Dual System of Constitutional Interpretation A Hong Kong Experience
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Lawrence Li
A final-year LL.B. student at the City University of Hong Kong
Abstract
After the People's Republic of China resumed her sovereign control over Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was established pursuant to the Basic Law of Hong Kong, which is the constitutional document for Hong Kong. The Basic Law of Hong Kong defines the scope of autonomy enjoyed by Hong Kong as a region within a unitary state under the policy of 'one country, two systems.' However, the policy has never been clear, and it leads to controversy surrounding the application of the ‘dual system’ of constitutional interpretation in Hong Kong, as the highest appellate court in Hong Kong, the Court of Final Appeal, may be required to refer to the Chinese Government for interpretation of the Basic Law. In this article, the referral mechanism in the Basic Law and the scope of constitutional jurisdiction enjoyed by the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal after the two landmark cases, Ng Ka Ling v Director of Immigration and Democratic Republic of the Congo v FG Hemisphere Associates LLC, will be discussed with reference to the similar mechanism under Article 177 of the Treaty Establishing the European Economic Community (now Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union), to ascertain who will interpret the ‘mini-constitution’ of Hong Kong.
About the author
A final-year LL.B. student at the City University of Hong Kong
© 2017 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Inhalt
- Preface
- Preface
- Articles
- The European Court of Justice and Citizenship of the European Union: New Developments Towards a Truly Fundamental Status
- Public Corruption: Limiting Criminal Immunity of Legislative, Executive and Judicial Officials in Europe
- German Constitutional Law and European Integration in the Wake of Lisbon
- Dual System of Constitutional Interpretation A Hong Kong Experience
- Special Topic
- Federalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Constitutional Developments
- Focus: Separation of Powers
- Administration of Justice and Separation of Powers
- Successive Authority and Separation of Powers
- Criminal Procedure and Separation of Powers
- EMA@ICL
- International Justice v. Local Peace?
- Book Reviews
- Nóra Chronowski, Tímea Drinóczi and Tamara Takács (eds.), Governmental Systems of Central and Eastern European States, Oficyna – Wolters Kluwer Polska 2011, ISBN 978-83-264-0209-8, 845 pp.
Articles in the same Issue
- Inhalt
- Preface
- Preface
- Articles
- The European Court of Justice and Citizenship of the European Union: New Developments Towards a Truly Fundamental Status
- Public Corruption: Limiting Criminal Immunity of Legislative, Executive and Judicial Officials in Europe
- German Constitutional Law and European Integration in the Wake of Lisbon
- Dual System of Constitutional Interpretation A Hong Kong Experience
- Special Topic
- Federalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Constitutional Developments
- Focus: Separation of Powers
- Administration of Justice and Separation of Powers
- Successive Authority and Separation of Powers
- Criminal Procedure and Separation of Powers
- EMA@ICL
- International Justice v. Local Peace?
- Book Reviews
- Nóra Chronowski, Tímea Drinóczi and Tamara Takács (eds.), Governmental Systems of Central and Eastern European States, Oficyna – Wolters Kluwer Polska 2011, ISBN 978-83-264-0209-8, 845 pp.
