1.
Politics of Hong Kong
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Executive power is exercised by the government. On July 1,1997, sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred to the China, ending over one and a half centuries of British rule. Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region of the PRC with a degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign affairs and defence. For instance, the International Olympic Committee recognises Hong Kong as a participating dependency under the name, Hong Kong, China, separate from the delegation from the China. The Basic Law, Hong Kongs constitutional document, was approved in March 1990 by National Peoples Congress of China, the Hong Kong government is economically liberal, but currently universal suffrage is only granted in District Council elections, and in elections for part of the Legislative Council. The head of the government is elected through a college with the majority of its members elected by a limited number of voters mainly within business. The Executive Council, the top policy organ of the government that advises on policy matters, is entirely appointed by the Chief Executive. The franchise for the other 30 seats is limited to about 230,000 voters in the functional constituencies. The Judiciary consists of a series of courts, of which the court of final adjudication is the Court of Final Appeal and this caused widespread concerns among the public on the social and economic consequences. The NPCSC issued an interpretation in favour of the Hong Kong Government in June 1999, while the full powers of NPCSC to interpret the Basic Law is provided for in the Basic Law itself, some critics argues this undermines judicial independence. The Hong Kong 1 July March is an annual protest rally led by the Civil Human Rights Front since the 1997 handover on the HKSAR establishment day, however, it was only in 2003 when it drew large public attention by opposing the bill of the Article 23. In 2003, the HKSAR Government proposed to implement Article 23 of the Basic Law by legislating against acts such as treason, subversion, secession and sedition. However, there were concerns that the legislation would infringe human rights by introducing the concept of national security into the HKSAR. Together with the dissatisfaction with the Tung administration, about 500,000 people participated in this protest. Article 23 enactment was temporarily suspended, towards the end of 2003, the focus of political controversy shifted to the dispute of how subsequent Chief Executives get elected. The Basic Laws Article 45 stipulates that the goal is universal suffrage. Under the Basic Law, electoral law could be amended to allow for this as soon as 2007, arguments over this issue seemed to be responsible for a series of Mainland Chinese newspapers commentaries in February 2004 which stated that power over Hong Kong was only fit for patriots. On 26 April 2004, the Standing Committee of National Peoples Congress denied the possibility of universal suffrage in 2007 and 2008, in 2007 Chief Executive Sir Donald Tsang requested for Beijing to allow direct elections for the Chief Executive
2.
Government of Hong Kong
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The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, commonly the Hong Kong Government or simplified as GovHK, refers to the executive authorities of the Hong Kong SAR. The Government is formally led by the Chief Executive of the SAR, the Government Secretariat is headed by the Chief Secretary of Hong Kong, who is the most senior principal official of the Government. Under the one country, two systems principle, the Government is exclusively in charge of Hong Kongs internal affairs. The Government of the Peoples Republic of China, of which the Hong Kong government is financially independent, is responsible for Hong Kongs defence, the Chief Executive is the head of Region and head of government of Hong Kong. The Basic Law designates a system of governance led by a Chief Executive and an Executive Council, with a system of semi-representative government. The Chief Executive is elected by an Election Committee, an 1200-member electoral college consisting of individuals, the winner is then appointed to the position by the Premier of the Peoples Republic of China. The Chief Executive is responsible for implementing the Basic Law, signing bills and budgets, promulgating laws, making decisions on government policies and he is assisted in policy making by the Executive Council. As of 1 July 1997, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong officially replaced the Governor of Hong Kong as the head of the government for Hong Kong following the transfer of sovereignty. The Chief Executive is assisted by the Chief Secretary for Administration and the Financial Secretary, the secretaries for each government affairs are appointed by the Chief Executive and endorsed by the Central Peoples Government. The Secretary for Justice is responsible for matters of the government. The Independent Commission Against Corruption and Audit Commission report directly to the Chief Executive, the current Chief Executive is Leung Chun-ying. The Executive Council decides on matters of policy, the introduction of bills to the Legislative Council, the Council consists of 15 principal officials and 14 non-official members. All members are appointed by the Chief Executive from among the officials of the executive authorities, members of the Legislative Council. They serve for a no longer than the expiry of the Chief Executives term of office. The system was portrayed as the key to solve administrative problems. Under the new system, there are 3 Secretaries of Department and 13 Directors of Bureau, the system is aimed at raising the accountability of the civil service, so the political appointees are responsible for all their job aspects and will step down if they make any failure. Under the new system, all heads of bureaux became members of the Executive Council, the government released a report on the Further Development of the Political Appointment System on 17 October 2007. Two new layers, Deputy Directors of Bureaux and Assistants to Directors would be added to the political appointments, as with the principal officials, these two new posts may be drawn from within or outside the civil service, and appointees may or may not have a political background
3.
Hong Kong Basic Law
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The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China is the constitutional document of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Being a national law of the Peoples Republic of China, the Basic Law was adopted on 4 April 1990 by the Seventh National Peoples Congress, the Basic Law was drafted according to the Sino-British Joint Declaration signed between the Chinese and British governments on 19 December 1984. The Basic Law stipulates the basic policies of China towards the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, as stipulated in the Joint Declaration and following the one country, two systems principle, socialism practised in the PRC would not be extended to Hong Kong. Instead, Hong Kong would continue its capitalist system and way of life for 50 years after 1997, the courts of Hong Kong are given the power to review acts of the executive or legislature and declare them invalid if they are inconsistent with the Basic Law. The argument is relevant in that it affects the level of authority that the PRC has in making any changes to the Basic Law and it is also essential in determining the Hong Kong courts jurisdiction in issues related to the PRC domestic legislations. The Basic Law was drafted by a committee members from both Hong Kong and the Mainland. The committee was known as the Drafting Committee for the Basic Law, a Basic Law Consultative Committee formed of Hong Kong people was established in 1985 to canvass views in Hong Kong on the drafts. The first draft was published in April 1988, followed by a public consultation exercise. The second draft was published in February 1989, and the subsequent consultation period ended in October 1989, the Basic Law was formally promulgated on 4 April 1990 by the National Peoples Congress, together with the designs for the Regional Flag and Regional Emblem of the HKSAR. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is part of the Peoples Republic of China, the region has a high degree of autonomy and enjoys executive, legislative and independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication. This means that the former judicial recourse by appealing to the United Kingdoms Judicial Committee of the Privy Council would no longer be available, instead, the Court of Final Appeal was established within the HKSAR to take up the role. The socialist system and policies shall not be practised in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall protect the right of ownership of private property in accordance with law. The laws in force in Hong Kong shall be the Basic Law, the laws previously in force in Hong Kong as provided by Article 8, National laws shall not be applied in Hong Kong unless listed in Annex III and applied locally by promulgation or legislation. All Hong Kong residents shall be equal before the law, permanent residents of the HKSAR shall have the right to vote and the right to stand for election in accordance with law. The freedom of the person of Hong Kong residents shall be inviolable, no Hong Kong resident shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful arrest, detention or imprisonment. Arbitrary or unlawful search of the body of any resident or deprivation or restriction of the freedom of the person shall be prohibited, torture of any resident or arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of the life of any resident shall be prohibited. The selection of Chief Executive and members of legislature is to be ultimately by means of universal suffrage, the HKSAR may also, using the name Hong Kong, China, participate in international organisations and conferences not limited to states. The basic principles on interpreting the Basic Law is set out in Article 158, according to Article 158, the power of final interpretation of the Basic Law is vested in the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress
4.
Human rights in Hong Kong
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Human rights protection is enshrined in the Basic Law and its Bill of Rights Ordinance. By virtue of the Bill of Rights Ordinance and Basic Law Article 39, any legislation that is inconsistent with the Basic Law can be set aside by the courts. In general, Hong Kong is perceived to enjoy a level of civil liberties. The Hong Kong government generally respects the rights of the citizens. There are concerns over the freedom of assembly which is restricted by the Public Order Ordinance, the police has been occasionally accused of using heavy-handed tactics towards protestors and questions are asked towards the extensive powers of the police. As to the right of privacy, covert surveillance remains the major concern, there is a lack of protection for homosexuals due to the absence of a sexual orientation discrimination law. There are also comments regarding a lack of protection for labour rights, Human rights in Hong Kong occasionally comes under the spotlight of the international community because of its world city status. Alleged human rights violations are sometimes used by skeptics to argue that the “One Country, the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance, enacted in 1991, is the local adaptation of the provisions of the ICCPR. After the change of sovereignty, certain provisions of the Bill of Rights Ordinance ceased to have effect, including section 2, section 3, section 3 etc. However, due to the entrenchment of the ICCPR in Article 39 of the Basic Law, the significance of the Bill of Rights Ordinance, while some Basic Law rights overlap with the rights in the Bill of Rights Ordinance, they are not exactly identical. Article 11 of the Basic Law provides that no law enacted by the Legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall contravene this Law and this Article has the effect that any Ordinance that contravenes the Basic Law shall be null and void. Hence, any legislation that contravenes Article 39 of the Basic Law and it is well established that the Hong Kong Courts can conduct the Marbury v. Madison type of judicial review to review the legislative and executive acts of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. This power exists before the handover since Hong Kong was governed by the Letters Patent, the Court of Final Appeal stated in Ng Ka Ling that the courts do have such a power. However, this declaration provoked heavy criticisms from the mainland authorities, the right to life is protected under Article 28 of the Basic Law and Article 2 of the Bill of Rights. In practice, the right to life is protected by the criminal law. No capital punishment has been carried out since 1966 and it has been abolished for all crimes in 1993. The freedom of expression is protected under Article 27 of the Basic Law, during a demonstration on 1 January 1998, civil activists Ng Kung Siu and Lee Kin Yun extensively defaced the National and Regional Flags. Certain portions were cut out or torn, black ink was daubed over the flags, black crosses were drawn, the constitutionality of section 7 of the National Flag Ordinance and section 7 of the Regional Flag Ordinance were challenged by the defendants
5.
Chief Executive of Hong Kong
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The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is the head and representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and head of the Government of Hong Kong. The position was created to replace the Governor of Hong Kong, the office, stipulated by the Hong Kong Basic Law, formally came into being on 1 July 1997 when the sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the Peoples Republic of China. The Chief Executive holds the title The Honourable, and ranks first in the Hong Kong order of precedence, the current Chief Executive is Leung Chun-ying who took office on 1 July 2012. The official residence of the Chief Executive is Government House in Central, according to Article 44 of the Basic Law, the Chief Executive must be a Chinese citizen as defined by the HKSAR Passports Ordinance. Article 47 further requires that the Chief Executive be a person of integrity, in addition, since the 4th Chief Executive term, candidates may not stand for selection by the Election Committee without first obtaining 150 nominations from its members. In the first election of the Chief Executive, the Committee consisted of only 400 members and it was expanded to 800 for the second term. The functional constituencies correspond to various sectors of the economy and society, the elected Chief Executive must be appointed by the Premier of the Central Peoples Government before taking office. According to Article 46 the term of office of the Chief Executive is five years with a maximum of two consecutive terms, if a vacancy occurs mid-term, the new Chief Executives first term is for the remainder of the previous Chief Executives term only. The method of selecting the Chief Executive is provided under Article 45 and Annex I of the Basic Law, under the Basic Law the Chief Executive is the chief representative of the people of Hong Kong and is the head of the government of Hong Kong. The position is responsible for the policy address made to the public. The CEs powers and functions are established by Article 48 of the Basic Law, the Executive Council of Hong Kong is an organ for assisting the Chief Executive in policy-making. The council is consulted before making important policy decisions, introducing bills to the Legislative Council, Article 52 stipulates circumstances under which the Chief Executive must resign. Examples include the loss of ability to discharge his or her duties or refusal to sign a bill passed by a majority of the Legislative Council. The acting and succession line is spelled out in Article 53, in case the position becomes vacant, a new Chief Executive would have to be elected. The provisions of inability to exercise the powers come into force, prior to the handover in 1997, the office of the Chief Executive-designate was at the 7th floor of the Asia Pacific Finance Tower. When Tung Chee-hwa assumed duty on 1 July 1997, the office of the Chief Executive was located at the 5th floor of the Former Central Government Offices, in the past the governor had his office at Government House. Tung did not use Government House as the residence because he lived at his own residence at Grenville House. Donald Tsang decided to return to the renovated Government House during his first term, in 2011, the office of the Chief Executive moved to the low block of the new Central Government Complex in Tamar
6.
Carrie Lam
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Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, GBM, GBS, JP is the Chief Executive-designate of Hong Kong, after winning the 2017 Chief Executive election. Before that she was the Chief Secretary for Administration, the most senior rank of principal officials of Hong Kong, after graduating from the University of Hong Kong, Lam joined the civil service in 1980 and has served in various bureaux and departments. She became an official in 2007, when she was appointed Secretary for Development. During her service, she earned the reputation as a fighter from her handling of the demolition of the Queens Pier. She became the Chief Secretary under the Leung Chun-ying administration in 2012 and she headed the Task Force on Constitutional Development on the political reform from 2013 to 2015 and held talks with the student leaders during the large-scale occupation protests in 2014. Born Cheng Yuet-ngor to a family of Zhoushan ancestry in Hong Kong. After graduation, Lam attended the University of Hong Kong majoring in social work and she organised exchange trips to Tsinghua University. Through her student activism, she came to know Lee Wing-tat, to better understand society and participate more actively in student activities, she switched her course of study from social work to sociology after the first year to avoid placements. Lam eventually graduated with a Bachelor of Social Sciences in 1980, in 1982, the Hong Kong Government funded her pursuit of studies at Cambridge University where she met her future husband mathematician Lam Siu-por. Lam joined the Administrative Service in 1980 after she graduated from the University of Hong Kong and she has served in various bureaux and departments, spending about seven years in the Finance Bureau which involved in budgetary planning and expenditure control. She worked initially as Principal Assistant Secretary and subsequently as Deputy Secretary for the Treasury in the 1990s, in 2000, Lam was promoted as the Director of Social Welfare Department during the period of high unemployment and severe fiscal deficits in Hong Kong. She tightened the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance scheme and making it only to people who had lived in Hong Kong for more than seven years. In November 2003, Lam was appointed Permanent Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands and she was soon appointed Director-General of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London in September 2004. On 8 March 2006, Lam returned to Hong Kong to take up the position as Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs and she was involved in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Paralympics Equestrian Events and the West Kowloon Cultural District plan. On 1 July 2007, Lam left the service when she was appointed Secretary for Development by Chief Executive Donald Tsang, becoming one of the principal officials. In July 2007, she attended a forum at Queens Pier in a bid to persuade the protesters to disperse. She firmly repeated the position that it was not an option to retain the pier. Her handling of the pier conflict earned her a reputation as a fighter by the then Chief Secretary for Administration Rafael Hui
7.
Chief Secretary for Administration
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The Chief Secretary for Administration, commonly known as the Chief Secretary of Hong Kong, is the most senior principal official of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The office also exercises certain statutory functions, such as the handling of appeals from designated public bodies, prior to the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997, the office was known simply as Chief Secretary, and before 1976, Colonial Secretary. Until the introduction of the Principal Officials Accountability System in 2002, the Chief Secretary was a civil position, and in this capacity. In 2005, Henry Tang became the first person who has not been a servant to be appointed to the office of the Chief Secretary. From the 1870s to 1902 the Colonial Secretary was de facto Lieutenant Governor of Hong Kong, the role was once held by the Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong. After 1902 the title disappeared from use as the second highest post was transferred to the Colonial Secretary and late Chief Secretary. Political party, Nonpartisan The Chief Secretary resides at a residence at 15 Barker Road, The Peak, Hong Kong. Appendix II, Colonial Secretaries of Hong Kong, 1843–1912, the Life and Times of Sir Kai Ho Kai, A Prominent Figure in Nineteenth-Century Hong Kong. Specific Official website Organisation chart of Hong Kong Government
8.
Financial Secretary (Hong Kong)
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The Financial Secretary is the title held by the Hong Kong government minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. The position is among the three most senior Principal Officials of the Government, second only to the Chief Secretary in the order of precedence, the position evolved out of the office of the Colonial Treasurer before 1940. The Financial Secretary is a member of the Executive Council, and he is also responsible for delivering the annual budget to the Legislative Council. To date, it is the only office among the three highest Principal Officials of the Government not to have been occupied by a woman, the incumbent Financial Secretary is Paul Chan Mo-po. Edward Elmslie, 1842–1843 Charles Edward Stewart, 1843–1844 Political party and it is listed as a grade 2 building. Described as a two-story neo-Georgian style residence built in 1935 and originally owned by Sir Shouson Chow as his own residence, the first Financial Secretary who moved into the building was Sir Charles Geoffrey Shield Follows
9.
Paul Chan Mo-po
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Paul Chan Mo-po, GBS, MH, JP is the current Financial Secretary of Hong Kong and former Secretary for Development of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. He was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong and he is an accountant and the former President of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He holds BBA and MBA degrees from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and he has also studied at the Harvard Business School. Chan is the eldest of a family of four, grew up in a resettlement estate that his family lived in until a fire destroyed Shek Kip Mei in 1953, Chan was admitted to the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he graduated with an accounting degree. At one time, he worked by day in the Inland Revenue and he later set up his own accounting firm. He is an accountant who holds BBA and MBA degrees from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and has studied at the Harvard Business School. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and he resigned from the Legislative Council on the same day. He is married to Frieda Hui, and the couple have a son, as Development Secretary, Paul Chan is responsible for the Buildings Department, whose mission includes dealing with illegal structures. Chan soon became embroiled in a scandal when his wife, Frieda Hui, Chan denied any knowledge of the subdivided properties and said that in any event he ceased to be a director of the company holding the properties in 1997. After having been served rectification notices by the Building Department, Chan was quoted as saying that tenants partitioned the properties in breach of their leases. Ming Pao subsequently revealed that, between 1994 and 1996, Harvest Charm Development acquired a total of 10 old flats in Tai Kok Tsui, five of these properties were shown to have been subdivided. Ming Pao said that Chan must restore public confidence in him by coming up with some convincing evidence that he has no intention to deceive the public, the convenor of the Executive Council also questioned Chans credibility and the impact of the unfolding scandal on the credibility of the government. Chan was responsible for pushing the project through, and was accused of conflict of interest, an editorial in The Standard noted that, with the exception of Regina Ip, all other pro-establishment figures either remained silent or distanced themselves from Chan over the matter. Chans signature appears on the purchase agreement for 20,000 square feet plot of farmland near Sheung Shui. The deal was finalised by a company in which his wife held shares, Chan said that the land was acquired in 1994 at a cost of HK$350,000 for the familys leisure use. Paul Chan, claiming to be the owner of a piece of land, collected rent in 1996, Chan signed it with a company chop of Statement Industries Ltd. Chan claimed not to remember whether he held out to being the owner of the land. Chan said he informed Chief Executive CY Leung of the purchase when he became aware of the plan to develop a new town in September 2012. His wife then sold her 37.5 percent stake to her family the next month, Executive council members are not required to declare interests of their spouses or family
10.
Secretary for Justice (Hong Kong)
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Before the end of British rule in 1997, the position was known as the Attorney-General of Hong Kong. The Secretary for Justice, after the Chief Secretary and the Financial Secretary, is one of the three highest Principal Officials of the Government, the Secretary for Justice belongs to the Policy Committee, chaired by the Chief Secretary, and is normally a member of the Executive Council. The current Secretary for Justice is Rimsky Yuen, SC, the Secretary for Justice ranks fifth in the Hong Kong order of precedence. The Secretary of Justice has a residence at 19 Severn Road. Before the 1997 handover to China, the position was known as the Attorney General, the office of the Attorney General was never localized during British rule and no Hong Kong Chinese ever held this key post
11.
Rimsky Yuen
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Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung is a lawyer and the third and current Secretary for Justice of Hong Kong. He took office on 1 July 2012, Yuen studied law as an undergraduate at the University of Hong Kong and as a masters student at the City University of Hong Kong. He was called to the Hong Kong Bar in 1987, in 1995, he became qualified as a solicitor and advocate in Singapore. He held a position as deputy registrar of the High Court of Hong Kong from 2002 to 2003, afterwards. He later became chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association
12.
Hong Kong Civil Service
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The Hong Kong Civil Service is managed by 13 policy bureaux in the Government Secretariat, and 67 departments and agencies, mostly staffed by civil servants. The Secretary for the Civil Service is one of the Principal Officials appointed under the Accountability System and his primary role is to ensure that the civil service serves the best interests of the community and delivers various services in a trustworthy, efficient and cost effective manner. Appointments to the service are based on open and fair competition. Candidates have to go through competitive appointment processes and are appointed only if they possess the qualifications, vacancies can be filled by promotion from within the service. In the case of basic ranks or where promotion is not possible or where there is a special need, to achieve the aim of a civil service which is biliterate and trilingual, language proficiency in Chinese and English is also required. In accordance with the Basic Law, new recruits appointed on or after July 1,1997 must be permanent residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, officers are promoted on the criteria of character, ability, experience and prescribed qualifications. All eligible officers are considered on an equal basis, the officer selected for promotion must be the most meritorious one who is able and ready to perform duties at a higher rank. The commission is an independent statutory body responsible for advising the CE on civil service appointment, promotion, in practice, the advice is rendered to the SCS and the CSB deals with the commission on individual cases. The chairman and members of the commission are appointed by the CE, the commission seeks to ensure the impartiality and fairness in appointments to the civil service and also advises on discipline matters. In accordance with the Public Service Commission Ordinance, advice of the commission has to be sought for appointment or promotion of officers to middle, the commission is also consulted on changes in appointment procedures applicable to civil service posts. Three independent bodies advise the Government on matters relating to pay and their members are selected from outside the Government. The Standing Committee on Directorate Salaries and Conditions of Service advises on matters affecting the directorate, in 2003, the CSB embarked on an exercise to develop an improved civil service pay adjustment mechanism for long-term adoption in the civil service. The exercise has stemmed from the recommendations arising from the Review of Civil Service Pay Policy, the field work of the pay level survey was to be carried out on the basis of April 2005 private sector pay, but implementation was delayed a year. Apart from salaries, civil servants are eligible for various benefits depending on their terms of appointment, rank, salary point, length of service. Proactive steps have been taken over the years to modernise the provision of benefits to civil servants. The payment of many fringe benefit type of allowances has been either ceased or tightened up for new recruits offered appointment on or after June 1,2000 to reflect present day circumstances. Training and development programmes are designed to enhance performance and to support the core values of the civil service. Job-related training is arranged by departments while induction and grade specific management training for general grade members are in general provided by respective grade management, full-time and part-time courses are provided, either locally or overseas, for staff to obtain the requisite knowledge
13.
Legislative Council of Hong Kong
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The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is the unicameral parliamentary legislature of the Hong Kong special administrative region of the Peoples Republic of China. Under the constitutional reform package passed in 2010, there are five District Council new functional constituencies nominated by the District Councillors, the Legislative Council was first established in 1843 under the Charter of the Colony of Hong Kong as an advisory council to the Governor. The powers and functions of the legislature expanded throughout its history, the PLC ceased to exist and was replaced after the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on 1 July 1997. Article 68 of the Hong Kong Basic Law states the aim is the election of all the members of the Legislative Council by universal suffrage. Together with the article for Chief Executive, The articles have made universal suffrage of the Legislative Council. The Legislative Council of Hong Kong was set up in 1843 as a colonial legislature under British rule, the Council had four Official members including the Governor who was President and Member when it was first established. The Letters Patent of 1888, which replaced the 1843 Charter, added the significant words, the first ever elections to the Council were held in 1985, following by the first direct elections of the Legislative Council were held in 1991. The Legislative Council became an elected legislature for the first time in 1995. The Peoples Republic of China government did not agree with reforms to the Legislative Council enacted in 1994, instead, the Chinese government resolved to set up an alternative legislative council in preparation for the handover of the sovereignty of Hong Kong from Britain to China. The Provisional Legislative Council, in operation from 25 January 1997 to 30 June 1998, the Legislative Council of the HKSAR was established on 1 October 1998 under The Basic Law of the HKSAR. The first meeting of the Council was held in July of the year in Hong Kong. Since the Basic Law came into effect, five Legislative Council elections have been held, the most recent constitutional reform proposal, which suggested the electoral method of the Legislative Council remained unchanged, was vetoed in 2015. The first meetings of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, from 1844 to 1846, were convened in the residence of Governor Pottinger. In 1985, LegCo moved down to the nearby Old Supreme Court building in Central Hong Kong where it remained until November 2011 and it took up residence in its present accommodation at the Legislative Block of the Central Government Complex, Tamar in December 2011. Unlike many other former and current Commonwealth legislatures, the Hong Kong Legislative Council does not have a ceremonial mace placed in its chambers, however, the high courts of Hong Kong use a mace to open sessions, and it represents the authority and powers of the court. The high block, which will be named as the Office Block, mainly houses offices for members, officially opened on 1 August 2011, administrative staff had already taken occupation on 15 January 2011. The Legislative Council consists of 70 elected members, the term of office of a member is four years, except for the first term when it was set to be two years. In both the 2008 and 2004 elections,30 members were elected by universal suffrage from geographical constituencies and 30 were elected from functional constituencies
14.
President of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong
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The President of the Legislative Council is the speaker of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. From the establishment of the council in 1843 to 1993, the President of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong was the Governor, in 1991, a Deputy President, Sir John Joseph Swaine, was appointed by the governor from among the members to chair the sittings. The governor remained president and member, but systematically absented himself from most of the sittings, in February 1993, the governor ceased to be member and president of the council. The presidency was handed over to an elected from among the unofficial members. Under the Article 66 to 79 in the Basic Law, the Legislative Council Commission Ordinance Cap,443, the Legislative Council Ordinance Cap. In the absence of the President, the chairman of the House Committee serves as deputy to the President, the President determines the day and hours of the meetings. He or she may change agenda, suspend a meeting, and call a special meeting, the President shall call emergency meetings at the request of the Chief Executive. The President is responsible for the observance of the rules of order in the Legislative Council and he or she is the representative of the Legislative Council on ceremonial and formal occasions. Before 1993, the Legislative Council was presided by the Governor of Hong Kong, from 25 December 1941 to 30 August 1945, the office was suspended due to Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong. The representative advisory bodies during the time were Chinese Representative Council, before 1993, the Legislative Council was presided by the Governor of Hong Kong. The President was elected among members of the Legislative Council since 1993 家after the last Governor Chris Patten gave up the power of presidency. Politiical party, Nonpartisan Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai Politiical party, Nonpartisan Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong
15.
Andrew Leung
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Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen, GBS, MBE, JP is the current President of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, representing the Industrial functional constituency. During October 2012 to October 2016, he was the chairman of the pro-business Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong, Leung was born on 24 February 1951 to a business family who run a textile factory, the Sun Hing knitting company. He was educated in the University of Leeds and joined his fathers family, in 1970, he set up the Sun Hing Knitting Factory in Kwai Chung and became the chairman of the company. Leung joined the Hong Kong Woollen & Synthetic Knitting Manufacturers Association and he has been the Chairman and Honorary Chairman of the Textile Council of Hong Kong and the member, Deputy Chairman and Chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries. He stepped down in 2004 after he was elected to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong and he was awarded Justice of the Peace in 1996 and Member of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the textile industry in 1997. Leung was also the member of 11th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. He received the Silver Bauhinia Star and the Gold Bauhinia Star in 2004 and 2010 respectively, Leung said the campaign would threaten the rule of law and social stability, while hurting Hong Kong’s business environment. As a result, Leung received 38 votes against pro-democrat nominee James Tos zero with three blank ballots, Leung and Yau inserted their own words into the oath-taking on the first session of the Legislative Council and therefore were invalidated by the LegCo secretary-general Kenneth Chen. The pan-democracy camp criticised Leung for unfit to perform his role, Federation of Hong Kong Industries Industrial Official site of Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen
16.
Judiciary of Hong Kong
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The Judiciary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is the judicial branch of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. Under the Basic Law of Hong Kong, it exercises the power of the Region and is independent of the executive and legislative branches of the Government. The courts in Hong Kong hear and adjudicate all prosecutions and civil disputes, including all public and it is fundamental to the Hong Kong legal system that members of the judiciary are independent of the executive and legislative branches. The courts of law in Hong Kong comprise the Court of Final Appeal, the High Court, the District Court, the Magistrates Courts, the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal is head of the judiciary and assisted in his administrative duties by the Judiciary Administrator. A bilingual court system in which Chinese, English or both can be used was put in place, in accordance with the requirement of the Basic Law. It was established on 1 July 1997 upon the commencement of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance to safeguard the rule of law after 30 June 1997, there is a panel of eight non-permanent Hong Kong judges and nine non-permanent judges from other common law jurisdictions. The High Court was established by the High Court Ordinance, as the Supreme Court of Hong Kong and it was renamed the High Court by Article 81 of the Basic law of Hong Kong. It also makes rulings on questions of law referred to it by the lower courts, there are 10 Justices of Appeal, including the Chief Judge of the High Court and three Vice-Presidents. It has unlimited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters. It also exercises jurisdiction in admiralty, bankruptcy, company winding-up, family, adoption, probate, there are approximately 42 Judges and Deputy Judges of the Court of First Instance. The District Court, established in 1953, is the court of Hong Kong. It has limited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters. In its criminal jurisdiction, the court may try the more serious cases, with the exceptions of murder, manslaughter. The maximum term of imprisonment it may impose is seven years, there are one Chief District Judge and 30 District Judges, among which three District Judges sit in the Family Court and two District Judges sit in the Lands Tribunal as Presiding Officers. Magistrates exercise criminal jurisdiction over a range of offences. There are approximately 70 Magistrates, sitting in various Tribunals and seven Magistrates Courts, Eastern, Kowloon City, Kwun Tong, Tsuen Wan, Sha Tin, Fanling, a Principal Magistrate is in charge of each magistracy. The Chief Magistrate, whose chamber is at the Kowloon City Law Courts Building, the most junior judicial role is that of Special Magistrate, typically dealing only with minor offences such as hawking contraventions, traffic offences and other departmental summonses. Appeals against Magistrates’ decisions are heard by a Judge of the Court of First Instance, the Juvenile Court has jurisdiction to hear charges against children and young persons for any offence other than homicide
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Court of Final Appeal (Hong Kong)
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The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal is the final appellate court of Hong Kong. Before 1 July 1997, Hong Kong was a British Dependent Territory, the sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the Peoples Republic of China on 1 July 1997. Based on one country, two systems principle, Hong Kong remains its highly autonomous power and maintains its own legal system, the Court of Final Appeal was thereby established in Central, Hong Kong. Since then, it serves as the court of last resort, under the Basic Law, the constitutional document of Hong Kong, the special administrative region remains a common law jurisdiction. Judges from other common law jurisdictions can be recruited and serve in the judiciary as non-permanent judges according to Article 92 of the Basic Law, judges appointed pursuant to Article 92 have served in the judiciaries of England and Wales, Australia or New Zealand. Article 158 delegates such power to the courts of Hong Kong for interpretation while handling court cases, although this arrangement has attracted criticism of undermining judicial independence, an interpretation by the NPCSC does not affect any court judgments already rendered. Controversy regarding this power of interpretation arose in the right of issue in 1999. From its inception until September 2015, the court was located in the Former French Mission Building, in September 2015 the court relocated to the former Legislative Council Building, which was originally the colonial Supreme Court
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Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal
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The Chief Justice of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal is the head of the Judiciary of Hong Kong and the chief judge of the Court of Final Appeal. The Chief Justice is one of four permanent members of the Court, during British rule between 1843 and 1997, the office was known as the Chief Justice of Hong Kong. The office of Chief Justice is second only to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong in the Hong Kong order of precedence. In the case of an impeachment of a Chief Executive of Hong Kong, the first Chief Justice of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal was Andrew Li. The second and incumbent Chief Justice is Geoffrey Ma, the Court of Final Appeal is headed by the Chief Justice and comprises three permanent judges and a panel of non-permanent judges. As of December 2008, there are 16 non-permanent judges, six from Hong Kong, the Chief Justice is the President of the CFA. Where he is not available to hear an appeal for any cause, attached to the Court of Final Appeal is a Registrar. S. Subsequently, Mr KWANG Cheok-Weung, Simon is now listed as one of the Judges, the Chief Justice resides at the Chief Justices House at 19 Gough Hill Road, The Peak. It is also known as Clavadel and was built in 1893
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High Court (Hong Kong)
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It was named the Supreme Court before 1997. Though previously named the Supreme Court, this Court has long been the equivalent to the Senior Courts of England. SC Ms Linda CHAN Ching-fan, SC Mr Robert John WHITEHEAD, SC The High Court Building is located at 38 Queensway, the 20-storey building was built in 1985 as the home of the then Supreme Court of Hong Kong, which was renamed in 1997. It was named the Supreme Court Building, and the leading to its main entrance is still named Supreme Court Road. The High Court Building was designed by Architect K. M. Tseng, the structure is a white clad tower and has a water fountain outside its front door. Hong Kong Judiciary website, High Court page Judiciary of Hong Kong Legal system of Hong Kong Supreme Court of Hong Kong Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong
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Districts of Hong Kong
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The Districts of Hong Kong are the 18 political areas by which Hong Kong is geographically divided. Each district has a council, formerly district boards, for which the districts were established in 1982. However, the districts have limited relevance to the population, as few public services according to district boundaries. The police, fire services, health services and hospital authority, however major departments, such as the Education Bureau, do provide information based on district. In the 1860s, residents speaking the dialects were often grouped together. Merchants often travelled together as guilds and sold common goods across different areas, organizations such as Nam Pak Hong, Tung Wah Hospital Committee and District Watch Committee often cut across any native district lines. The concept of separation only became important around 1870, when cultural conflicts increased between coolies, Chinese and the British. One of the first legal attempt to control districts came in 1888 under the European District Reservation Ordinance, the first Town Planning Ordinance did not appear until 1939. The District Administration Scheme was implemented in 1982 with the establishment of a district board, from 1 July 1997 to 31 December 1999, the former district boards were replaced by provisional district boards. The provisional district boards were in turn replaced on 1 January 2000, there have been two major changes on district divisions since their implementation in 1982, Kwai Tsing District was split off from Tsuen Wan District in 1985. Yau Tsim District and Mong Kok District merged to become Yau Tsim Mong District in 1994, the population density per district varies from 783 to 52,123 per km2. Before the combination of Mong Kok and Yau Tsim districts in 1995, the following figures come from the 2006 Population By-census. Note that the median monthly per capita income is deduced from the median monthly domestic household income, the domestic household size. It promotes the concept of building management and works closely with other government departments to consistently improve the standard of building management in Hong Kong. It monitors the provision of new services and identifies measures to meet the needs of new arrivals. These responsibilities are discharged primarily through the 18 district offices covering the whole of Hong Kong, as head of each district office, the district officer is the representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government at the district level. He has the responsibility of overseeing directly the operation of the District Administration Scheme in the district, in addition, he is required to maintain close liaison with different sectors of the community and reflect their concerns and problems to the Government. It is his duty to ensure that problems are resolved promptly through inter-departmental consultation and co-operation
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District Councils of Hong Kong
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The District Councils, formerly District Boards until 1999, are the local councils for the 18 Districts of Hong Kong. Under the supervision of Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong Government, administration, an early basis for the delivery of local services were the Kaifong associations, set up in 1949. An aim was also to monitor the grass roots, following the 1967 riots, under the Community Involvement Plan, launched in the early 1970s, Hong Kong and Kowloon were divided into 74 areas, each of around 45,000 people. The initial purpose was to implement the Clean Hong Kong campaign. A next stage in the effort to increase local engagement and influence was the setting up, in June 1973. These were described in Legco as a group of citizens, resident in the same multi-storey building who work together to solve common problems of cleanliness. In fact, they were controlled by the government. With government encouragement, the number of such committees increased rapidly in private buildings. The scheme was extended to housing estates, of which 800 had MACs in 1980, as well as factories. The next development was the establishment of eight district advisory boards in the districts of the New Territories, then in 1982, under the governorship of Sir Murray MacLehose, the District Boards were established under the District Administration Scheme. At first, the boards comprised only appointed members and government officials, but from 1982, in an attempt to inject a democratic element into the Legislative Council, the government introduced a model where some legislators were elected indirectly by District Council members. Twelve legislators were returned by a college of district councillors in 1985. The practice was repeated in 1988 and 1995, the 27 ex officio seats of Rural Committees, abolished by the colonial authorities, were reinstated. The government rejected any public survey or referendum on the issue, saying that it had been studying the issue since 1997, the self-proclaimed pro-democracy camp dubbed the move a setback to the pace of democracy because it was a throwback to the colonial era. In 2010, the government proposed that five legislators be added to District Council functional constituencies, there is a district council for each of the following eighteen districts. The number in parentheses corresponds to the number shown on the map at the right, the first term began on 1 January 2000. Under the district councillor appointment system,102 district councillors out of 534 are picked by the chief executive, the remainder are democratically elected by voters in each district. In June 2010, the government announced it would make proposals on whether to scrap the system in the next Legco year, the party affiliations and politics in the Legislative Council can be echoed in the District Councils, who have sometimes been accused of slavishly supporting the government
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Democratic development in Hong Kong
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Democratic development in Hong Kong has been a major topic since the transfer of sovereignty to China in 1997. The one country, two systems principle allows the Hong Kong government to all areas of government except foreign relations. Many Hong Kong citizens became concerned about democratic development when the first Chief executive of Hong Kong Tung Chee-hwa appeared to have mishandled this issue, other democracy-related issues involving human rights and universal suffrage became the new focal point for the pro-democracy camp. Ever since the 1950s, the Chinese government has threatened the British in attempting to bring any democratic developments in Hong Kong. Attempts to bring Hong Kong citizens on to the table by the British during the Sino-Anglo discussions were rejected by Beijing in the late 1980s. A deadlock between the two countries has exacerbated to the point where mutual fabrication of ideals culminated to lack of political progress, the last governor Chris Patten faced a great deal of opposition in changing the former colonys political system. Since the election of CY Leung as Chief Executive in 2012, recent declassified records showed there were discussions in 1958 between British and Hong Kong governments to allow Hong Kong to be self-governed. These discussions had been related to the British expulsion from India, China was facing increasing isolation from the cold war, and having Hong Kong as a way to contact and trade with the outside world was to the partys benefit. Decolonization would cut off Hong Kongs ties with Britain and close a gateway China has with the rest of the western world, chinas leaders explicitly wanted to preserve the colonial status of Hong Kong. The warning killed any democratic development for the three decades. Although full universal suffrage was never granted by the British to its colony before the handover in 1997 and it included proposals aimed at developing a system of more localised government, which included the introduction of indirect elections to the Legco the following year. Martin Lee and Szeto Wah were among those elected in 1985, Democracy activists – pressure groups, religious groups and community organisations – attended a mass rally at Ko Shan Theatre in Hung Hom in November 1986. The rally is a milestone in Hong Kongs fledgling pro-democracy movement, One of the participating groups, calling themselves the group of 190, demanded direct elections for Legco in 1988, and a faster pace of democratic development after the handover. In 1987, many indicated that there was more than 60% popular support for direct elections. The government, under governor David Wilson, issued another paper in 1987 proposing direct LegCo elections for 1988. However, the proposal was ruled out after a government consultation which came to the conclusion that people were divided over its introduction that year. The Hong Kong government was criticised for manipulating the views of Beijing-friendly groups to ensure that no clear mandate for direct elections in 1988 emerged. Following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, and faced with concern over the Beijing government, support for establishment parties fell, Hong Kong government decided to introduce 18 directly elected seats to the legislature in 1991
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Foreign relations of Hong Kong
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Hong Kong was under British rule before 1 July 1997. These offices serve as the representative of the Government of the Hong Kong SAR in these countries. The Hong Kong Government has also set up the Hong Kong Tourism Board with offices in other countries, the Hong Kong SAR Government also has an office in Beijing, and three HKETOs at Guangzhou, Shanghai and Chengdu. An HKETO will be set up at Wuhan in the future, the Central Peoples Government of the PRC also maintains a liaison office in Hong Kong. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a office in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has its own policy and administration. Hong Kong permanent residents and mainland Chinese need a passport-like document to cross the Sino-Hong Kong border, visitors from other countries and regions not participating in waiver programme are required to apply for visas directly to the Hong Kong Immigration Department. The Chief Executive of Hong Kong and other officials often make a duty visit to foreign countries. These visits usually aim to advance Hong Kongs economic and trade relations with the foreign countries, during these visits, the Chief Executive will meet with political and business leaders. Usually, the head of state or head of government of the countries will receive the Chief Executive. For example, former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa made three visits to the United States during his term, in these three visits, Tung Chee-hwa met with the U. S. President in the Oval Office at the White House. For example, The Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, visited London and Edinburgh on 2011 as part of his European tour to renew ties with the UK and he met Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. Many foreign dignitaries visit Hong Kong each year, the level of VIP visits is also boosted by major international conferences held in Hong Kong in recent years. When Hong Kong was under British rule, most Commonwealth member states, however, following the 1997 handover, they were all renamed Consulates-General. Most countries maintain Consulates-General or Consulates in Hong Kong, however, despite their name, many Consulates-General are not subordinate to their countrys embassy to the PRC in Beijing. For example, the British Consulate-General is directly subordinate to the Foreign, the Consul-General of the United States, likewise, holds ambassadorial rank, and reports to the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs in the US Department of State. Meanwhile, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office is a de facto mission of the Republic of China in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government has a Working Holiday Program Agreement with the Republic of Korea. The Republic of Korea has a Consulate General in Hong Kong while Hong Kong has an office in Seoul
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Culture of Hong Kong
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The culture of Hong Kong can best be described as a foundation that began with China, and became more influenced by British colonialism. After the 1997 transfer of sovereignty to the Peoples Republic of China, one-hundred-fifty years of rule as a separate British colony, as well as political separation from the rest of mainland China have resulted in a unique local identity. Structurally, one of the first laws to define peoples relationships was the Hong Kong Matrimonial Ordinance passed in 1972, the law set the precedent of banning concubinage and same sex marriages with a strict declaration for heterosexual relationships with one partner only. Other economic changes include families in need of due to both parents working. In particular, foreign domestic helpers have become an part of the household since the late 1980s. Traditional Chinese values such as family solidarity, courtesy and saving face carry significant weight in the minds of the people, Hong Kongs mainstream culture derives from, or is heavily influenced by, the Cantonese from the neighbouring province of Guangdong, China. There are also communities of Hakka, Fukien, Teochew. Although Cantonese is not one of the Hong Kong indigenous languages, since the 1997 handover, the government has adopted the biliterate and trilingual policy. Hakka is commonly used in villages in New Territories and Hakka ethnic communities in Hong Kong since Hakka is one of the indigenous languages for Hong Kong indigenous people. Punti Language, another form of Hong Kong indigenous languages, are spoken by the older generation living in walled villages in New Territories. The Tanka people from the villages is another group of Hong Kong indigenous people. Their language, Tanka, with their own variation of Cantonese, is another form of Hong Kong indigenous languages, a significant amount of the adherents of non-indigenous Chinese religions, in some cases the majority, are Hong Kong people of non-Chinese descent. The traditional Chinese religiosity, including Chinese Buddhism, was discouraged during the British rule over Hong Kong. With the end of the British rule and the handover of the sovereignty of the city-state to China, there has been a renewal of Buddhist and Chinese folk religions. There are some distinctive holidays that are celebrated in Hong Kong as a part of eastern culture, the most well known is Chinese New Year, which occurs approximately a month after Gregorian New Year, variably in late January or early February. Other events include the Dragon Boat Festival, where Zongzi is made by millions at home as part of the tradition, Dragon boats also compete for regional awards. Mid-Autumn Festival is another highly celebrated event, involving the purchase of Mooncakes from Chinese bakery shops. Category, Hong Kong artists For participation or viewing, Hong Kong has available different kinds of performing arts, including drama, dance, music, Hong Kong is also home to the first full-time comedy club in Asia, The TakeOut Comedy Club Hong Kong
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Economy of Hong Kong
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Its currency, called the Hong Kong dollar, is legally issued by three major international commercial banks, and pegged to the US dollar. Interest rates are determined by the banks in Hong Kong to ensure it is fully market-driven. There is no officially recognised central banking system, although Hong Kong Monetary Authority functions as a regulatory authority. When destabilising factors are hitting the market of Hong Kong, they will be monitored and inspected by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Electronic finance trading is evolutionarily impacting the market of Hong Kong. According to Index of Economic Freedom, Hong Kong has had the highest degree of freedom in the world since the inception of the Index in 1995. Its economy is governed under positive non-interventionism, and is dependent on international trade. In 2009, Hong Kongs real economic growth fell by 2. 8% as a result of the financial turmoil. Despite the downturn, these strengths enable it to respond to changing circumstances. It has the most efficient and an application procedure, the lowest income tax. The government of Hong Kong consistently upheld the policy of encouraging and supporting activities of private businesses, examples include the Cyberport and the Hong Kong Disneyland. This has an impact on the overall economic performance by removing unnecessary barriers for the private enterprises in the Special Administrative Region. Hong Kongs gross domestic product has grown 180 times between 1961 and 1997, also, the GDP per capita rose by 87 times within the same time frame. By the late 20th century, Hong Kong was the seventh largest port in the world and second only to New York, Hong Kong is a full Member of World Trade Organization. The Kwai Chung container complex was the largest in Asia, while Hong Kong shipping owners were only to those of Greece in terms of total tonnage holdings in the world. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is the sixth largest in the world, Hong Kong has also had an abundant supply of labour from the regions nearby. A skilled labour force coupled with the adoption of modern British/Western business methods and technology ensured that opportunities for trade, investment. Prices and wages in Hong Kong are relatively flexible, depending on the performance, Hong Kong raises revenues from the sale and taxation of land and through attracting international businesses to provide capital for its public finance, due to its low tax policy
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Education in Hong Kong
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Education in Hong Kong is largely modelled on that of the United Kingdom, particularly the English system. It is overseen by the Education Bureau and the Social Welfare Department, a small group of South Asian Hong Kongers marched through Central demanding more schooling in the English language on 3 June 2007. In the 2013/14 school year, there are 569 primary schools,514 secondary day schools and 61 special schools, small village Chinese schools were observed by the British missionaries when they arrived circa 1843. Anthony Sweeting believes those small village existed in Chek Chue, Shek Pai Wan, Heung Kong Tsai and Wong Nai Chong on Hong Kong Island. One of the earliest schools with reliable records was Li Ying College established in 1075 in present-day New Territories, by 1860 Hong Kong had 20 village schools. Chinese who were wealthy did not educate their children in Hong Kong, the changes came with the arrival of the British in 1841. At first Hong Kongs education came from Protestant and Catholic missionaries who provided social services, italian missionaries began to provide boy-only education to British and Chinese youth in 1843. By 1861 Frederick Stewart would become The Founder of Hong Kong Education for integrating a modern western-style education model into the Colonial Hong Kong school system, in 1862, the first government school, Queens College was set up, with Stewart serving as the first Headmaster. One of the much contested debate was whether schools should offer Vernacular education, Education was considered a luxury for the elite and the rich. The first school to open the floodgate of western medical practice to East Asia was the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, the London Missionary Society and Sir James Cantlie started the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese in 1887. In addition, the London Missionary Society founded Ying Wa Girls School in 1900, belilios Public School was a girls secondary school founded in 1890 – the first government school in Hong Kong that provided bilingual education in English and Chinese. Educating the poor did not become a priority until they accounted for the majority of the population, financial issues were addressed in the 1970s. Pre-school education in Hong Kong is not free and fees are payable by pupils parents, however, parents whose children have the right of abode in Hong Kong can pay for part of their fees with a voucher from the government under the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme. In 2013, the amount of subsidy under the PEVS is $16,800, every child in Hong Kong, without any reasonable excuse, is required by law to attend a primary school after the child has attained the age of 6 years. It is also required to attend a school after primary education and is completed before he attains the age of 19 years. However, child who has completed Form 3 of secondary education and whose parent can produce evidence to the satisfaction of the Permanent Secretary for Education, Education in the public sector is free. Children receive primary education usually from the age of 6 until 12, six subjects are studied, including English, Chinese, mathematics, General Studies, music, visual arts and physical education. At schools with religious affiliations, religious education or bible studies may be studied as well, secondary education is separated into junior and senior years
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Geography of Hong Kong
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The geography of Hong Kong primarily consists of three main territories, Hong Kong Island, Kowloon Peninsula, and the New Territories. The name Hong Kong, literally meaning fragrant harbour, is derived from the area around present-day Aberdeen on Hong Kong Island, the narrow body of water separating Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula, Victoria Harbour, is one of the deepest natural maritime ports in the world. Hong Kong and its 260 territorial islands and peninsulas are located in the South China Sea, the Kowloon Peninsula to the south of Boundary Street and the New Territories to the north of Hong Kong Island were added to Colonial Hong Kong in 1860 and 1898 respectively. The landscape of Hong Kong is fairly hilly to mountainous with steep slopes, the highest point in the territory is Tai Mo Shan, at a height of 958 metres. Lowlands exist in the part of the New Territories. Hong Kong is 60 km east of Macau on the side of the Pearl River estuary. It has a border with Shenzhen to the north. The remaining land is reserved as country parks and nature reserves, Hong Kong is located in eastern Asia, on the southeast coast of the Peoples Republic of China, facing the South China Sea. Hong Kongs climate is subtropical and monsoonal with cool dry winters and hot, as of 2006, its annual average rainfall is 2,214 mm, though about 80% of the rain falls between May and September. It is occasionally affected by tropical cyclones between May and November, most often from July to September, the mean temperature of Hong Kong ranges from 16 °C in January and February to 28 °C in July and August. January and February are more cloudy, with cold fronts followed by dry northerly winds. It is not uncommon for temperatures to drop below 10 °C in urban areas, sub-zero temperatures and frost occur at times on high ground and in the New Territories. March and April can be pleasant although there are occasional spells of high humidity, fog and drizzle are common on high ground which is exposed to the southeast. May to August are hot and humid with occasional showers and thunderstorms, afternoon temperatures often exceed 31 °C whereas at night, temperatures generally remain around 26 °C with high humidity. In November and December there are pleasant breezes, plenty of sunshine, Hong Kongs terrain is hilly and mountainous with steep slopes. There are lowlands in the part of Hong Kong. A significant amount of land in Hong Kong, especially on the Hong Kong Island, the lowest elevation in Hong Kong is in South China Sea while the highest elevation is at Tai Mo Shan in Tsuen Wan, the New Territories. Despite its small size, Hong Kong has a large number of mineral occurrences
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History of Hong Kong
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Starting out as a fishing village and salt production site, Hong Kong later evolved into an important free port and eventually a major international financial centre. Archaeological findings suggesting human activity in Hong Kong date back over 30,000 years, Stone tools from the Old Stone Age have been excavated in Sai Kung in Wong Tei Tung. The stone tools found in Sai Kung were perhaps from a tool making ground. Religious carvings on outlying islands and coastal areas have also been found, the latest findings dating from the Paleolithic suggest that Wong Tei Tung is one of the most ancient settlements in Hong Kong. The territory that now comprises Hong Kong was incorporated into China during the Qin dynasty, during the Qin dynasty, the territory was governed by Panyu County until the time of the Jin dynasty. Archaeological evidence indicates that the population increased during the Han dynasty, Tai Po Hoi, the sea of Tai Po, was a major pearl hunting harbour in China from the Han dynasty through to the Ming dynasty, with activities peaking during the Southern Han. During the Jin dynasty until the early Tang dynasty, Hong Kong was governed by Baoan County, under the Tang dynasty, the Guangdong region flourished as an international trading centre. The Tuen Mun region in what is now Hong Kongs New Territories served as a port, naval base, salt production centre, Lantau Island was also a salt production centre, where riots by salt smugglers against the government broke out. From the middle of the Tang dynasty until the Ming dynasty, in 1276, during the Mongol invasion, the Southern Song dynasty court moved to Fujian, then to Lantau Island and later to todays Kowloon City. Emperor Huaizong of Song, the last Song Dynasty emperor, was enthroned at Mui Wo on Lantau Island on 10 May 1278 at the age of eight and this event is commemorated by the Sung Wong Toi in Kowloon. After his defeat at the Battle of Yamen on 19 March 1279, Tung Chung valley, named after a hero who gave up his life for the emperor, is believed to have been one of the locations for his court. Hau Wong, an official of the emperor, is worshipped in Hong Kong today. During the Mongol period, Hong Kong saw its first population boom as Chinese refugees entered the area, many refugees were driven by war and famine. The five clans of Hau, Tang, Pang and Liu and Man were Chinese from Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi who lived mostly in the New Territories, despite the immigration and sparse development of agriculture, the area was hilly and relatively barren. People had to rely on salt, pearl and fishery trades to produce income, some clans built walled villages to protect themselves from the threat of bandits, rival clans and wild animals. The Qing-dynasty Chinese pirate Cheung Po Tsai became a legend in Hong Kong, during the Ming dynasty, Hong Kong was administered by Xinan County. During the Qing dynasty, Hong Kong remained under the governance of Xinan County, as a military outpost and trading port, Hong Kongs territory gained the attention of the world. After the Great Clearance policy, ordered by the Kangxi Emperor, many Hakka people migrated from inland China to Xinan County, which included modern Hong Kong
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Rule of law
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The rule of law is the legal principle that law should govern a nation, as opposed to being governed by arbitrary decisions of individual government officials. It primarily refers to the influence and authority of law within society, particularly as a constraint upon behaviour, including behaviour of government officials. The phrase can be traced back to 16th century Britain, John Locke defined freedom under the rule of law as follows, “Freedom is constrained by laws in both the state of nature and political society. Freedom of nature is to be no other restraint but the law of nature. Freedom of people under government is to be under no restraint apart from standing rules to live by that are common to everyone in the society and made by the lawmaking power established in it. Persons have a right or liberty to follow their own will in all things that the law has not prohibited and not be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, and arbitrary wills of others. ”The rule of law was further popularized in the 19th century by British jurist A. V. Dicey. The concept, if not the phrase, was familiar to ancient philosophers such as Aristotle, Rule of law implies that every citizen is subject to the law, including lawmakers themselves. In this sense, it stands in contrast to an autocracy, dictatorship, Government based upon the rule of law is called nomocracy. In the West, the ancient Greeks initially regarded the best form of government as rule by the best men, Plato advocated a benevolent monarchy ruled by an idealized philosopher king, who was above the law. More than Plato attempted to do, Aristotle flatly opposed letting the highest officials wield power beyond guarding and serving the laws, according to the Roman statesman Cicero, We are all servants of the laws in order that we may be free. During the Roman Republic, controversial magistrates might be put on trial when their terms of office expired, under the Roman Empire, the sovereign was personally immune, but those with grievances could sue the treasury. In contrast, the Huang-Lao school of Daoism rejected legal positivism in favor of a law that even the ruler would be subject to. There has recently been an effort to reevaluate the influence of the Bible on Western constitutional law, according to Professor Bernard M. Levinson, This legislation was so utopian in its own time that it seems never to have been implemented. The Deuteronomic social vision may have influenced opponents of the right of kings. In Islamic jurisprudence rule of law was formulated in the century, so that no official could claim to be above the law. However, this was not a reference to law. Alfred the Great, Anglo-Saxon King of the 9th century, reformed the law of his kingdom and created a law code with the biblical Mosaic law and he ruled that justice had to be equal between people, whether rich or poor, friends or enemies. This was likely inspired from Leviticus 19, You shall do no injustice in judgment and you shall not be partial to the poor, nor defer to the great
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China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
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One country, two systems
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One country, two systems is a constitutional principle formulated by Deng Xiaoping, the Paramount Leader of the Peoples Republic of China, for the reunification of China during the early 1980s. Under the principle, each of the two regions could continue to have its own system, legal, economic and financial affairs. Hong Kong was a colony of the United Kingdom, ruled by a governor for 156 years until 1997, China had to accept some conditions, stipulated in the Sino-British Joint Declaration, such as the drafting and adoption of Hong Kongs mini-constitution before its return. Set to expire in 2047, the current arrangement has permitted Hong Kong to function as its own entity in international settings rather than as a part of China. The Chinese renminbi is not legal tender in Hong Kong, likewise, the Hong Kong Dollar is not accepted in stores in China. With this arrangement, a permit or visa is required when passing the borders of Hong Kong and China, the central government in Beijing maintains control over Hong Kongs foreign affairs as well as the legal interpretation of the Basic Law. The same principle was proposed in talks with Portugal about Macau, what will happen after 2047 and 2049 has never been publicly stated. Important cultural effects are exemption of the SARs from mainland laws mandating the use of simplified characters in publishing and Mandarin in public education, the diplomatic relations and regional defence of the two SARs however, is the responsibility of the Central Peoples Government in Beijing. Hong Kong continues using English common law and Macau continues using the Portuguese civil law system, in Hong Kong, the system has been implemented through the Basic Law of Hong Kong, which serves as the mini-constitution of the region, and consistent with the Sino-British Joint Declaration. Similar arrangements are in place with Macau, under the respective basic laws, the SARs have a high degree of autonomy and enjoy executive, legislative and independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication. For those international organisations and conferences not limited to states, the SARs may participate using the names in the form of Hong Kong, China and Macau, as separate economic entities, both SARs of Hong Kong and Macau are members of the World Trade Organization. Hong Kong is also one of the economies of APEC. The Hong Kong Basic Law also provides protection on various fundamental human rights. They considered, for example, that the proposals in Article 23 of the Basic Law in 2003 might have undermined autonomy, on 10 June 2014, Beijing released a new report asserting its authority over the territory. For Macau, Beijing uses the Liaison Office of the Central Peoples Government in the Macao Special Administrative Region in Macau, the disappearances of five staff at Causeway Bay Books – an independent publisher and bookstore – in October to December 2015 precipitated an international outcry. At least two of them disappeared in mainland China, one in Thailand, One member was last seen in Hong Kong, but apparently had found his way to Shenzhen, across the Chinese border, without the necessary travel documents. The October disappearances were muted, as unexplained disappearances and lengthy extrajudicial detentions are known to occur in mainland China and it was later confirmed that they are under detention in mainland China although most had reappeared in Hong Kong and cancelled their missing persons reports with the police. Lam indicated the involvement of the Central Investigation Team, which is under control of the highest level of the Beijing leadership
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Hong Kong
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Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the Pearl River Delta of East Asia. Macau lies across the delta to the west, and the Chinese province of Guangdong borders the territory to the north. With a total area of 1,106 square kilometres. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during World War II until British control resumed in 1945, under the principle of one country, two systems, Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong maintains its independent executive, legislative, in addition, Hong Kong develops relations directly with foreign states and international organisations in a broad range of appropriate fields. Hong Kong is one of the worlds most significant financial centres, with the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranks as the worlds most competitive and freest economic entity. As the worlds 8th largest trading entity, its legal tender, Hong Kongs tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by simple taxation with a competitive level of corporate tax and supported by its independent judiciary system. However, while Hong Kong has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world and it has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the worlds longest life expectancy. Over 90% of the population use of well-developed public transportation. Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring areas of Mainland China. Hong Kong was officially recorded in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking to encompass the entirety of the island, before 1842, the name referred to a small inlet—now Aberdeen Harbour, literally means Little Hong Kong)—between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was a point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen. Detailed and accurate romanisation systems for Cantonese were available and in use at the time, fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbours fresh water estuarine influx of the Pearl River or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Hong Kong developed Victoria Harbour, the name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926. Nevertheless, a number of century-old institutions still retain the form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric. As of 1997, its name is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. This is the title as mentioned in the Hong Kong Basic Law. Hong Kong has carried many nicknames, the most famous among those is the Pearl of the Orient, which reflected the impressive nightscape of the citys light decorations on the skyscrapers along both sides of the Victoria Harbour
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Law of the People's Republic of China
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Between 1954 and 1978, there was not very much effort within China to create a legal system. This policy was changed in 1979, and China has formed an increasingly sophisticated legal system, chinas legal system is largely a civil law system, reflecting the influence of Continental European legal systems, especially the German civil law system in the 19th and early 20th centuries. On the other hand, Hong Kong still retains the common law system inherited as a former British colony and this is part of the One Country, Two Systems theory. They have their own courts of appeal and extradition policies. China has a tradition of adopting civil law systems, after the establishment of the Republic of China in 1911, the Chinese government maintained the civil law system. Although the CCP abolished all legal systems of the ROC after 1949, its system was deeply influenced by the legal system of the Soviet Union. The development of the current legal system dates from the late 1970s, in the 2000s, the Weiquan movement began in the PRC, seeking to advance citizens rights partly by petitioning for enforcement of existing laws, and partly through activism. Lawyers in the movement have seen some court victories, but in other cases they and their families have been ostracized, the highest and ultimate source of legal norms in the PRC is nominally the Constitution of the Peoples Republic of China. It establishes the framework and principles of government, and lists the fundamental rights, unlike some civil law jurisdictions such as Germany, China does not systematically lay down general principles in its constitution which all administrative regulations and rules must follow. Signed international treaties are in practice automatically incorporated into PRC law, however, the PRC reserves the right to make reservations regarding provisions of a treaty. Unlike common law jurisdictions, there is no strict precedential concept for case law, in practice, lower peoples court judges attempt to follow the interpretations of the laws decided by the Supreme Peoples Court. Courts in the PRC do not have a power of judicial review which enables them to strike down legislation. However under the Administrative Procedure Law of the Peoples Republic of China and this process has been criticized both by Western and Chinese legal scholars for being unwieldy and for not allowing for judicial independence and separation of powers. At the same time, the counterargument has been made that resolving legal conflicts is primarily a legislative activity, PRC governmental directives exist in a hierarchy, which is defined by the Legislation Law of the Peoples Republic of China. The former include administrative law, criminal law, civil law or business law and these are separated into different branches. For example, contract law is considered a branch of civil law, the latter includes civil procedure law, criminal procedure law and administrative procedure law. In 1986 the National Peoples Congress adopted the General Principles of the Civil Law of the Peoples Republic of China, Article 2 of the document states that the civil law governs personal and property relationships between natural persons and legal persons having equal status. It covers a range of topics, including the General Principles, marriage law, property law, contract law, copyright law
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English law
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English law is the common law legal system governing England and Wales, comprising criminal law and civil law. English law has no formal codification, the essence of English common law is that it is made by judges sitting in courts applying statute, and legal precedent from previous cases. A decision of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the highest civil court of the United Kingdom, is binding on every other court. Some rulings are derived from legislation, others, known as law, are based on rulings of previous courts. For example, murder is a common law rather than one established by an Act of Parliament. Common law can be amended or repealed by Parliament, murder, for example, the first schedule of the Interpretation Act 1978, defines the following terms, British Islands, England, and United Kingdom. The use of the term British Isles is virtually obsolete in statutes and, for interpretation purposes, England includes a number of specified elements, Wales and Berwick Act 1746, section 3 formally incorporated Wales and Berwick-upon-Tweed into England. But section 4 Welsh Language Act 1967 provided that references to England in future Acts of Parliament should no longer include Wales, but Dicey & Morris say It seems desirable to adhere to Diceys definition for reasons of convenience and especially of brevity. It would be cumbersome to have to add or Wales after England, the adjacent islands of the Isle of Wight and Anglesey are a part of England and Wales by custom, while Harman v Bolt 47 TLR219 expressly confirms that Lundy is a part of England. The adjacent territorial waters by virtue of the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act 1878, great Britain means England, Wales, Scotland, their adjacent territorial waters and the islands of Orkney and Shetland, the Hebrides and, by virtue of the Island of Rockall Act 1972, Rockall. V Canon Film Sales Ltd.1 WLR1597 and Chloride Industrial Batteries Ltd, V F. & W. Freight Ltd.1 WLR823. British Islands – but not British Isles – means the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, compare with American convention, which includes of, as in Civil Rights Act of 1964. For example, the Pleading in English Act 1362 was referred to as 36 Edw,15, meaning 36th year of the reign of Edward III, chapter 15, though in the past this was all spelt out, together with the long title. Common law is a term with historical origins in the system of England. This may be a legacy of the Norman conquest of England, an example is the Law Merchant derived from the Pie-Powder Courts, named from a corruption of the French pieds-poudrés implying ad hoc marketplace courts. In 1276, the concept of time immemorial often applied in common law was defined as being any time before 6 July 1189, one of the major challenges in the early centuries was to produce a system that was certain in its operation and predictable in its outcomes. Too many judges were either partial or incompetent, acquiring their positions only by virtue of their rank in society, thus, a standardised procedure slowly emerged, based on a system termed stare decisis which roughly means let the decision stand. The doctrine of precedent which requires similar cases to be adjudicated in a like manner, thus, the ratio decidendi of each case will bind future cases on the same generic set of facts both horizontally and vertically in the court structure
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Common law
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Common law is the body of law developed from the thirteenth century to the present day, as case law or precedent, by judges, courts, and tribunals. In cases where the parties disagree on what the law is, if a similar dispute has been resolved in the past, the court is usually bound to follow the reasoning used in the prior decision. Resolution of the issue in one case becomes precedent that binds future courts, stare decisis, the principle that cases should be decided according to consistent principled rules so that similar facts will yield similar results, lies at the heart of all common law systems. A common law system is a system that gives great precedential weight to common law. Common law systems originated during the Middle Ages in England, today, one third of the worlds population live in common law jurisdictions or in systems mixed with civil law. The term common law has many connotations, the first three set out here are the most-common usages within the legal community. Other connotations from past centuries are seen, and are sometimes heard in everyday speech. Blacks Law Dictionary, 10th Ed. gives as definition 1,1, the body of law derived from judicial decisions, rather than from statutes or constitutions, CASELAW, STATUTORY LAW. In this connotation, common law distinguishes the authority that promulgated a law. e, examples include most criminal law and procedural law before the 20th century, and even today, most contract law and the law of torts. Interstitial common law decisions that analyze, interpret and determine the fine boundaries. Publication of decisions, and indexing, is essential to the development of common law, while all decisions in common law jurisdictions are precedent, some become leading cases or landmark decisions that are cited especially often. Blacks 10th Ed. definition 2, differentiates common law jurisdictions, by contrast, in civil law jurisdictions, courts lack authority to act if there is no statute. Judicial precedent is given less weight, which means that a judge deciding a given case has more freedom to interpret the text of a statute independently. For example, the Napoleonic code expressly forbade French judges to pronounce general principles of law. As a rule of thumb, common law systems trace their history to England, blacks 10th Ed. definition 4, differentiates common law from equity. This split propagated to many of the colonies, including the United States, for most purposes, most jurisdictions, including the U. S. federal system and most states, have merged the two courts. Additionally, even before the courts were merged, most courts were permitted to apply both law and equity, though under potentially different procedural law. In the United States, determining whether the Seventh Amendments right to a jury trial applies or whether the issue will be decided by a judge, the standard of review and degree of deference given by an appellate tribunal to the decision of the lower tribunal under review
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Civil law (legal system)
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Conceptually, civil law proceeds from abstractions, formulates general principles, and distinguishes substantive rules from procedural rules. It holds case law to be secondary and subordinate to statutory law, when discussing civil law, one should keep in mind the conceptual difference between a statute and a codal article. The marked feature of civilian systems is that they use codes with brief text that tend to avoid factually specific scenarios, Code articles deal in generalities and thus stand at odds with statutory schemes which are often very long and very detailed. The purpose of codification is to all citizens with manners and written collection of the laws which apply to them. Law codes are simply laws enacted by a legislature, even if they are in much longer than other laws. Other major legal systems in the world include common law, Halakha, canon law, the Scandinavian systems are of a hybrid character since their background law is a mix of civil law and Scandinavian customary law and have been partially codified. Likewise, the laws of the Channel Islands are hybrids which mix Norman customary law, a prominent example of a civil-law code would be the Napoleonic Code, named after French emperor Napoleon. The Code comprises three components, the law of persons, property law, and commercial law, rather than a compendium of statutes or catalog of caselaw, the Code sets out general principles as rules of law. Unlike common law systems, civil law jurisdictions deal with case law apart from any precedent value, Civil law courts generally decide cases using codal provisions on a case-by-case basis, without reference to other judicial decisions. In actual practice, a degree of precedent is creeping into civil law jurisprudence. A line of similar case decisions, while not precedent per se, while civil law jurisdictions place little reliance on court decisions, they tend to generate a phenomenal number of reported legal opinions. However, this tends to be uncontrolled, since there is no requirement that any case be reported or published in a law report, except for the councils of state. Except for the highest courts, all publication of legal opinions are unofficial or commercial, Civil law is sometimes referred to as neo-Roman law, Romano-Germanic law or Continental law. The civil law takes as its major inspiration classical Roman law, and in particular Justinian law, the Justinian Codes doctrines provided a sophisticated model for contracts, rules of procedure, family law, wills, and a strong monarchical constitutional system. Roman law was received differently in different countries, in some it went into force wholesale by legislative act, i. e. it became positive law, whereas in others it was diffused into society by increasingly influential legal experts and scholars. Roman law continued without interruption in the Byzantine Empire until its fall in the 15th century. However, subject as it was to multiple incursions and occupations by Western European powers in the medieval period. It was first received into the Holy Roman Empire partly because it was considered imperial law and it became the basis of Scots law, though partly rivaled by received feudal Norman law
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Internet censorship in Hong Kong
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There is very little Internet censorship in Hong Kong beyond laws that criminalize the distribution of unlicensed copyrighted material and obscene images, particularly child pornography. Hong Kong law provides for freedom of speech and press, freedom of expression is well protected by the Hong Kong Bill of Rights. No websites, regardless of their views, are blocked. There is some monitoring of the Internet, democratic activists claim central government authorities closely monitor their e-mails and Internet use. Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, chapter III of the Basic Law outlines Fundamental Rights and Duties of the Residents including freedom of expression and association and privacy rights. The Hong Kong Bill of Rights elaborates on these and other rights enjoyed by the people of Hong Kong, conviction upon indictment of any of these offenses carries a maximum punishment of five years. Pursuant to the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance, it is an offense to publish an obscene article, publication covers distribution, circulation, selling, hiring, giving, or lending the obscene article. Distribution by e-mail falls within the definition of distribution, as does the placing of an article on a website. Distribution does not require any element of financial gain, an article will be considered obscene if, by reason by its obscenity, it is not suitable to be published to any person. Obscenity includes violence, depravity, and repulsiveness, the penalty for this offense is up to three years imprisonment and a fine of up to HK$1,000,000. The penalty for creation, publication, or advertisement of child pornography is eight years’ imprisonment, the Copyright Ordinance provides the legal framework for copyright protection in Hong Kong. There are complaints that the proposed amendments prohibiting unauthorized use of material in any medium without permission threatens freedom of speech. The bill may negatively affect works of satire or parody on the Internet because there is no fair-use exception, the government’s position is that the amendments strengthen intellectual property rights. Some pan-democratic activists and supporters termed the bill an Internet Article 23, some scholars suggest that Hong Kong-based academics practice some self-censorship in their China-related work to preserve good relations and research and lecturing opportunities in the mainland. In a poll published in June 2012 by the Hong Kong Journalists Association,86. 9% of the 663 journalists surveyed felt that press freedom had deteriorated in the past seven years and this is a 28. 5% increase from a similar survey in 2007. Those who felt freedom had declined attributed the change to, tighter government control, self-censorship in the industry, interference from Beijing, and pressure from the business sector. Companies shut down were, Hong Kong Internet & Gateway Services hk. net, Hong Kong Link InfoLink Ilink, Internet Online Hong Kong, Cybernet, Internet Connections, and Asia Online. The indecent and obscene images in question were of the Hong Kong actor Edison Chen with various women, Chen admitted being the author and copyright owner of most of the photographs, and stated that the private photographs had been stolen and published illegally without his consent
Hong Kong portal![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small}
