ENG-1968 — Page 377

CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

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The laws of the Colony are enacted by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council. Matters of public concern may be debated in this Council, which also controls finance and expenditure through its Finance Committee, on which three officials and all the unofficial members sit. Procedure in the Legis- lative Council is based generally on that of the House of Commons. The membership of the Executive and Legislative Councils is shown in Appendices XLI and XLII.

JUDICIARY

Under powers conferred on the Governor by the Letters Patent, the Chief Justice, Senior Puisne Judge and puisne judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by Letters Patent on instructions from the Sovereign given through, and on the recommendation of, the Secretary of State; district judges and magistrates are appointed by the Governor by warrant or other instrument under the Public Seal. The qualifications of puisne judges and district judges are prescribed by the Supreme Court and District Court Ordinances.

The function of the judiciary is to try all public and private prosecutions and to determine civil disputes either between indi- viduals or between individuals and the Government. The principle of English Constitutional Law, that in the performance of all judicial acts the judiciary is completely independent of the executive and legislative organs of the Government, is as fundamental in Hong Kong as it is elsewhere in the Commonwealth. The judiciary takes no part in the formulation of policy or in the enactment of the laws. Its function is to follow and apply the law, but in the interpretation of statutes and in applying decided cases, new case law is made.

The principles of English Common Law and Equity and the Statutes of England, as they existed in that country on April 5, 1843, except where they are inapplicable to local circumstances, and in so far as the statutes are not included in the Application of English Law Ordinance, Cap. 88, are the foundation of Hong Kong's legal system. They have been extended and modified by the appli- cation to the Colony of certain later enactments of the United Kingdom Parliament and by the ordinances and other enactments of the Hong Kong legislature. The Statute Laws of the Colony are