The Hong Kong Legal System

This book provides an introduction to the legal system in Hong Kong. Understanding Hong Kong's legal system today requires both an understanding of the British origins of much of the laws and legal institutions as well as the uniquely Hong Kong developments in the application of the Basic Law under 'one country, two systems'. These features of the Hong Kong legal system are explored in this book, which takes into account developments in the two decades or so of the new legal framework in Hong Kong since the 1997 handover. In providing both an exposition of the legal institutions in Hong Kong and legal method under Hong Kong's legal system (including practical guidance and examples on case law, statutory interpretation and legal research), this book is ideal for first-year law students, students of other disciplines who study law and readers who have an interest in Hong Kong's unique legal system.

Stefan H. C. Lo is Deputy Principal Government Counsel (Ag) at the Department of Justice, Hong Kong, where he has been advising the government on company and insolvency law reform. Dr Lo has published widely in the area of corporate law, including research on accountability of directors, shareholders and other responsible persons in the operation of corporate enterprises. Before joining the Department of Justice, Dr Lo was Assistant Professor in the School of Law, City University of Hong Kong.

Kevin Kwok-yin Cheng is Associate Professor and Assistant Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He is the course leader for the Hong Kong Legal System and Legal System courses for the LL.B. and J.D. programmes at CUHK respectively. His research interests are primarily in the fields of criminal justice and socio-legal studies with a strong emphasis on empirical work in Hong Kong. Professor Cheng was the recipient of the CUHK Research Excellence Award (2015–16).

Wing Hong Chui is Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong. He was formerly the Associate Dean (Undergraduate Education) of the Faculty of Social Sciences at The University of Hong Kong. Previously, he taught social work, criminology and law at the University of Exeter, University of Queensland, and The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has conducted socio-legal research on the impact of litigants-in-person in civil proceedings and young people's views on legal representation in Hong Kong.