14 - English Administrative Law in Post-Handover Hong Kong

Summary

Prior to the handover, English principles of judicial review and caselaw were highly influential – and indeed, where relevant, binding - in colonial Hong Kong. This chapter first starts by tracing the influence of these principles on the colonial administrative order. It then proceeds to examine the continued relevance or applicability of English law following the Handover to China. It notes that the Hong Kong courts continue to draw considerably from English precedent in the construction of judicial review principles in the territory. However, there has also been a marked rise in the courts drawing from other epistemic communities in the definition and application of public law norms, so as to more appropriately reflect Hong Kong’s indigenous values and circumstances. This conceptual shift reflects the reality that it is the ‘common law of Hong Kong’ which prevails in Hong Kong after the Handover not the ‘common law of England’, thereby leading to a much richer use of comparative administrative law than existed during colonial times.