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LEGISLATION

second change in the law brought about by that Ordinance is the introduction of the defence commonly known as 'diminished responsibility' which, if successful, reduces the crime from murder to manslaughter. The defence is available to a person who, although not insane in the legal sense, was nevertheless suffering from such abnormality of mind as substantially impaired his mental responsibility for his acts or omissions in causing or being party to the killing. The third change enables juries to take into account words spoken, as opposed to only acts done, when con- sidering whether an accused person was sufficiently provoked to reduce a crime from murder to one of manslaughter. Hitherto, words alone, save in most extreme and exceptional circumstances, could not amount to sufficient provocation for this purpose. The fourth change reduces from murder to manslaughter the killing of one person by another in pursuance of a suicide pact.

Factories and Industrial Undertakings. The Factories and In- dustrial Undertakings Ordinance, 1955 was amended in June by the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Amendment) Ordinance, 1963 which, in addition to prescribing more detailed provisions respecting registration of workplaces confers powers designed to prevent the use of dangerous machinery or methods of working in them, by enabling magistrates to order the sealing of machinery which is shown to be dangerous in use to workers, or other persons engaged in the workplace. This Ordinance, for administrative reasons, is designed to come into operation on a date to be proclaimed.

Arbitration. The Arbitration Ordinance was enacted in July to replace, by substantive up-to-date legislation, the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure dealing with arbitration which were based on an old and out-of-date statute of England. In addition oppor- tunity was taken to include those provisions of the Arbitration Act, 1950, of England, which relate to foreign arbitration to enable the 1923 Protocol on Arbitration clauses and the 1927 Convention on the Execution of Foreign Arbitral Awards to be extended to Hong Kong.

Medical Clinics. The Medical Clinics Ordinance was enacted to provide for the control of medical clinics by means of a system of registration effected by the Director of Medical and Health Services. Registration may be refused where the applicant or any