CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN PUBLIC LAW IN HONG KONG: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

By Richard Clayton QC

It is a great privilege to speak to you on a subject which has such a central role to Hong Kong’s democracy and governance. Hong Kong has a long and distinguished legal tradition of analysing the scope and limitations of constitutional rights. All of us familiar with the UK legal tradition will be aware of the development and refinement of common law rights. But rights issues have, undoubtedly, become centre stage after the enactment of human rights instruments. The Hong Kong courts have of course been considering these constitutional issues under the Bill of Rights Ordinance since 1991, almost 10 years before British lawyers began to wrestle with the UK’s Human Rights Act, when it came into effect.

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