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prosecution was that any person who participated in any act which would be seriously interfering in, disrupting or undermining the performance of duties and functions in accordance with the law by the body of power of the HKSAR by “other unlawful means” with a view to subverting the State power should be guilty of the offence.
Ejusdem Generis
12. The first challenge posed by the defence centered on the scope of NSL 22(3) was the applicability of the ejusdem generis rule to the interpretation of “other unlawful means” (其他非法手段). Essentially, it was submitted by the defence that the expression “other unlawful means” should be confined to unlawful means with the use of force or the threat of force under that rule.
13. The ejusdem generis principle is summarised in Bennion, Bailey and Norbury on Statutory Interpretation (8th edition). It is essentially a principle of construction whereby wide words associated in the text with more limited words are taken to be restricted by implication to matter of the same limited character. It is mentioned in the comments under section 23.8 that this common law ejusdem generis principle can be displaced by the mischief the legislation aimed at:
“Implied exclusion
In some cases the context or other interpretative criteria will be sufficient to displace the ejusdem generis principle
Example
By the Local Government Act 1933, s76 (1), a member of a local authority was required to disclose their interest and refrain from voting where they had ‘any pecuniary interest, direct or indirect, in any contract or proposed contract or other
