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Legal puzzle: Cases are being filed by people with nothing to gain

Courts function best when genuine cases are filed, logical decisions are made, and clear, concise judgments are issued. But the Hong Kong legal system has unfortunately caught a worrying habit associated with the west’s human rights industry: the appearance of “confected” (elaborately constructed) cases or judicial reviews based on a legal point that is not…

February 18, 20240Comments ByHenry Litton

Hong Kong News Opinion

Agitators have been making needless trouble in Hong Kong legal sector

As an international business center, Hong Kong needs a world-class legal system, based on clearly expressed legislation and precedents. But in recent years, its flexibility has been exploited by people who file muddled, complex, mega-lengthy cases—often ones that don’t even involve them. Some of these come across as thinly disguised political grandstanding. Absurd complaints over…

February 8, 20240Comments ByHenry Litton

Hong Kong News Opinion

Same-sex couple in Hong Kong had a tortuous road to justice

People with the right to work in modern cities can legally get a dependant’s visa for their spouses. Whether it is a heterosexual couple or a same-sex couple makes no difference. Yet Hong Kong’s immigration chief rejected a woman’s application for her female partner, triggering a legal debate on discrimination and human rights that was…

January 21, 20240Comments ByHenry Litton

Culture News Opinion

The west’s PC question reaches Hong Kong: ‘What is a woman?’

In Asia, marriages exist as unions between DNA men and DNA women: 48 out of the region’s 51 territories agree on this point. But the issue is more complex if one of the individuals has changed sex. Such a case wound its way through Hong Kong courts, creating some interesting issues of law,…

January 14, 20240Comments ByHenry Litton

Hong Kong News News Opinion

The curious case of the police ID badges

Rule of Law? Or rule by judges? Do police officers have human rights? What has a case about police officers’ identification numbers got to do with a law against torture? These questions had curious answers in 2020 declaratory judgments in Hong Kong. Henry Litton looks back at some unusual legal logic. A PRINCIPAL TENET of…

January 7, 20240Comments ByHenry Litton

Hong Kong News News Opinion

Why is Hong Kong’s recent same-sex marriage case a western debate?

A recent court case over same-sex marriage in Hong Kong was troubling; Not because it argued in favor or against such a development, but because it was based on a law that said nothing whatsoever on the subject. Furthermore, the debate spun itself off into areas that were clearly part of a very western discussion…

December 28, 20230Comments ByHenry Litton

Hong Kong News News Opinion

Is the separation of powers a dead letter in Hong Kong?

Critics say that it has become harder to become a District Councillor in Hong Kong. But that was precisely the point. When we look at the dramatic change in the council's activities in recent years, the alterations make sense, say some observers. Nevertheless, the recent legal challenge to the revisions was problematic, as…

December 18, 20230Comments ByHenry Litton

Features Hong Kong News Opinion

Citizens Radio: a cautionary tale from the Magistrates Court

An ultra-simple magistracy-level case in which the facts were not in dispute was blown up into a years-long string of high level hearings by the improper injection of headline-friendly concepts from the west. Below, top legal commentator Henry Litton looks back at a notorious lawsuit which illustrates how Hong Kong's legal sector has been…

December 10, 20230Comments ByHenry Litton

Hong Kong News Opinion

How EU human rights laws are distorting our legal processes

The concept of “human rights” has triggered distortions in the legal process in Hong Kong that are causing serious problems for the judiciary, says Henry Litton, a senior legal commentator. This is the second of two parts, but can be read independently. To read the first part, click this line. To read an earlier essay…

December 4, 20230Comments ByHenry Litton

Hong Kong News News Opinion

Has the Hong Kong judiciary lost its way?

Hong Kong’s superb legal system was often rated best in Asia, and better than that of many places in the west. But it has been gradually undermined by absurd cases slipped into the system under the guise of “human rights” awareness, says former top judge Henry Litton, one of the world’s most respected legal minds.…

November 27, 20230Comments ByHenry Litton

Legal puzzle: Cases are being filed by people with nothing to gain

Agitators have been making needless trouble in Hong Kong legal sector

Same-sex couple in Hong Kong had a tortuous road to justice

The west’s PC question reaches Hong Kong: ‘What is a woman?’

The curious case of the police ID badges

Why is Hong Kong’s recent same-sex marriage case a western debate?

Is the separation of powers a dead letter in Hong Kong?

Citizens Radio: a cautionary tale from the Magistrates Court

How EU human rights laws are distorting our legal processes

Has the Hong Kong judiciary lost its way?

3-parent baby case led to one of the oddest reviews in HK legal history

This child has three parents: so who is his mother?

Scientists find ‘feminist paradise’ existed more than 4 millennia ago