Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-01121-2 - Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal: The Development of the Law in China’s Hong Kong Simon N. M. Young and Yash Ghai Frontmatter More information HONG KONG’S COURT OF FINAL APPEAL In the years since it was established on 1 July, 1997, Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal has developed a distinctive body of new law and doctrine with the help of eminent foreign common law judges. Under the leadership of Chief Justice Andrew Li, it has also remained independent under Chinese sovereignty and become a model for other Asian final courts working to maintain the rule of law, judicial independence and professionalism in challenging political environments. In this book, leading practitioners, jurists and academics examine the Court’s history, operation and jurisprudence, and provide a comparative analysis with European courts and China’s other autonomous final court in Macau. It also makes use of extensive empirical data compiled from the jurisprudence to illuminate the Court’s decision-making processes and identify the relative impacts of the foreign and local judges. simon n. m. young is a Professor at the Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong and was Director of the Centre for Comparative and Public Law from 2007 to 2013. yash ghai is an Emeritus Professor at the Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong, where in the past he has held the Sir Y. K. Pao Chair in Public Law. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-01121-2 - Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal: The Development of the Law in China’s Hong Kong Simon N. M. Young and Yash Ghai Frontmatter More information © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-01121-2 - Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal: The Development of the Law in China’s Hong Kong Simon N. M. Young and Yash Ghai Frontmatter More information HONG KONG’S COURT OF FINAL APPEAL The Development of the Law in China’s Hong Kong SIMONN.M.YOUNGANDYASHGHAI © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-01121-2 - Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal: The Development of the Law in China’s Hong Kong Simon N. M. Young and Yash Ghai Frontmatter More information University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107011212 c Cambridge University Press 2014 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2014 Printed in the United Kingdom by Bell and Bain Ltd A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal : the development of the law in China’s Hong Kong / [edited by] Simon N. M. Young, Yash Ghai. pages cm Includes index. ISBN 978-1-107-01121-2 (hardback) 1. Hong Kong (China). Court of Final Appeal. 2. Appellate procedure – China – Hong Kong. 3. Judicial process – China – Hong Kong. 4. Courts of last resort – China – Hong Kong – History. 5.Courts–China–HongKong–History. 6.Law–China–HongKong– History. 7. Courts of last resort – China – Macau (Special Administrative Region) I. Young, Simon N. M. II. Ghai, Yash P., 1938– KNQ9335.2.H54H665 2014 347.5125035 – dc23 2013013119 ISBN 978-1-107-01121-2 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-01121-2 - Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal: The Development of the Law in China’s Hong Kong Simon N. M. Young and Yash Ghai Frontmatter More information CONTENTS List of figures page viii List of tables ix List of contributors xi Tribute xiii Acknowledgements xviii Table of cases xx Table of leg islation xliii List of abbreviations liv 1 Themes and arguments 1 yash ghai part i Final appeals: setting the context 31 2 Autonomy and the Court of Final Appeal: the constitutional framework 33 yash ghai 3 Two interpreters of the Basic Law: the Court of Final Appeal and the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress 69 xiaonan yang 4 A worthy predecessor? The Privy Council on appeal from Hong Kong, 1853 to 1997 94 oliver jones part ii The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal 119 5 Genesis of Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal 121 simon n. m. young, antonio da roza, and yash ghai v © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-01121-2 - Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal: The Development of the Law in China’s Hong Kong Simon N. M. Young and Yash Ghai Frontmatter More information vi contents 6 Final appeals then and now 145 simon n. m. young and antonio da roza 7 Jurisdiction and procedure 173 antonio da roza 8 A practitioner’s perspective 197 michael thomas 9 A human rights lawyer’s perspective 207 mark daly part iii Judges and judging 223 10 Role of the Chief Justice 225 simon n. m. young, antonio da roza, and yash ghai 11 The judges 253 simon n. m. young and antonio da roza 12 Concurring and dissenting in the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal 283 jill cottrell and yash ghai part iv Jurisprudence of the court 325 13 The common law 327 sir anthony mason 14 The Basic Law jurisprudence of the Court of Final Appeal 352 albert h. y. chen and p. y. lo 15 Human rights 391 simon n. m. young 16 Administrative law 417 johannes chan 17 Criminal law 447 simon n. m. young 18 Commercial law 470 william waung © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-01121-2 - Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal: The Development of the Law in China’s Hong Kong Simon N. M. Young and Yash Ghai Frontmatter More information contents vii 19 Land law 492 malcolm merry 20 Tort law 524 rick glofcheski 21 Civil procedure 552 gary meggitt part v Perspectives from beyond Hong Kong 577 22 Impact of jurisprudence beyond Hong Kong 579 p. y. lo 23 Macau’s Court of Final Appeal 608 jorge godinho and paulo cardinal 24 Foreign judges: a European perspective 637 josef marko Index 666 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-01121-2 - Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal: The Development of the Law in China’s Hong Kong Simon N. M. Young and Yash Ghai Frontmatter More information FIGURES 3.1 Constitutional review in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. page 74 6.1 Number of substantive cases by year for the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) versus the Privy Council (PC). 147 6.2 Number of leave applications by year for the Privy Council (PC) versus the Court of Final Appeal. 149 6.3 Number of days to render judgment by the Privy Council (PC) (for Hong Kong cases) from 1987–1997. 154 6.4 Number of days to render judgment by the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) from 1997–2007. 155 6.5 Number of days to render reasons in constitutional and administrative law cases in the Privy Council (PC) from 1987–1997. 167 6.6 Number of days to render reasons in constitutional and administrative law cases in the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) from 1997–2007. 168 6.7 Authorship of Court of Final Appeal majority judgments in constitutional and administrative law cases. 169 7.1 Appeals as of right and total civil leaves, 2001–2010. 175 7.2 Use of Chinese in Rule 7 proceedings, 2001–2010. 181 7.3 Types of civil appeals to the Court of Final Appeal, 2001–2010. 183 10.1 Judgments by Chief Justice (CJ) Li and cases heard by Li CJ and the Court of Final Appeal, 1998–2010. 228 23.1 Judicial organization of the Macau Special Administrative Region. 612 viii © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-01121-2 - Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal: The Development of the Law in China’s Hong Kong Simon N. M. Young and Yash Ghai Frontmatter More information TABLES 3.1 Economic comparison among Hong Kong (HK), the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Guandong (GD), and Shanghai (SH) page 92 6.1 Disposition of leave applications in the Court of Final Appeal, 1997–2007 151 6.2 Disposition of leave files in the Court of Final Appeal, 2001–2008 151 6.3 Disposition of leave applications in the Privy Council, 1987–1997 152 6.4 Waiting time from the issuance of notice to hearing by the Court of Final Appeal, 1997–2007 (in days) 153 6.5 Number of days of hearing before the Privy Council (for Hong Kong cases), 1987–1997 153 6.6 Number of days of hearing before the Court of Final Appeal, 1997–2007 154 6.7 Number of Hong Kong cases heard by the judges of the Privy Council 157 6.8 Number of cases heard by the judges of the Court of Final Appeal 159 6.9 Comparison of the proportion of cases with one judgment and two or more judgments 160 6.10 Number and proportion of substantive cases by subject,