Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Delegation of statutory duties

Legal area

Court

18 Sept 1985

ATTORNEY GENERAL v. SHUN SHING CONSTRUCTION AND ENGINEERING CO LTD

Citation

ATTORNEY GENERAL v. SHUN SHING CONSTRUCTION AND ENGINEERING CO LTD
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMA511/1985

Regulation 37(2)'s unqualified requirement that the contractor 'ensure' compliance imposes a strict duty on the contractor responsible for the plant at the site; a defence of merely having taken reasonable steps is not available where the regulation uses 'ensure' unmodified, and under reg.2(2)(b] the head contractor was responsible for the winch, so the magistrate's acceptance of the reasonable‑steps defence was legally erroneous and conviction should be entered.
23 Mar 1985

HENRY LO HON YIU v. THE QUEEN

Citation

HENRY LO HON YIU v. THE QUEEN
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMA198/1985

The appellant had taken all reasonable steps to comply with s122 by diligently seeking necessary verifications and by obtaining and acting on professional advice; accordingly the convictions could not stand and were quashed. As a legal rule, delegation under the s122(3) proviso can extend to non-director employees in a position to discharge the duty but does not extend to independent professional advisers (auditors/solicitors).