Yuen: HK ‘enjoys healthy judiciary development’
Hong Kong has witnessed 20 years of healthy development of common law thanks to the constitutional guarantee enshrined in the Basic Law and the high quality of the city’s independent judiciary, Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung said on Thursday during his visit to the United Kingdom.
He predicts that the common law, together with its underlying spirit of the rule of law, will grow from strength to strength in the years to come.
The special administrative region government’s legal chief was speaking at the University of Oxford about the “past, present and future” of the rule of law in Hong Kong since reunification in 1997.
Yuen also added that Hong Kong would continue to actively communicate with other common law jurisdictions and the international community in a bid to encourage judicial dialogue and cross-fertilization.
Yuen is visiting the UK to promote Hong Kong’s status as an international center for arbitration and dispute settlement.
Also during the trip, Yuen delivered a key speech – “The ‘One Country, Two Systems’ Policy – Continuation of the Common Law System” – at Asia House in London on Wednesday. Yuen explained how the Basic Law guaranteed Hong Kong’s common law system. He said Hong Kong would maintain its position with such a constitutional arrangement.
Yuen noted that the Basic Law not only stipulated that the capitalist system should be maintained after the handover in 1997, but also that the common law system should be preserved and continued.
He further elaborated that by maintaining the common law, the Basic Law provides a constitutional guarantee for the rule of law. This is because the rule of law is “the very spirit and foundation” of the common law system.
He also praised Hong Kong’s legal system. Yuen said the city enjoys a transparent legal system and a robust legal aid system. In addition, the city’s judges, who are appointed on their merits, manage to deliver good, reasoned judgments.
Yuen said the Basic Law allowed the Court of Final Appeal, which has the power of final adjudication, to invite judges from other common law jurisdictions to sit on the court.
“This innovative formula has proved to be a success, both in terms of ensuring the quality of the CFA judgments as well as enhancing confidence of the general public as well as the international business community,” Yuen said.