Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Public order ordinance s18

Legal area

Court

10 Oct 2023

香港特別行政區訴鄭健德

Citation

[2023] HKCFI 2551
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMA436/2022

The court was satisfied by contemporaneous CCTV and police bodycam footage, compared with post‑arrest photographs, that the appellant was one of the persons who joined and actively took part in the collective pushing and forcible attempt to access the meeting area; those acts constituted disorderly conduct that transformed any lawful presence into participation in an unlawful assembly under s18(1) and (2); the magistrate was entitled to reject the appellant's testimony and to refuse late tender of WhatsApp/letters for lack of explanation; therefore the prosecution proved the offence beyond re…
25 Jul 2023

HKSAR v. MAK WING WA (麥永華)

Citation

[2023] HKCFA 19
Court

Court of Final Appeal
Case number

FACC6/2023

Appeal allowed because the respondent, being proximate and aware of others' prohibited conduct, took the torch and used it in conjunction with laser pointing which, together with handing the torch back, gave rise to an irresistible inference he intended to participate and therefore took part in an unlawful assembly under s18 POO; conviction and sentence restored.
17 Sept 2020

香港特別行政區訴吳文遠及另二人

Citation

[2020] HKCFI 2425
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMA492/2019

On the facts demonstrated by video and witness evidence the appellants’ conduct met the statutory and common law elements: A1’s public exhortations to climb and breach police barriers constituted incitement to disorderly conduct likely to lead to unlawful assembly; A2 intentionally resisted and impeded police removal of A1; A3 actively advanced and pushed barriers; an objective bystander (police, journalists, road users) could reasonably apprehend that the conduct would lead to breach of the peace; police operational decisions and cordons were proportionate. Therefore convictions were upheld.
6 Feb 2018

SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE v. LAW KWUN CHUNG

Citation

[2018] HKCFA 4
Court

Court of Final Appeal
Case number

FACC9/2017

The Court of Final Appeal allowed the appeals, holding the Court of Appeal erred in substituting immediate custodial sentences for the appellants because the magistrate’s community service orders and suspended sentence were within her sentencing discretion and not manifestly inadequate; the Court of Appeal’s new guidance on stricter sentencing for unlawful assemblies involving violence is valid prospectively but should not have been applied retrospectively to these appellants; the CA also erred in relation to s109A for the first appellant; therefore CA sentences quashed and magistrate sentenc…
27 Feb 2017

香港特別行政區訴梁曉暘及另一人

Citation

香港特別行政區訴梁曉暘及另一人
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMA229/2016

The court refused to grant a s32 certificate because none of the proposed legal points both engaged questions of great and general importance and possessed a reasonable prospect of success: the claim of an exclusive Legislative Council jurisdiction over public order in the chamber had no reasonable prospect in light of existing guidance; the facts did not justify application of the law of redress; R v Howell did not undermine the court's construction or application of Public Order Ordinance s18 in this case; and the question whether attending police are "Legislative Council persons" under the…

Hong Kong Case Law

香港特別行政區 訴 鄭健德

HKSAR v. MAK WING WA (麥永華)

香港特別行政區 訴 吳文遠及另二人

SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE v. LAW KWUN CHUNG

香港特別行政區 訴 梁曉暘及另一人

香港特別行政區訴鄭健德

香港特別行政區訴吳文遠及另二人

香港特別行政區訴梁曉暘及另一人