| The laws in force in the HKSAR are:
| (1) |
the Basic Law; |
| (2) |
national laws listed in Annex III to
the Basic Law; |
| (3) |
the laws in force before July 1, 1997
that were adopted as laws of the HKSAR by the Standing Committee
of the NPC; and |
| (4) |
laws enacted by the legislature of the
HKSAR. |
National laws relating to defence and foreign affairs,
as well as other matters outside the limits of the HKSAR's autonomy,
may be applied locally by way of promulgation or legislation by
the HKSAR. Currently, 11 national laws apply in 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 both a hard-copy loose-leaf edition and in electronic
form freely available on the Internet. All new legislation is published
in the Government Gazette.
The Law Drafting Division of the Department of
Justice is responsible for drafting legislation in both official
languages. A Chinese-English Glossary of Legal Terms, containing
around 11 500 terms and expressions, was published in 1999.
The division also publishes an English-Chinese Glossary of Legal
Terms from time to time and the fourth edition, containing about
32 000 legal terms and expressions, was published in December
2004. Both publications are available in electronic form via the
Internet, and in hard copy format.
|
