China and Hong Kong: The One Country, Two Systems Principle and Its Practical Implications for Polish Civil Courts
Polish Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 33 (2013), pp. 363-369
13 Pages Posted: 22 Sep 2014
Date Written: July 28, 2014
Abstract
This article seeks to examine the landmark decision of the Supreme Court of Poland of 11 October 2013 (ref. no. I CSK 451/12), which is the first ruling of Poland’s highest civil court on the applicability of treaties between Poland and China to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The article focuses on that part of the Court’s reasoning which discusses the principles and rules of international law. It is argued that despite some flaws in the Court’s reasoning, its overall conclusion was correct: the 1987 Sino-Polish Agreement on legal assistance in civil and criminal cases does not apply to Hong Kong.
Keywords: enforcement of judgement, legal assistance, Hong Kong, China, VCLT, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
JEL Classification: K33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation