ENG-1948 — Page 187

ADMINISTRATION

Chapter 4.

The Government of Hong Kong derives its constitutional authority from Letters Patent and Royal Instructions issued from time to time and is administered by a Governor assisted by an Executive Council

and a Legislative Council. The Executive

Council, which is consulted by the Governor on all important ad- ministrative matters, includes the senior Military Officer, the Colon- ial Secretary, the Attorney General, the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, the Financial Secretary (who are members ex officio) and such other members, both official and unofficial, as may be appointed. At the end of 1948 there were six official members (including the five ex officio members mentioned above) and six unofficial members, three of whom were Chinese.

The Legislative Council consists of not more than nine official members, including the same five ex officio members listed above, and not more than eight unofficial members. At the end of 1948 there were eight official members and seven unofficial members. The procedure of this Council, with the advice and consent of which all legislation is enacted and by which all expenditure from public funds has to be approved, is based on that of the House of Commons. There are three standing Committees of the Legislative Council-the Finance Committee, the Law Committee and the Public Works Committee-and select committees are from time to time set up to advise on matters before the Council.

The English Common Law, together with such United Kingdom statutes as were in force on April 5th, 1843, or have since that date been expressly made applicable to Hong Kong, forms the basis of the legal system, modified by Hong Kong Ordinances of which an edition revised to 1931 was published in 1938. The constitution of the Supreme Court of the Colony is set out in the Supreme Court Ordinance No. 3 of 1873. The law as to civil procedure was codified by Ordinance No. 3 of 1901. The Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890, regulates the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in Admiralty cases.

The system of administration is briefly as follows:

Under the general direction of the Colonial Secretariat the administrative functions of Government are discharged by some thirty departments, all the officers of which are members of the

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