THE ADVOCATE 303
VOL. 80 PART 2 MARCH 2022
appointment of all judicial officers is given by the Judicial Services Commission,
an independent statutory body.
The body of mercantile and commercial law used to facilitate banking,
shipping, commerce and trade throughout the world has played a major
role in the generation of wealth and a rising standard of living in Hong Kong
as it has done elsewhere. Since Hong Kong began to emerge in the late
1960s as a financial and commercial centre of world stature, there has been
an increasing demand for legal services of high international quality. Both
branches of the legal profession have grown apace. In only six years, the
number of barristers has grown from 140 to 250 and solicitors from perhaps
700 to 1,500. There has also grown up a community of some 22 foreign law
firms, mainly from the United States, Canada and several European states,
with perhaps 40 lawyers engaged in a practice not touching upon Hong
Kong law.
When it appeared in September 1984, the text of the Sino-British agreement
called forth a measure of criticism on a variety of points, particularly
as to the sketchiness of the political structure, doubts about the nationality
provisions and worry about how Peking might exercise its security and
defence rights. Overall, however, the reception was very positive. Clearly
the result was better and much more detailed than most local people had
anticipated. As some noted, so far so good, and indeed much better than
had been expected.
The Sino-British agreement is a complex document consisting of a Joint
Declaration, three Annexes and an Exchange of Memoranda. One of the key
provisions concerns the drafting of the Basic Law for the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region, which in 1997 will become Hong Kong’s constitutional
instrument replacing the Letters Patent and Royal Instructions. The
Basic Law, which will be promulgated by the National People’s Congress, is
to set out the essence of the Sino-British agreement, that is, the stipulations
concerning Hong Kong that China committed itself to in signing the agreement.
In June, a Basic Law-drafting committee was appointed by the
National People’s Congress with a significant number of Hong Kong residents,
many of them captains of business and industry as well as a Justice
of Appeal and a member of the Colony’s Executive Council. That committee
has established a broadly based consultative committee in Hong Kong
against which to test its work. The Basic Law is to be ready by 1990.
The Sino-British agreement sets out in considerable detail the attributes
that Hong Kong will maintain for at least 50 years after 1997. The law looms
large in this scheme; the agreement provides for the continuity of all the
essential elements of Hong Kong’s present legal and judicial system. The