Abode (居留權) judges ‘nearly quit’ (辭職)

Five Court of Final Appeal judges, including then chief justice Andrew Li Kwok-ngan, considered quitting after Beijing’s de facto (note1) legislative body overruled their decision on right of abode for mainland children in 1999, according to US diplomatic cable released by the website WikiLeaks.

 

Jutice Kemal Bokhary told US officials in 2007 that he and the other four top judges ”seriously considered resigning after the 1999 interpretation (釋法), when the [National People’s Congress Standing Committee] effectively (實際上) overruled the Court of Final Appeal’s determination, but they decided not to do so because ‘you can only do that once (note 2)’”

 

Bokhary also said the justices “feared they would be replaced by less independent or competent jurists (note3)’ according to the cable prepared by a visiting legal adviser from the US embassy in Beijing but sent by then US consul-general in Hong Kong James Cunningham.

 

The five judges who made the January 1999 ruling were Li, Bokhary, Henry Litton, Charles Ching, and Anthony Mason.

 

Li gave the leading judgment in “Ng Ka-ling and Others versus the Director of Immigration,” which was at the center of the right-of-abode controversy (具爭議性事件)

 

The top court ruled unanimously (note 4) that the children of parents who have the right of abode in Hong Kong also have the right, irrespective of (note 5) whether their parents were permanent residents at the time of their birth.

 

The government asked the NPC Standing Committee to reinterpret the Basic Law’s two sections in move that overturned the court’s ruling Bokhary also said he believed that under Secretary of Justice Wong Yan-lung the government in “not likely to submit another CFA case to the NPC Standing Committee for interpretation.”

 

When Li left office in August 2010, he said his most challenging cases involved Basic Law interpretation.

 

(note1) de facto=實際上,事實上(actual).
de jure=根據權利的,正堂的,權利上的,法律上的。de profundis=從深處,從心底裏。deluxe=豪華的,上等的。de rigueur=不可缺少的,禮儀上必要的。
de facto government=雖然在法律上還沒有獲得承認，這是一個在運作的政府。

(note 2) You can only do that once=可一不可再。Once=一趟,一旦,曾經。Once a year=每年一次。once or twice=一兩次。Not once=一次也不。Once is enough for Julian=Julian 一次就夠了。

(note 3) less independent or competent jurists=沒有像他們那樣獨立和有能力的法官。Jurists=法理學家,法律著述家,法科學生,法律專家,法官,律師。

(notes 4) ruled unanimously=一致裁決

(notes 5) irrespective of=不考慮,不問(without consideration of; regardless of).
Irrespective of the consequences=不顧後果

Irrespective of ages=不問年齡大小。E.g. A great deal of time and energy is given by Hong Kong Baptist University to ensuring that opportunities are given to all boys and girls irrespective of race.