Hong Kong 2003
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APPENDICES CALENDAR OF EVENTS HONG KONG: THE FACTS PHOTO GALLERY MAPS CREDITS
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Introduction

In November 2001, the Legislative Council of the HKSAR called for a comprehensive review of the community's legal needs and how those needs were being met. The Solicitor General chairs a consultative committee which has been set up in 2003 to oversee a Hong Kong research project. The committee comprises representatives from the legal services sector and other professional, academic and community bodies interested in promoting access to justice. A three-year consultancy study to carry out the research will commence in early 2004.

THE legal system of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is based on the rule of law and the independence of the Judiciary. Under the principle of 'one country, two systems', the HKSAR's legal system differs from that of the Mainland, and is based on the common law.

The constitutional framework for the legal system is provided at the international level by the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which was signed in December 1984. It is provided at the domestic level by the Basic Law — a law enacted by the National People's Congress (NPC) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) under Article 31 of the Chinese Constitution. Both the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law guarantee the continuance of the legal system that was in place before China resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong on July 1, 1997.

     
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