Legislative Council

LC Paper No. LS 64/98-99

Paper for the House Committee Meeting
of the Legislative Council
on 20 November 1998

Legal Service Division Report on
Adaptation of Laws (No. 7) Bill 1998

Object(s) of the Bill

To adapt certain Ordinances to bring them into conformity with the Basic Law and with the status of Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

LegCo Brief Reference

2. L/M (B) in PELB(CR)10/32/98 issued by the Planning, Environment and Lands Bureau in November 1998.

Date of First Reading

3. 18 November 1998.

Comments

4. A summary of the proposed amendments in the Bill and a list of the Ordinances affected by those amendments are at Annexes A and B respectively. Members may note that all of the Ordinances set out at Annex B deal with land.

5. Textual amendments have previously been made to these Ordinances, save and except the Crown Lease (Pok Fu Lam) Ordinance (Cap. 118), by virtue of the Adaptation of Laws (Crown Land) Ordinance (29 of 1998). References to "Crown" in relation to land, i.e. "Crown lease", "Crown rent", "Crown land", "land held by the Crown" and "Crown" have been adapted so as to conform with Article 7 of the Basic Law and to tie in with section 6 of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1) (see Annex C).

6. The Bill deals with omissions remaining from the last adaptation exercise and adaptation of other terms in the Ordinances. It does not seek to introduce any change in policy. The proposed amendments are essentially technical drafting changes to individual ordinances.

7. If enacted, the Bill will take retrospective effect from 1 July 1997 to ensure that there is consistency in the interpretation of all laws on and after 1 July 1997. The retrospective effect will not apply to provisions involving criminal offences or penalties.

Public Consultation

8. There has not been any public consultation on the Bill.

Consultation with the LegCo Panel

9. No consultation with any LegCo Panel on the details of the Bill has been carried out.

Conclusion

10. The legal and drafting aspects of the Bill are in order. Subject to Members' views, the Bill is ready for resumption of the Second Reading debate.


Encl

Prepared by

Wong Sze-man, Bernice
Assistant Legal Adviser
Legislative Council Secretariat
18 November 1998

Bill/Adapt-7

Annex A

Adaptation of Laws (No. 7) Bill 1998
Summary of the proposed amendments



Original Terms

Proposed Amendments

renewable Crown lease1

renewable Government lease

Crown2

Government

Governor/Governor in Council

Chief Executive/Chief Executive in Council

Colony

Hong Kong

a lease is granted by or on behalf of the Governor, any extension of the term of a lease, a lease that is varied, an agreement to grant a lease

a Government lease is granted3













Notes :

1 The Bill proposes to adapt the term "renewable Crown lease" in section 9(9) of the Government Leases Ordinance (Cap. 40) which was inadvertently left out in the last adaptation exercise.

2 References to "Crown" are made in the following provisions:

  1. section 20 of the Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (Cap. 28) - relating to the savings of rights and powers;

  2. section 9 of the Lands Resumption Ordinance (Cap. 124) - relating to the barring of actions against the Crown; and

  3. section 17 of the Lands Resumption Ordinance (Cap. 124) - relating to the payment and compensation of interest.

Since all of these provisions relate to the management of Government land, the adaptation of the word "Crown" to "Government" in all three cases is legally correct in light of Article 7 of the Basic Law.

3 The proposed amendment is made because the term "Government lease" has been defined in section 3 of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1). It is essentially a technical drafting amendment that involves no policy change.

Annex B

List of Ordinances affected by the Adaptation of Laws (No. 7) Bill 1998

Item No.

Ordinances

1.

Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (Cap. 28)

2.

Government Leases Ordinance (Cap. 40)

3.

Crown Lease (Pok Fu Lam) Ordinance (Cap. 118)

4.

Lands Resumption Ordinance (Cap. 124)

5.

Government Rent and Premium (Apportionment) Ordinance (Cap. 125)

6.

Government Rights (Re-entry and Vesting Remedies) Ordinance (Cap. 126)

7.

Government Rent (Assessment and Collection) Ordinance (Cap. 515)



Annex C

Adaptation of Laws (No. 7) Bill 1998

Extracts

Article 7 of the Basic Law :

The land and natural resources within the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be State property. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be responsible for their management, use and development and for their lease or grant to individuals, legal persons or organizations for use or development. The revenues derived therefrom shall be exclusively at the disposal of the government of the Region.

Section 6 of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1) :

6. References to Government property

  1. Where reference is made in any Ordinance to property and the expressions used in relation thereto imply that the property is owned by, belongs to, or reverts to, the Government, or convey a similar meaning, the reference shall be construed in accordance with Article 7 of the Basic Law.

  2. In this section, "property " means any of the land and natural resources within the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.