The Rule of Law under 'One Country, Two Systems': The Case of Hong Kong 1997-2010

Abstract

Since the Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed in 1984 and the British colony of Hong Kong began to prepare herself for reunification with China in I997, there were concerns about the possible deterioration of standards of the rule of law and of civil liberties in Hong Kong after the handover. One of the crucial tests for whether the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ model proposed by China would work for Hong Kong is whether the rule of law can be maintained in Hong Kong after 1997. This article seeks to provide an answer to this question by reviewing the legal history of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region since its establishment in 1997. It focuses on what the author considers to be the most important events, cases or developments. It divides the legal history of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region so far into four periods. Four sections of this article deal these periods respectively, followed by a concluding section.