The University of Hong Kong Centre for Comparative and Public Law Faculty of Law 4/F KK Leung Building, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong Press Release 6 July 2006 The Centre for Comparative and Public Law and the University of Hong Kong Libraries are pleased to announce the launch of Basic Law Drafting History Online (BLDHO) The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is the most important law in Hong Kong. It has profound implications in all of our lives and touches upon almost every facet of society. Its 160 articles and three annexes form the foundation for Hong Kong’s current political, social, economic, cultural, and legal systems. It also confers fundamental rights and freedoms, many of which did not exist prior to 1997. As Hong Kong’s constitution, the Basic Law is the supreme law in the Region, and other laws inconsistent with it can be invalidated by the courts. As we near the first decade of the HKSAR, the interpretation and application of the Basic Law is evoking considerable interest. It is increasingly relied upon in litigation and has found application in a wide range of cases including criminal, civil, property, and administrative law cases. While the Hong Kong courts have demonstrated a generous and purposive approach to interpretation of the Basic Law, mainland interpretations have shown a greater affinity for the original meaning of the words. Different views on interpretation highlight the inherent tensions within the Basic Law, which exists as both a Chinese law and a constitution in Hong Kong’s common law system of justice. The Centre for Comparative and Public Law and the University of Hong Kong Libraries have developed a new online resource to allow members of the public to gain a deeper understanding of the drafting history of the Basic Law. Basic Law Drafting History Online (BLDHO) provides free public access to a collection of almost 900 documents prepared or used by the various official bodies from 1985 to 1990, when the Basic Law was drafted and promulgated, and from 1990 to 1997, when preparations were made for the resumption of sovereignty. This collection of primary materials is scanned from documents publicly available in Hong Kong. BLDHO can be accessed from the HKU Libraries’ Digital Initiatives webpage (http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/bldho/) or from the Centre for Comparative and Public Law webpage (http://www.hku.hk/ccpl). Future releases of BLDHO (expected in 2007) will allow users to access information from relevant newspaper articles and from the Hong Kong Legislative Council debates in the period 1984-90. We also aim to provide a database that analyzes the history of each of the articles in the Basic Law. BLDHO is a research output of the Constitutional Law Project funded by the University of Hong Kong’s URC Strategic Research Areas and Themes initiative. Previous outputs include the Hong Kong Basic Law Bibliography and Hong Kong Human Rights Bibliography, both published by Hong Kong Law Journal Limited (http://www.hklj.com). We welcome your comments on BLDHO.
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The University of Hong Kong Centre for Comparative and Public Law Faculty of Law 4/F KK Leung Building, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong 新聞稿 2006/07/06 香港基本法草擬過程資料庫 香港大學比較法與公法研究中心與香港大學圖書館宣佈，其聯合製作之網站“香港基本法草擬 過程資料庫＂ (Basic Law Drafting History Online) 現已正式啟動。 《基本法》是香港特別行政區最重要的法律，其一百六十條條文及三個附件確立了香港的政 治、社會、經濟、文化、及法律制度，其所勾劃的香港發展藍圖，涵蓋社會各階層，與我們的 生活息息相關。在基本法之下，香港居民甚至享有不少一九九七年之前未有的基本權利和自 由。作為一份憲制性文件，基本法是香港特別行政區的最高法律依據，而違反基本法的法例， 可被法院視爲不具法律效力。 香港特別行政區成立行將十年，基本法的解釋和引用一直引起各方爭議，而引用基本法的訴訟 年來亦不斷上升，尤見於刑法、民事、房地産法及行政法等多個法律範疇。對於基本法，本港 法院多採納寬鬆的解釋，即以立法目的解釋法 (purposive approach) 去處理， 而内地則較多傾向 採用字面意義解釋法，這些對釋法的不同觀點正突出基本法自身的張力 -- 既是中國法律的一 部份，亦是香港普通法法制下的憲法性文件。 香港大學比較法與公法研究中心與港大圖書館共同開發此項網上資源，名為“香港基本法草擬 過程資料庫＂ (Basic Law Drafting History Online)，英文簡稱 BLDHO，目的是加強公衆人士對基 本法草擬過程的認識。BLDHO 資料庫内含起草基本法之有關委員會及會議於八五至九〇年起 草期間與及九〇至九七年間為香港主權囘歸作準備而編訂的文件，文件數目達九百多份，全部 可供所有人士免費查閱，是次掃描之所有原始資料均來自可供本港市民公開查閱的資料。 BLDHO 登入網址為香港大學圖書館Digital Initiatives網頁 (http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/bldho/) 或香港大 學比較法與公法研究中心網頁(http://www.hku.hk/ccpl)。 BLDHO 計劃於〇七年推出一系列新内容，包括相關之新聞報導，八四至九〇年間香港立法局 的會議記錄，與及詳細分析基本法各條文草擬過程的資料庫。 BLDHO是憲法研究項目(Constitutional Law Project)的研究成果，由香港大學研究委員會 Strategic Research Areas and Themes initiatives 資助，其他經此資助的項目包括香港基本法參考書目(Hong Kong Basic Law Bibliography)及香港人權參考書目 (Hong Kong Human Rights Bibliography)，兩書 均由香港法律學刊出版社 (Hong Kong Law Journal Limited) (http://www.hklj.com) 出版。 如對BLDHO資料庫有任何建議，請以電郵聯絡楊艾文副教授
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