Social justice and social rights in Hong Kong: recent judicial review developments and proposal for legislative change

Abstract

Recently in Hong Kong there has been an increasing number of socio-economic rights decisions being the subject matter of judicial review cases. The Hong Kong courts have begun from the original highly deferential approach to socio-economic policies and resource allocation questions towards a more willing approach to evaluate the legality of such decisions. There is a trend of an increasing use of the common law administrative judicial review principles to inform and to complement the constitutional analysis of socio-economic rights decisions.

This paper will provide a general view of the linkages between administrative law and socio-economic rights analysis by tracing the courts’ recent endeavors to review socio-economic rights decisions, e.g. in the area of housing, health, and social welfare, based on administrative judicial review principles. It will examine the challenges and effectiveness of the use of administrative law in the protection of socio-economic rights. Based on the respective roles of different branches of the government, the paper will make recommendations for the future development in this area of decision-making involving socio-economic rights entitlements.