Introduction

Abstract

The establishment of the autonomous Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1997 formed a union of two very different legal, political, and social systems. Hong Kong’s Basic Law, passed by the National People’s Congress (NPC) of the PRC in April 1990, was designed to form the connection between the two systems and also to define their separation. The respective powers of the central and HKSAR governments are set out sometimes in great detail in the Basic Law but sometimes in broad—even obscure—terms. The power to interpret the Basic Law therefore defines and shapes the relationship between the HKSAR and the central authorities. The two institutions with jurisdiction to interpret the Basic Law are the courts of Hong Kong and the Standing Committee of the NPC (NPCSC). Although the distinct ideological settings of the NPCSC and the Court of Final Appeal (CFA)¹ mean that they will inevitably disagree over the interpretation of the Basic Law, the two systems must avoid becoming locked, or being seen to be locked, in a battle for “the soul of Hong Kong; instead the struggle must be towards coherence.”²