Syllabus for Hong Kong Legal System

1. Development of the Hong Kong Legal System 1842-1997

Reception of English Law - Captain Elliot’s Proclamation - Supreme Court Ordinance 1843 -
Application of English Law Ordinance - Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Resumption of
Exercise of Chinese Sovereignty - Localization and Adaptation Exercises - Continuity of
Previous International Treaties - Reunification Ordinance - Application of legislation to “State”
- Impact of the change of sovereignty on the legal system - continuation and development of
the previous legal system after 1997

2. Sources of Hong Kong Law

Laws previously in force in Hong Kong - Legislation, common law and equity, customary law
- Special position in New Territories land - Imperial enactments - Prerogative power -
Legislation and restriction on law making powers - NPCSC’s interpretations and decisions -
PRC Constitution - National Laws and Annex III of the Basic Law - The Law of the People’s
Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region - the status of international law in Hong Kong

3. Judicial Precedents

Doctrine of precedent in Hong Kong - Full Court - Pre- and Post-1997 Privy Council Decisions
- Status of House of Lords Decisions - Status of the Court of Final Appeal decisions - Precedents
of other common law jurisdictions - Statutory interpretation

4. Hong Kong Court System

Hierarchy of courts - Jurisdiction and its constitutional limits - Role of the Court of Final Appeal
- Appointment and tenure of judges - Judicial independence under the Basic Law - Judicial
immunity and judicial accountability (and complaint against judges and judicial officers) - Jury
system

5. The Law-making Process

The role of the HKSAR Government and the Chief Executive - The role of the Legislative
Council - The process of law-making– primary and subsidiary legislations - the Emergency
Regulations

6. Access to Justice

Forms of legal aid - Operation of legal aid - Characteristics of legal aid services in Hong Kong
- Legal aid and resources - Duty Lawyer Service –Legal Aid Services Council - Independence
of Legal Aid Authority - Legal profession - Regulating the legal profession

7. The Common law System and the PRC Legal System: A Comparative Overview

The essential differences between the common law system and the PRC legal system
8. The Civil and Criminal Justice System

Fundamentals of civil and criminal litigation - Alternative Dispute Resolution

9. Interface between the two systems

Concurrent jurisdictions - Mutual judicial assistance - enforcement of judgments and arbitral

awards – extradition/rendition - cross-border crimes and jurisdiction - cross-border insolvency
- cross-border matrimonial and family cases - Conflicts between the two systems -
Admissibility of documents issued in Mainland China - Taking evidence in Mainland China -
Collaborations for development of international legal services centre and international
commercial dispute resolution centre in the Greater Bay Area

10. Enforcing the Law

Police Powers - police accountability (and complaints against the police) - Director of Public
Prosecutions - Independent Commission Against Corruption - Customs and Excise Department
- Immigration Department - Equal Opportunities Commission - Privacy Commissioner for
Personal Data - The Ombudsman
 Recommended Reading List for Hong Kong Legal System

Texts and Materials

Eric Ip, Law & Justice in Hong Kong: Principles of the Legal System, 4th ed., Sweet
& Maxwell, Hong Kong, 2022

Michael J. Fisher, Text, Cases and Commentary on the Hong Kong Legal System Hong
Kong University Press, Hong Kong, 2019

Stefan HC Lo, Wing Hong Chui & Kevin K-y Cheng, The Hong Kong Legal System
2nd ed., New York: Cambridge University Press, 2020

Peter Wesley-Smith, An Introduction to the Hong Kong Legal System, 3rd ed., Oxford
University Press, Hong Kong, 1998

(2007) 37 (Special Anniversary Issue) Hong Kong Law Journal (articles by Sir
Anthony Mason, the Hon Wong Yan Lung, Denis Chang, Yash Ghai, Johannes Chan,
Po Jen Yap, Benny Tai and Wang Zhenmin and Ling Bing)

Sir Anthony Mason, ‘The Role of the Common Law in Hong Kong’, in The Common
Law Lecture Series 2005 (Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong, 2006), pp
1-26

James Crawford, ‘Rights in One Country: Hong Kong and China’, Hochelaga
Lectures 2004 (Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong, 2005)

Albert Chen, The Changing Legal Orders in Hong Kong and Mainland China: Essays
on “One Country, Two Systems”, City University of Hong Kong Press, Hong Kong,
2021, pp 1-129, 386-392

Albert Chen and P. Y. Lo, ‘Hong Kong’s Judiciary under “One Country, Two
Systems”’ in H. P. Lee and Marilyn Pittard (eds), Asia- Pacific Judiciaries:
Independence, Impartiality and Integrity, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
2018, pp 131-168

Albert Chen, ‘The Constitution and the Rule of Law’, in S K Lau (ed), The First Tung
Chee-hwa Administration (The Chinese University Press, 2002), pp 69-88
Albert Chen, ‘Continuity and Change in the Legal System’, in Larry Chow & Yiu-
kwan Fan (eds.), The Other Hong Kong Report 1998 (The Chinese University Press,
1998), pp 29-48

Albert HY Chen and Po Jen Yap, The Constitutional System of the Hong Kong
SAR, Hart Publishing, United Kingdom, 2023.

Johannes Chan, ‘National Security Law in Hong Kong: One Year On’ (October 2021)
<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3956272>

Johannes Chan, Paths of Justice, Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong, 2018

Johannes Chan, ‘A Search for Identity: Legal Development in the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region since 1 July 1997’, in Wang Gunwu and John Wong (eds),
Hong Kong in China: The Challenges of Transition (Singapore, Times Academic
Press, 1999), pp 245-286

Johannes Chan, ‘A Storm of Unprecedented Ferocity: The Shirking Space of the

Right to Political Participation, Peaceful Demonstration, and Judicial Independence in
Hong Kong’ (2018) International Journal of Constitutional Law 373-388

P. Y. Lo and Albert Chen, ‘The Judicial Perspective of “Separation of Powers” in the

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China’ (2018)
5(2) Journal of International and Comparative Law 337-362

P. Y. Lo, Hong Kong: Common Law Courts in China in Jiunn-rong Yeh and Wen-
chen Chang (eds), Asian Courts in Context, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
2014, pp 183-227

Further reading

Glanville Williams, Learning the Law, 15th ed., Sweet & Maxwell, London, 2013

Yash Ghai, Hong Kong’s New Constitutional Order: The Resumption of Chinese
Sovereignty and the Basic Law, 2nd ed., Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong, 1999

Johannes Chan & Yash Ghai (eds.), Hong Kong’s Constitutional Debate: Conflict
over Interpretation (Hong Kong University Press, 2000)
P. Y. Lo, The Judicial Construction of Hong Kong’s Basic Law: Courts, Politics and
Society after 1997, Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong 2014

Sources

The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (1990)
Hong Kong Reunification Ordinance (110 of 1997)
Sino-British Joint Declaration 1984
The Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the
Hong
Kong Special Administrative Region