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Is the Hong Kong Judiciary Sleepwalking to 2047? HENRY LITTON Hong Kong: Sherriff Books, 2019 216 pp. HK$140.00; US$18.00 ISBN 978-988-14532-6-6
Henry Litton has been a central legal figure in Hong Kong for many decades. He co-founded the Hong Kong Law Journal over 50 years ago and enjoyed a distinguished career at the Bar before joining the Judiciary and rising to its highest levels. He was a permanent judge in the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) of the new Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) from 1997 to 2000 and a non-permanent judge in the CFA from 2000 to 2015.
The year 2047 in the title of this influential book (hereinafter, Sleepwalking) refers to the 50-year initial timespan (running from 1997) covering the accommodation of the HKSAR within China under the “one country, two systems” formula. Published in 2019, Sleepwalking offers a set of intense observations on the reformatting of Hong Kong's legal system.
These decisive changes to Hong Kong's legal regime were initiated several years before the reversion of sovereignty to Beijing in 1997. In 1991 (after 4 June 1989) the British Hong Kong government enacted the Bill of Rights Ordinance (BORO) based on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). For around 150 years, prior to its enactment, the British took the view no such law as the BORO was...