Abstract
The legitimacy of Hong Kong’s return to China is largely reliant on the notion of reunification of the motherland. But the law also plays a crucial role: arrangements for the future are the product of a binding treaty and are enacted in a constitution which guarantees the by-and-large maintenance of existing legislative and judicial systems, laws, rights and freedoms, and the rule of law. The devil being, as it usually is, in the details, the promises look less convincing when particular issues are addressed, and of course the political context affects one’s confidence in the efficacy of the legal documents. Nevertheless, if legal institutions can be expected to survive the transition to Chinese rule, there is some reason for anxious citizens, as Deng Xiaoping advised in 1979, to put their hearts at ease.
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References
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© 1998 Peter Wesley-Smith
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Wesley-Smith, P. (1998). Legal Institutions and the Law. In: Scott, I. (eds) Institutional Change and the Political Transition in Hong Kong. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-26296-0_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-26296-0_5
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