Basic Law Bulletin, Issue No. 14
The fourteenth issue of the Basic Law Bulletin has just been released on the internet. This issue reviews the main legal issues in the context of constitutional development and reforms in the HKSAR as it moves closer towards the ultimate aim of selecting the CE and electing all members of the LegCo by universal suffrage as provided in the Basic Law. Moreover, there have also been developments in our electoral law through recent decisions of the HKSAR courts. This issue also summaries some recent Basic Law cases (e.g. cases on the the nature and scope of state immunity which the courts of the HKSAR should recognize; whether the amendments to the Education Ordinance (Cap. 279), which changed the composition and power of the incorporated management committee in schools sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, were inconsistent with the Basic Law; the constitutionality of corporate voting in functional constituencies for elections to the LegCo; and whether the Hospital Authority’s decisions effecting a rise in the fees non-Hong Kong residents have to pay for obstetric services in public hospitals were in breach of the right to equal treatment guaranteed under the Basic Law and the HK Bill of Rights.)