publications and literature in connection with our pro-democracy campaign in Hong Kong."

"Again, what the Defendants are saying is that they were doing it

in furtherance of a "good" cause. This calls for a value judgment and is subjective. If that argument is accepted, then anyone who thinks he is acting in furtherance of a good cause would have an "excuse" to collect donations without a permit from the Social Welfare Department. If that argument is accepted, there would be people collecting in the streets for the control of pollution, to promote nuclear disarmament, to protect endangered wild-life species and for other "good" or "worthy" causes, and they would