Chapter 4 (pp. 94-118) is now available via SSRN: Oliver Jones, Seven Wentworth Chambers, A Worthy Predecessor? The Privy Council on Appeal from Hong Kong, 1853 to 1997. Here is the abstract:This book is primarily about how a former British colony, now a part of China, established its own final court (to replace the Privy Council), and how that court under a new constitutional order developed the law in Hong Kong in its first thirteen years, under the leadership of its first Chief Justice, Andrew Li. In doing so we look broadly at the question of whether the court has acted justly and delivered justice to the litigants. The first part of the book provides a broader context to view at these issues. So there are chapters describing the context of China and autonomy, followed by a chapter on the Macau Court. But these chapters only serve to provide a kind of foil from which to see and understand the Hong Kong Court.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was the final appellate court for the colony of Hong Kong for almost 150 years. There were a substantial number of appeals, with a sharp uptake shortly before the People's Republic of China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997. At a time when 15 years of Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal, under the stellar leadership of Chief Justice Andrew Li, warrants academic commentary, it is worth appraising the work of the JCPC on appeal from Hong Kong. It is possible simply to analyse the JCPC cases specific to Hong Kong, in a piecemeal fashion. However, it is preferable, as this chapter does for the first time, to place the JCPC cases from Hong Kong in the context of broader academic debates over the nature of the JCPC as an imperial court, an umpire in constitutional law and a court of final appeal in criminal cases. Despite criticisms of the JCPC on appeal from other jurisdictions, its work on appeal from Hong Kong is largely praiseworthy, if a little humdrum in comparison with the sometimes electric atmosphere of the Andrew Li Court.The TOC for the entire book appears after the jump.
1. Themes and arguments Yash Ghai
Part I. Final Appeals: Setting the Context:
2. Autonomy and the Court of Final Appeal: the constitutional framework Yash Ghai
3. Two interpreters of the basic law: the CFA and NPCSC Xiaonan Yang
4. A worthy predecessor? The Privy Council on Appeal from Hong Kong, 1853–1997 Oliver Jones
Part II. The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal:
5. Genesis of Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal Simon N. M. Young, Antonio Da Roza and Yash Ghai
6. Final Appeals then and now Simon N. M. Young and Antonio Da Roza
7. Jurisdiction and procedure Antonio Da Roza
8. A practitioner's perspective Michael Thomas
9. A human rights lawyer's perspective Mark Daly
Part III. Judges and Judging:
10. Role of the Chief Justice Simon N. M. Young, Antonio Da Roza and Yash Ghai
11. The judges Simon N. M. Young and Antonio Da Roza
12. Concurring and dissenting in the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Jill Cottrell and Yash Ghai
Part IV. Jurisprudence of the Court:
13. The common law Sir Anthony Mason
14. Basic law Albert H. Y. Chen and P. Y. Lo
15. Human rights Simon N. M. Young
16. Administrative law Johannes Chan
17. Criminal law Simon N. M. Young
18. Commercial law William Waung
19. Land law Malcolm Merry
20. Tort law Rick Glofcheski
21. Civil procedure Gary Meggitt
Part V. Perspectives from Beyond Hong Kong:
22. Impact of jurisprudence beyond Hong Kong P. Y. Lo
23. Macau's Court of Final Appeal Jorge Godinho and Paulo Cardinal
24. Foreign judges: a European perspective Josef Marko.
