Twenty Years of the Basic Law: Continuity and Changes in the Geoffrey Ma Court

49 Hong Kong Law Journal 209 - 238 (2019)

University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 059

Posted: 5 Sep 2019 Last revised: 11 Oct 2019

See all articles by Po Jen Yap

Po Jen Yap

The University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Law

Date Written: 2019

Abstract

The Court of Final Appeal (CFA) with Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma at its helm has wisely upheld the Central People’s Government’s core interests in Hong Kong. On the other hand, the Court’s most confrontational and liberal constitutional decisions pertain only to issues that Beijing cares little for — the CFA’s supervisory control over the lower courts, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) rights, bankruptcy reform, and welfare entitlements — but are of immense constitutional significance in Hong Kong. On domestic law and order issues, there have been modest liberal developments. Instead of openly declaring that the impugned governmental practice is outright unconstitutional, the CFA now more regularly enforces constitutional rights in a way that leaves sufficient decisional space to the legislature or allows the legislature to respond in disagreement using the ordinary political process. Furthermore, the CFA — very attentive to potential governmental backlash — regularly strategically blunt the force of their liberal decisions ex ante so as to secure ex post compliance from the government.

Suggested Citation

Yap, Po Jen, Twenty Years of the Basic Law: Continuity and Changes in the Geoffrey Ma Court (2019). 49 Hong Kong Law Journal 209 - 238 (2019), University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 059, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3444693

Po Jen Yap (Contact Author)

The University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Law ( email )

Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
China

HOME PAGE: http://hub.hku.hk/rp/rp01274

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
39
Abstract Views
666
PlumX Metrics