The Resumption of Sovereignty
The resumption of sovereignty was achieved on July 1, 1997, without any
prejudice to the continuity of the legal or judicial systems.
In February 1997, the Standing Committee of the National People's
Congress, acting under Article 160 of the Basic Law, adopted all the laws
previously in force, save for 24 Ordinances which were found (in whole
or in part) to contravene the Basic Law. This means that the common law
principles, and nearly all the 600-odd Ordinances, that were previously in
force, continue to apply in the HKSAR.
The continuity of the judicial system was achieved by the establishment
on July 1, 1997, of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal - which replaced
the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (an English court) as the
highest court of appeal - and by the re-establishment of other courts and
tribunals that were previously in existence. All judges who were in service
immediately before the resumption of sovereignty were re-appointed by
the Chief Executive. These re-appointments were made in accordance
with the recommendations of an independent commission - the Judicial
Officers Recommendation Commission.
The continuity of the legal and judicial systems was further underpinned
by the Hong Kong Reunification Ordinance, which provided for:
- the continuance of laws previously in force which have been
adopted as laws of the HKSAR and their interpretation in a manner
that does not contravene the Basic Law and is in conformity with
the status of Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region of the
People's Republic of China;
- the continuance of legal proceedings, the criminal justice system and
the administration of justice; and
- the continuing validity of official acts and documents.
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