required to have the consent of the HKSAR, then the HKSAR will be given a status higher than that of the state.
Article 19
1. Some members suggested that Paragraphs 2 and 3 be deleted. The reasons are as follows:
1) The provision in Paragraph 2 that the "courts of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall have jurisdiction over all cases in the Region, except that the restrictions on their jurisdiction imposed by Hong Kong's previous legal system shall be maintained" already prescribes the scope of the jurisdiction of the HKSAR courts. According to the existing legal system and principles, the courts never hear cases relating to defence, foreign affairs, and the political acts of the central or local governments. However, if such an act infringes upon a citizen's personal freedom or property, the courts may hear cases concerning human rights or the claiming of damages for the loss of property sustained by the citizen. If the future courts are not given jurisdiction over the above-mentioned cases, the existing legal system and principles will be contravened, and conflicts will arise.
2) The term "acts of state" mentioned in Paragraph 3 is a common law concept. Whereas the Basic Law will be a law of the People's Republic of China whose legal system does not contain the concept of "acts of state". Thus, when hearing cases involving "acts of state" in future, it will be a problem as to which set of legal principles shall apply in the interpretation of the term.
3) Further, the meaning of the opening sentence "[c]ourts of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall have no jurisdiction over cases relating to the acts of state" in Paragraph 3 is ambiguous. It fails to indicate clearly whether the courts of HKSAR have no jurisdiction over the entire case relating to acts of state, or they have no jurisdiction only over those parts of the case involving acts of state.
2. A member proposed that if the drafters were against the deletion of Paragraphs 3 and 4, they could consider the following compromise proposals:
1) Delete the first sentence in Paragraph 3 to avoid having the ambiguous term "acts of state" in the Basic Law.
2) Amend the first sentence in Paragraph 3 to read: "Courts of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall have no jurisdiction over cases relating to Acts of
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