Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Interpretation of basic law

Legal area

Court

10 May 2017

KWOK CHEUK KIN v. LEUNG CHUN YING

Citation

KWOK CHEUK KIN v. LEUNG CHUN YING
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCAL201/2016

Extension of time was refused and leave denied because the applicant exhibited an excessive and unexplained delay of about four years and four months for a matter that arose on assumption of office in 2012, the asserted new grounds arising from the NPCSC Interpretation did not justify the delay, the proposed challenge lacked reasonable arguability on the merits (the omission was inadvertent and de minimis and remediable by re-taking), and allowing the out-of-time challenge would cause prejudice to good administration.
16 Jan 2017

THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE HKSAR AND ANOTHER v. YAU WAI CHING AND OTHERS

Citation

THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE HKSAR AND ANOTHER v. YAU WAI CHING AND OTHERS
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACV227/2016

Leave to appeal was refused because the questions, while of public importance, lacked reasonable prospects of success: the non-intervention principle cannot displace the courts' constitutional duty to adjudicate compliance with Basic Law article 104; NPCSC interpretations made pursuant to article 158 are binding and may clarify or supplement the Basic Law with retrospective effect; the court must conduct full merits review of oath validity; vacation under s21 is automatic; the Chief Executive had locus to bring the proceedings in the circumstances; accordingly leave was denied and costs order…
20 Jul 2001

TAM NGA YIN AND OTHERS v. THE DIRECTOR OF IMMIGRATION

Citation

TAM NGA YIN AND OTHERS v. THE DIRECTOR OF IMMIGRATION
Court

Court of Final Appeal
Case number

FACV20/2000

Majority: Article 24(2)(3) must be construed to require that the parent-child relationship referred to is the natural parental relationship implicit in the word 'born' and to satisfy the time-of-birth requirement one of the parents must have been a permanent resident at the time of the person's birth; the NPCSC Interpretation imposed the time-of-birth requirement and art.24(2)(3) is not an excluded provision under art.158(3); therefore adopted children are not within art.24(2)(3). Minority (Bokhary PJ): the wording permits reading 'born outside Hong Kong of those residents' where 'born' perta…
18 Nov 1996

LAU WONG FAT v. ATTORNEY GENERAL

Citation

LAU WONG FAT v. ATTORNEY GENERAL
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA6016/1994

The writ and statement of claim were struck out because the plaintiff's challenge is a public law/constitutional challenge to primary legislation and proceeding by ordinary action is an abuse of the court's process when the proper remedy is judicial review under Order 53; the plaintiff nonetheless has an arguable case under the Bill of Rights and arguable locus standi, but the existing Hong Kong courts lack jurisdiction to interpret the Basic Law prior to the establishment of the SAR on 1 July 1997.

Hong Kong Case Law

KWOK CHEUK KIN v. LEUNG CHUN YING

THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE HKSAR AND ANOTHER v. YAU WAI CHING AND OTHERS

TAM NGA YIN AND OTHERS v. THE DIRECTOR OF IMMIGRATION

LAU WONG FAT v. ATTORNEY GENERAL