- 26 -
- Elements to Endanger National Security) where it referred to “provoking by unlawful means hatred … which is likely to cause serious consequences” (通過各種非法方式引發 … 憎恨並可能造成嚴重後果), there was no warrant for restricting the “unlawful means” to acts which were criminal offences in themselves. This was because the term “各種非法方式” meant “any kind of unlawful means”. In the aforesaid articles, the term “unlawful” (非法) was wide enough to cover acts which were unconstitutional, in breach of the law or otherwise not following the proper procedure and therefore were unlawful in a general sense. In our judgment, this understanding of “非法” was equally applicable to the other articles of the NSL whenever it appeared without causing any difficulties. On the other hand, if the defence interpretation of NSL 22 were correct, then it would lead to an internal inconsistency in that the term “非法” would have to bear different meanings in other articles contained in the same chapter of the NSL. This, in our judgment, was both unnecessary and unjustified.
- (2) Apart from “unlawful” (非法), there were other generic terms used to describe activities prohibited by the offence-creating articles in Chapter III of the NSL. For example, in NSL 24 (Terrorist Activities), sub-paragraph (5) referred to “other dangerous activities” (其他危險方法); NSL 26 referred to “other means to prepare for the commission of a terrorist activity” (其他形式準備實施恐怖活動).
