Law in the HKSAR
The laws in force in the HKSAR are:
- the Basic Law,
- national laws listed in, or added to, Annex III to the Basic Law,
- the laws previously in force (i.e. before the resumption of
sovereignty) that were adopted as laws of the HKSAR by the
Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and
- laws enacted by the legislature of the HKSAR (known as
Ordinances).
National laws relating to defence and foreign affairs as well as other
matters outside the limits of the autonomy of the HKSAR may be applied
locally by way of promulgation or legislation by the Special Administrative
Region. At December 31, 1997, 10 national laws had been promulgated by
the Chief Executive.
Legislative power is vested in the HKSAR and the power to enact, amend
or repeal laws shall be exercised by the Legislative Council. The first
Legislative Council of the HKSAR will be elected in May 1998.
Meanwhile, the Provisional Legislative Council was established by the
Preparatory Committee for the HKSAR of the People's Republic of China
to make legislation essential for the normal operation of the HKSAR.
All ordinances in force in the HKSAR are bilingual, and their Chinese and
English texts are equally authentic. Those ordinances, and the subsidiary
legislation made under them, are published in the loose-leaf edition of the
Laws of Hong Kong, which is updated continuously. In addition, all new
legislation is published in the Government Gazette.
The Department of Justice is responsible for drafting new bilingual
legislation. The Law Drafting Division of that department keeps a bilingual
legal glossary in a database which has about 23 400 entries and is growing
at a rate of about 110 entries per week. An English-Chinese glossary of
legal and relevant terms appearing in legislation is published from time to
time in booklet form. The second edition, containing about 15 000 entries,
was published in June 1996. The next edition will be published in 1998.
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