User:廣九直通車
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Welcome to my user page, which is my second home Wiki apart from Wikimedia Commons. For personal information, please refer to my Commons user page for foreigners.
This user page include some bilingual puns and memes, move your cursor over dotted underlined words to see what's behind (well, sorry to mobile users...)! |
Monthly Legal DYK
[edit]It won't be so numerous like on Wikipedia, but every month I'll try to find some enactments that I've processed to be that month's DYK.
Did you know... | |
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In Hong Kong | that the Land Titles Ordinance, enacted in 2004 and intends to replace the current Land Registration Ordinance (Cap. 128), is still not in force? the DoJ claimed that an amendment bill will be submitted in early 2024 (See LC Paper No. CB(1)908/2022(03))... And they missed their target... Again... Even pro-establishment commentators are fed up with this FUBAR condition. |
In Singapore | that a different regime is enforced for domestic arbitration through the Arbitration Act 2001? |
In the United Kingdom | that according to the Hovercraft Act 1968, a hovercraft is neither a ship, aircraft or motor vehicle? And also seems to be the case for other common law jurisdictions, while civil law jurisdictions typically classifies them as ships. |
Tasks
[edit]In general, law. While I may engage in opportunistic edits at here, law-related edits are my mainstay.
The following are some of the works dealt by me:
A Tale of Two Cities
[edit]A list of Singaporean and Hong Kong laws as gazetted/reproduced immediately by revised editions, with my comments/complaints:
Singapore
[edit]Note: With effect from 2021-12-31, all chapter numbers are abolished for the 2020 revised editions. The former chapter numbers are only for reference.
- Administration of Justice (Protection) Act 2016 (19 of 2016)
- The result of codifying Singapore's contempt of court law. Still continues the country's strict (draconian?) law on contempt of court.
- Carbon Pricing Act 2018 (23 of 2018)
- Nevertheless another piece of national-development oriented enactment with respect to environment protection.
- Casino Control Act 2006 (10 of 2006/Cap. 33A)
- Against all odds, LHL indeed gambled his own goodwill and trust among his colleagues in exchange for tourism and revenue diversity. Ultimately his gambit against public opinion succeeded.
- You also see their monthly casino tax is set at an extremely low rate for a fundamentally windfall industry. The highest tax rate now is 22% per month...
- Still way lower than the monthly 35% rate rate for Macau (Law 16/2001 Art. 27).
- Children Development Co-Savings Act 2001 (13 of 2001/Cap. 38A)
- An Act aiming to boost the fertility rate of Singaporeans by the Singaporean government. After all, Singapore is facing low birth rate since it becomes a developed nation.
- Choice of Court Agreements Act 2016 (14 of 2016/Cap. 39A)
- Giving effect to the Hague Choice of Court Convention. In 2014, a Civic Party LC member asked about whether HK will follow up something in response to the the Choice of Court Convention and the SICC. Years later, nothing has been done in HK after the SICC was established in 2015 and the Convention entered into force in 2016...
Copyright Act 1987(2 of 1987/Cap. 63)- The Singaporean copyright law. About 2 months after I've finished this enactment here, a new Copyright Bill was gazetted, and would probably replace this enactment in short time .
- Repealed wef. 21 November 2021
- See Copyright Act 2021 (22 of 2021), done by TE(æ)A,ea.
- The Singaporean copyright law. About 2 months after I've finished this enactment here, a new Copyright Bill was gazetted, and would probably replace this enactment in short time .
- Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act 2021 (28 of 2021)
- A comprehensive legislation providing holistic counter foreign interference measures, also repealing the former Political Donations Act 2000. To those human rights organizations is basically a big POFMA.
- Cybersecurity Act 2018 (26 of 2018)
- To be honest, instead of using the guise of "cybersecurity" to do with all the dirty repression, this piece of enactment is a genuine cybersecurity-oriented law by focusing on Internet infrastructure safety and the development of cybersecurity.
- Human Organ Transplant Act 1987 (15 of 1987/Cap. 131A)
- Establishes the opt-out mechanism for organ transplant, i.e. your organs will be used for transplant once you're dead if you didn't object it before. Whether it's effective remains doubted.
- Liquor Control (Supply and Consumption) Act 2015 (5 of 2015)
- Replaced the original liquor control policy under the Customs Act (44 of 1960/Cap. 70) after the Little India Riots
- Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act 1990 (26 of 1990/Cap. 167A)
- A strategic legal weapon to stabilize the society for a multi-cultural nation like Singapore. Amendment assented in 2019 and commenced in 2022, which aims at foreign interference through religious activities and buffed up penal provisions to the Act.
- Moneylenders Act 2008 (22 of 2008/Cap. 188)
- Revised the old Moneylenders Act to better regulate the lawful moneylending industry in Singapore. Also continued mandatory caning to punish ah longs.
- Meanwhile in the UK, courts can only fine a maximum of £100 for those who committed debtor harassment (s. 40, 1970 c. 31 U.K.), how lame...
- Online Criminal Harms Act 2023 (24 of 2023)
- An Act that promised to strike hard on scammers. Whether this will be successful or not will be seen.
- Passports Act 2007 (33 of 2007/Cap. 220)
- An Act to revise the legal regime of one of the most convenient passports in the world. Previously Singaporean Passports are regulated under regulations under the old Passports Act.
Political Donations Act 2000(20 of 2000/Cap. 236)- Made provisions on strict regulation on political donations. Repealed by the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act 2021.
- Protection from Harassment Act 2014 (17 of 2014/Cap. 256A)
- Mostly deals with offences of personal harassment, also suggested as one of the basis of anti-doxxing laws in Hong Kong by pro-establishment camp.
- Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act 2019 (18 of 2019)
- The famous/notorious Singaporean Fake News Law, one can expect how much scrutiny it will face from human rights organizations. Too bad that Singapore is an ally of the Western world, so nothing else happens apart from mere condemnation.
- Public Order Act 2009 (15 of 2009/Cap. 257A)
- Public Order and Safety (Special Powers) Act 2018 (26 of 2018)
- Empowers extra power to the police and military in case of contingency, but inclusion of large-scale peaceful demonstrations as "serious incident" in section 3 of the Act caused another wave of controversies.
Remote Gambling Act 2014(34 of 2014)- Another attempt by Singaporean authorities to legalize and regulate gambling after the passage of Casino Control Act 2006 (10 of 2006)
- Repealed by the Gambling Control Act 2022 (15 of 2022) wef. 1 August 2022
- Another attempt by Singaporean authorities to legalize and regulate gambling after the passage of Casino Control Act 2006 (10 of 2006)
- State Lands Protection Act 2022 (42 of 2022)
- Singapore: We find encroachment of state land a serious problem, and decides to take measure to deal with trespassers.
- Hong Kong, NT villagers: The law is a joke—[Inserts Ah Beng Rap]
- Sale of Food (Prohibition of Chewing Gum) Regulations 2003 (S 182/2003/Cap. 283, Rg. 2)
- One of the SLs to implement the chewing gum ban in Singapore, apart from the Regulation of Imports and Exports (Chewing Gum) Regulations (Cap. 272A, Rg. 4).
- Animals and Birds (Prohibition of Live Poultry on Pulau Ubin) Rules 2005 (S 336/2005/Cap. 7, Rg. 11)
- Enacted in the aftermath of the 2005 avian flu, but continues to be in force even after the pandemic.
- Also the power to demolish poultry-keeping buildings seems fishy: s. 25 of the Act did authorize the Minister (currently the Minister for National Development) to demolish buildings that can't be disinfected, but it seems that the empowering provisions made no provisions on whether the Rules can also authorize someone else (particularly, the Director‑General, Animal Health and Welfare) to do so.
Hong Kong
[edit]- Broadcasting Ordinance (48 of 2000/Cap. 562)
- Updates the law on television, will later be indirectly involved in the HKTV licensing controversy.
- Chief Executive Election Ordinance (21 of 2001/Cap. 569)
- Implements Annex 1 and 2 of the Hong Kong Basic Law. Continues to be a bone of contention since its enactment, and directly/indirectly related to the 2014 and 2019 protests.
- Competition Ordinance (14 of 2012/Cap. 619)
- After all, capitalist economies takes different forms, and maintaining healthy competition is essential to cheap yet high-quality goods and services in the market.
- Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance (9 of 1987/Cap. 390)
- Establishes the Obscene Article Tribunals and provide for the control of obscene and indecent articles (mainly pornography and extreme violence/horror etc.). Highly related to the Film Censorship Ordinance (Cap. 392).
- And thanks to an influx of evangelists as adjudicators, the Obscene Article Tribunals are known for making really egregious decisions based on religious morality instead of common sense...
- Deposit Protection Scheme Ordinance (7 of 2004/Cap. 581)
- Safeguarding your money deposited in banks (aka don't get screwed like Henan), and also a foundation to a mature banking industry.
- Extension of Government Leases Ordinance (Cap. 648/14 of 2024)
- Establish a simplified government land lease extension schemes for those that will expire before 2047. Might also implies the continuity of HKSAR after 2047?
- Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance (79 of 1995/Cap. 484)
- Hot fact: The HKCFA's legal basis was already established by the British HK Legco since 1995.
- Also seems that due to legal similarity, the HKCFA enjoys more foreign citation than the SGCA.
- Interception of Communications and Surveillance Ordinance (20 of 2006/Cap. 589)
- Replaces the Interception of Communications Ordinance (Cap. 532) that never commenced (also the last principal ordinance enacted in British HK), and somehow solved the troubles since the questionable Law Enforcement (Covert Surveillance Procedures) Order was declared unconstitutional... Nevertheless, the lack of penal provisions on illegal surveillance when compared to the old Interception of Communications Ordinance attracted criticism.
- Tbh while the question of "what executive orders do" in Macau are clearly defined (eg. updating civil servant quota for government agencies, publishing new logos for new government agencies, or announcing the absence of the Chief Executive and appointment of Acting Chief Executive per Law 2/1999 (Basic Law on Government Organization)), basically executive orders and its accompanying Legal Supplement No. 5 are only meant for the Public Service (Administration) Order (and it's amendments).
- And BTW, I must say the Chinese version of the Interception of Communications Ordinance is one of the shittiest bilingual enactments of Hong Kong law. I'm wondering if some Legco legal counsel actually did a machine translation from James To's English bill text.
- Hong Kong National Security Law (Translation on G.N. (E.) 72 of 2020) (Original text is L.N. 136 of 2020 as Promulgation of National Law 2020)
- and its Implementation Rules (L.N. 139 of 2020)
- and Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (6 of 2024)
- Nothing much to say, don't want to end up "quarantined" in a certain Causeway Bay hotel.
- Hong Kong Reunification Ordinance (110 of 1997)
- The first post-handover legislation passed by the PLC, which makes several amendments to existing legislation, approved pre-drafted bills passed by the PLC at Shenzhen, and provide for transitional measures. Compare Law 1/1999 (Reunification Law) of Macau.
- Karaoke Establishments Ordinance (22 of 2002/Cap. 573)
- Regulates karaoke venues due to fire safety and vice issues.
- BTW the Chinese short title is called 《卡拉OK場所條例》. While it seems that it's unusual to incorporate English into the Chinese short title, it's perfectly legitimate due to section 4(4) of the Official Languages Ordinance (Cap. 5).
- At least it's better than legal gibberish like "非高等教育私立補充教學輔助中心", as quoted from a Macau law.
- Land Titles Ordinance (26 of 2004/Cap. 585)
- One of the biggest potholes in Hong Kong legal history (along with other examples like the Dangerous Goods (Amendment) Ordinance 2002). Originally the administration expected that the Ordinance would commence in 2 years, now in 2021 the DOJ claims that they're going to submit an pre-commencement amendment ordinance to the LC...
- Legislation Publication Ordinance (13 of 2011/Cap. 641)
- The ordinance which makes consolidated enactments published on HKeL legally valid when printed as verified copies, in line with Australian and New Zealand practice where Acts published on the official websites are genuine consolidated enactments. (After all, they don't use gazettes to publish Acts...)
- And, despite all that dipsh***ery in Hong Kong law and politics plus initial bugs and troubles of the HKeL, IMO it's still one of the world's best legal database. Just think about how many "regular maintenance" on Singapore Statutes Online (plus they're not official versions despite they made online revised editions possible—see s. 11A of the Revised Edition of the Laws Act 1983), or how many un-updated enactments in UK or NZ legislation database... Aussie federal and state legislation databases looks good, but a lack of amendment annotations is confusing.
- Mainland Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Ordinance (9 of 2008/Cap. 597)
- Mainland Judgments in Matrimonial and Family Cases (Reciprocal Recognition and Enforcement) Ordinance (11 of 2021/Cap. 639)
- Enacted to implement reciprocal enforcement agreements between Mainland China and Hong Kong, which cover civil, commercial and matrimonial suits.
- Mainland Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (Reciprocal Enforcement) Ordinance (11 of 2022/Cap. 645)
- ↑See above
- Also, media reaction to the Ordinance's commencement is pretty interesting:
- Before: Nothing
- After the Ordinance was to be brought into force (2024-01-29): FOREIGN CAPITAL FLIGHT EXPECTED/MAINLAND LAW AUTOMATICALLY APPLIES TO HONG KONG/ASSETS MAY BE CONFISCATED BY MAINLAND/JUDICIAL BRIBERY IS EXPECTED. . .
- The current administration is too inept to explain their policy to the public, let alone defending itself from a clearly concerted propaganda banzai charge.
- Sigh... Now that I believe POFMA and FICA do serve some useful purposes. Whether the administration has the wisdom of LHL remains questionable.
- Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance (80 of 1995/Cap. 485)
- Impeccable model from LKY, good intentions, sh*t management... Just think of how much does your MPF agent earn for you...
- Mass Transit Railway Ordinance (10 of 2000/Cap. 556)
- "World-class railway service" amid countless stupid service outages...🤡
- Minimum Wage Ordinance (15 of 2010/Cap. 608)
- Confirms the minimum wage in Hong Kong after years of bickering between business and labour organizations. Now they're starting another wave on standard working hours, let's hope that I'll be entitled to this once I leave university...
- Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance (14 of 2008/Cap. 599)
- Enacted to replace the former Quarantine and Prevention of Disease Ordinance (Cap. 141) that dates back to 1936. Section 8 of the Ordinance empowered the CEiC to enact emergency regulations in public health emergencies, which proves to be useful in helping the inept government to deal with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
- Also my first attempt in dealing Hong Kong legislation here.
- Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (6 of 2024)
- The end of a beginning or the beginning of an end?
- Trade Descriptions Ordinance (69 of 1980/Cap. 362)
- An adapted copy from the British Trade Descriptions Act 1968 (c. 29). Amended in 2012 to deal with unfair trade practices.
- United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance (27 of 2002/Cap. 575)
- Enacted after the aftermath of 9/11. Later amended in 2004, 2012 and 2018.
- While the Ordinance is originally enacted to deal with international terrorists, the first case under the Ordinance was during the 2019 troubles where 10 protesters were charged for attempt under s. 11B (read with s. 14(7A)) after explosives, firearms and other weapons were found from their premises (HCCC 164/2022 & 255/2023).
- Update: All not guilty except one guilty on alternative charge. Will see how will the administration react.
- Also see United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Regulations 2001 (S 561/2001, now Cap. 339, Rg. 1) for similar legal provisions in Singapore.
Project MARISA
[edit]Basically I'll just go to the Hong Kong Central Library and scan gazette copies (preferably within public domain) for the use on English Wikisource. The name? Well, please ask that black white magician who frequented the SDM, cheers!
- Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance 1966 (31 of 1966/Cap. 1)
- The legislation about legislation that laid down some general definitions and principles in interpreting laws and exercising powers.
- Cold fact: an unintentional search by myself found that Falkland Islands' Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance 1977 (Falkland Islands Ordinance 14 of 1977) (p. 49 of that document) was largely a copy-paste of Hong Kong's IGCO with necessary modifications. Given by Gibraltar influence of Hong Kong's Application of English Law Ordinance 1966, I'm not sure whether there's a common Gibraltarian ancestor or not.
- Also the Falkland Island Bill probably has the most irresponsible explanatory statement I've ever seen: "The title to the Bill is self-explanatory." (see p. 312 of the document)
- Official Languages Ordinance 1974 (10 of 1974/Cap. 5)
- Declared that both Chinese and English are official languages in Hong Kong, though it would take another decade for the British Hong Kong government to enable bilingual legislation, and some extra 5 years to enable full Chinese usage in all courts.
Copyright Ordinance 1973(5 of 1973/Cap. 39)- Made domestic provision for the local implementation of UK's Copyright Act, 1956, as modified by the Copyright (Hong Kong) Order 1972 (S.I. 1972/1124). More detailed provisions that corresponds to the CDPA 1988 were inserted by the Intellectual Property (World Trade Organization Amendments) Ordinance 1996 (11 of 1996).
- But, nevermind, it's been repealed by the new Copyright Ordinance (Cap. 528) in 27 June 1997, 4 days before the handover.
- Employment Ordinance 1968 (38 of 1968/Cap. 57)
- Revamped the previous short-lived Employers and Servants Ordinance (Cap. 57 of the 1965 Edition, originally 46 of 1961) after the 1967 riots that almost kicked the colonists into the Victoria Harbour. Since then being amended and renumbered for several times to cover a range of things from end of year payment to leave with payment due to isolation or quarantine orders (mostly used during the COVID-19 pandemic).
- Import and Export Ordinance 1970 (67 of 1970/Cap. 60)
- Absolutely relevant to your daily entrepot operation.
- Also note that how lenient were the punishment for smuggling. During the 1990s they were eventually made into dual offences and buffed with a maximum penalty of 7 years imprisonment.
- Legal Aid Ordinance 1966 (36 of 1966/Cap. 91)
- A Mr. Kwok from Cheung Chau should be familiar with it.
- And to be honest, as the Ordinance only covers legal aid in civil cases, it might be better to rename it as something like "Legal Aid (Civil Cases) Ordinance"?
- Inland Revenue Ordinance, 1947 (20 of 1947/Cap. 112)
- Property tax, income tax, salaries tax. Originally 61-page long, the Ordinance as of 14 July 2023 has a whopping length of 1502 pages: its contents go up by over 24 times, and 4 letters after section numbers are used in some later inserted provisions.
- So given by the Ordinance's history and sheer complexity, maybe it's time to divide the Ordinance by "Property Tax Ordinance", "Income Tax Ordinance" (possibly including salaries tax) and a general "Taxes Management Ordinance" while also updating and simplifying the structures?
- And as a final remark, given that the current Inland Revenue Ordinance is amended for some 3-4 times per year, it's probably wise to adopt unconventional numbering schemes like New Zealand's Income Tax Act 2007 (2007 No. 97 N.Z.) to prevent something cumbersome like section 23AAAE when it was later amended...
- Buildings Ordinance, 1955 (68 of 1955/Cap. 123)
- The title should be self-evident: registered architect and contractors, building regulations, demolition of dangerous buildings...
- One may also reminder how a prosecution related to this Ordinance against Gammon Construction lead to a partial definition of strict liability offences.
- Again, throughout the years it has been heavily amended. IMO should be considered for revision, especially when neighbouring jurisdictions have much younger legislation.
- The title should be self-evident: registered architect and contractors, building regulations, demolition of dangerous buildings...
- Dangerous Drugs Ordinance 1968 (41 of 1968/Cap. 134)
- Trivia: drug trafficking often attracts a much heavier penalty (typically 10+ years) in the CFI than some other types of offences against the person (as an example in some rape cases can end up in some ~5-ish years with a timely guilty plea).
- As an old law, the ordinance is fairly outdated: Encouragement of drug usage? none; organizing drug tourism overseas (where there are indeed publicized cases in HK)? none; extraterritorial drug offences by HKSAR PR (as required by the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, Art. 4(2))? none.
- TBH I think the bloody (literally) Singaporean did a good job in updating its Misuse of Drugs Act.
- Societies Ordinance, 1949 (28 of 1949/Cap. 151)
- Provided for mandatory registration of civil societies, and has been used to deal with a range of troubles (in the eyes of authorities) from triad societies and communist cells during the colonial era to pro-democracy and pro-independence organizations of the post-NSL era. Compare the Societies Act 1966 of Malaysia ([Act 335]) and Singapore.
- Note that these legislation operates mostly in British colonial/post-colonial jurisdictions. There's no such similar thing in the E&W jurisdiction apart from political party registration.
- P.S.: The provision that makes William Stanton's The Triad Society or Heaven and Earth Association admissible evidence is still effective today. Honestly, how can one expect a book written in 1900 useful in dealing with modern-day triad societies?
- P.S.2: William Stanton was dismissed (but seemingly never tried/convicted) for corruption. Probably the forerunner of Godber, Sin Kam Wah, and all those deceitful sinners in the police force.
- Marriage Reform Ordinance 1970 (68 of 1970/Cap. 178)
- Ended lawful polygamy allowed by the Great Qing Legal Code among Chinese Hong Kong residents that were preserved as customary family law. Nevertheless, concubine-related estate litigations are still a headache in Hong Kong family law.
- Crimes Ordinance 1971 (60 of 1971/Cap. 200)
- Originally enacted to consolidate criminal legislation relating to treason, treasonable offences and piracy, the Crimes Ordinance was later expanded to consolidate a range of offences from sedition to sexual offences and preliminary offences.
- Such drafting pace is somehow similar to the Australian Federal Criminal Code, which originally contains general provisions of criminal law and later expanded to be the main federal criminal statute.
- Prevention of Bribery Ordinance 1970 (102 of 1970/Cap. 201)
- One of the game changers that ended endemic corruption in Hong Kong. Apparently the colonists knew that they would be kicked into the Victoria Harbour if they opted to lie flat. The ACB's failure prompted the establishment of the ICAC: see previous comments.
- Among all offences, the fresh offence of "possession of unexplained property" makes prosecuting corrupt officials easier. After surviving a Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance (Cap. 383) challenge (A-G v Hui Kin Hong [1995] 1 HKCLR 227), it has became a statutory requirement for members of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption under the Convention's Article 20.
- Independent Commission Against Corruption Ordinance 1974 (7 of 1974/Cap. 204)
- Established the ICAC after the RHKP's Anti-Corruption Branch miserably let Godber fled Hong Kong when he was investigated for corruption charges. Since then the ICAC excelled in eradicating corruption, and had been modelled in other jurisdictions, most notably Macau and NSW.
- With only great determination can uproot deeply rooted bad habits... You can't simply use "magic" to defeat magic.
- P.S.: The ordinance was rushed in the then-LC, with the bill being gazetted in January 1974 and passed in mid-February 1974.
- P.S. 2: The establishment of the ICAC was recommended after a royal commission, and the chairman was "百里渠". Seriously, Mr. "Hundred Miles of Sewer"?
- Police Force Ordinance, 1948 (41 of 1948/Cap. 232)
- Whether in their best days or worst days, the police's governing legislation is still the same antique.
- Also as a side note, the criminal procedure provisions relating to arrest and search is really, really stuffy, inadequate and increasing lagging beyond our society. The last part especially give me some pre-Victorian legislation vibes.
- Just think about how the HKCA ruled in Sham Wing Kan v Commissioner of Police [2020] 2 HKLRD 529 that the police has the power to unlock and search suspect's phones based on the Ordinance's s. 50(6). The power is indeed necessary, but I'll complain that the legal basis is rather flimsy.
- IMO consolidating all law enforcement power provisions in a manner like the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 in UK would have been much better. If the SB and DoJ have the time to deal with it, it's also high time to revamp the Police Force Ordinance and the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force Ordinance (Cap. 233).
- Public Order Ordinance 1967 (64 of 1967/Cap. 245)
- From stone and bricks to petrol bomb
from tear gas to warning banners
as long as you aren't BMJ,
riots, riots never change.
- From stone and bricks to petrol bomb
- Revised Edition of the Laws Ordinance 1965 (53 of 1965/Cap. 642)
- How legislation are accessed before the Internet era. You find the latest revised edition (or LS1/2 if it's yet revised), check the amendment notes or slip paper, then access another volume of LS1/2 based on the notes to understand how it looked like now.
- To be repealed by Legislation Publication Ordinance.
Amendments matters...
[edit]- Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment No. 3) Act 2022 (40 of 2022, SG)
- Penal Code (Amendment) Act 2022 (39 of 2012, SG)
- No more 377A anymore on statute book, aka gay sex are de jure legalized after the Penal Code amendment comes into effect upon gazettal.
- Also coupled with a constitutional amendment that protects heterosexual marriage from being challenged. That said, I think cautious measures are understandable in a conservative society like Singapore.
- Crimes (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 (35 of 2021, HK)
- Inserted a new part in the Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200) to criminalize voyeurism specifically, after a HKCFA judgment ruled that access to computer with criminal or dishonest intent is inapplicable to voyeurism: See Secretary for Justice v Cheng Ka Yee & Others [2019] HKCFA 9, (2019) 22 HKCFAR 97.
- Take note that the offence itself is modelled after section 162 of the Canadian Criminal Code (RSC 1985, c C-46).
- Dangerous Goods (Amendment) Ordinance 2002 (4 of 2002, HK)
- Enacted on 21 March 2002, Commences on 31 March 2022... While they said complimentary SLs are required to bring this Ordinance into force, they used 10 years to enact 2 of them (Cap. 295E and 295F), another 9 years to deal with another (Cap. 295G), and finally approximately 3 months to round up all consequential amendments (29 of 2021) throughout all HK enactments...
- What an exemplary example of bureaucracy... All Secretaries of Security from Regina Ip to John Lee deserve a full bucket of the people's saccharin—
- N.B.: prosecutable under s. 17 of the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance (Cap. 382).
- Declaration of Change of Titles (General Adaptation) Notice 1997 (L.N. 362 of 1997, HK)
- Made universal changes across Hong Kong legislation and contracts in preparation of the handover of Hong Kong. As a result, the marginal notice of L.N. 362 of 1997 appears frequently on Hong Kong enactments.
- Immigration (Amendment) Ordinance 2009 (13 of 2009, HK)
- Added section 38AA into the Immigration Ordinance (Cap. 115) to directly criminalize illegal working. Since then 38AA has become an important legal weapon to prosecute illegal workers.
- Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Act 2012 (30 of 2012, SG)
- Penal Code (Amendment) Act 2012 (32 of 2012, SG)
- Two piece of law giving the SGHC discretion not to condemn convicted murderers and drug traffickers to death under certain circumstances.
- Compare the Malaysian Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2017 [Act A1558], which is even more lenient than the Singaporean amendment in terms of conditions of not sentencing the mandatory death penalty.
- The Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023 [Act 846] will later abolish the mandatory death penalty plus life imprisonment (not the 30-year fixed-term imprisonment masquerading in the name of "life imprisonment"). With an official moratorium on hanging, drug dealers will be happy with the PN-PH hung parliament.
- Road Traffic (Amendment) Ordinance 2000 (33 of 2000, HK)
- Converted the offences of reckless driving into dangerous driving, as proving "dangerous" is much easier than proving "reckless", also affected by UK legislative amendments since 1992.
- Statute Law Reform Act 2021 (4 of 2021, SG)
- Changed the citation method and abolished the original chapter system of Singaporean laws (i.e. no more "Chapter XXX of the XXXX Edition", comparable to the pre-1990 old citation method in Hong Kong), and abolishes the Singaporean-equivalent Emergency Regulations Ordinance.
- Though the Singaporean president still holds the power to issue emergency ordinances once an emergency is proclaimed per Article 150 of the Singaporean Constitution.
Miscellaneous
[edit]- Rules and Directions for the Questioning of Suspects and the Taking of Statements (Hong Kong Govt. Gazette Sp. Supp. No. 5)
- A set of important rules governing the immediate aftermath of arrest and the admissibility of testimonials.
- Though, violation of these rules and direction per se doesn't make the suspect's testimonial inadmissible in trial.
English Criminal Statutes Series
[edit]As long as you are a human being (perhaps except the North Sentinel Islanders), you are subject to criminal law — no other law impose such enormous restrictions on mankind.
I'd like to express my gratitude to Inductiveload, who assisted me with dealing with the tables in the following enactments.
- Offences against the Person Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 100) (Not did by me)
- While a number of provisions of the Act (such as murder and sex offences) are repealed, the Act is still used to prosecute offences against the person cases. Also preserved the practice of all-noun capitalization in early modern English inherited from German grammar.
- As a reminder, the Act is also the origin of Hong Kong's Offences Against the Person Ordinance (Cap. 212).
- Punishment for murder changed to life imprisonment per the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 (c. 71).
- Explosive Substances Act 1883 (46 Vict. c. 3)
- Enacted to suppress illicit use of explosives, which is later exported all over the UK's colonies later. Given by its lengthy lifespan, it had been used to deal with offenders from Irish activists to Islamist terrorists.
- It even get unexpectedly referenced by Japan as the Suppression of Explosive Substances (Penalties) Rules (爆発物取締罰則) (Council of State Proc. 32 of 1884)[Citation needed], also noted as one of the still current Japanese laws that isn't enacted by the Imperial/National Diet.
- Refer to Part VII of the Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200) for same provisions in Hong Kong.
But honestly, I'm also curious about how well this Act would work with the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings. In Hong Kong, we have section 11B (read with section 14(7A)) of the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance that deal with bombings under that convention. So perhaps the UK Parliament thinks that the Act itself can fulfill the convention requirement?- Edit: They instituted global jurisdiction by virtue of s. 62 of Terrorism Act 2000 (c. 11). Similar things were later modified by s. 17(2) of Terrorism Act 2006 to cover making or possession of explosives for terrorism.
- Enacted to suppress illicit use of explosives, which is later exported all over the UK's colonies later. Given by its lengthy lifespan, it had been used to deal with offenders from Irish activists to Islamist terrorists.
- Perjury Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5 c. 6)
- Reformed the law relating to perjury. Previously, perjury seems to be governed by some statute law written in archaic English during the 16th century...
- Refer to Part V of the Crimes Ordinance for same provisions in Hong Kong.
- And while obviously the MPs won't care about it, it's quite sure that using modern English to rewrite some archaic but still useful British legislation (like the Treason Act 1351 (25 Edw 3 St 5 c 2) or the Statute of Malborough in relation to waste and distress, note that both aren't even written in English) is helpful to us end-users. Something finely engineered like the Singaporean Application of English Law Act 1993 is the best.
- Public Order Act 1936 (1 Edw. 8 & 1 Geo. 6 c. 6)
- Enacted in response to the growing influence of Nazism associates like the British Union of Fascists, which wore distinctive uniforms and attacked dissents in demonstrations.
- Also see section 14 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (c. 11), which penalizes wearing terrorist uniform and public support to terrorist organizations.
- Part of the Act was later incorporated in sections 3 to 5 the Public Order Ordinance (Cap. 245) of Hong Kong, with section 4 being repealed by the Public Order (Amendment) Ordinance 1995 (77 of 1995).
- Infanticide Act 1938 (1 & 2 Geo. 6 c. 36)
- Re-enacted the offence of infanticide as created by the Infanticide Act 1922 (12 & 13 Geo. 5 c. 18). Still an active criminal legislation used to deal with unfortunate cases and unfortunate defendants.
- See section 47C of the Offences against the Person Ordinance for corresponding Hong Kong legislation.
- That said, some proposed that diminished responsibility due to lactation effects is scientifically doubted
- ->Somehow similar to how Article 19 of the Chinese Criminal Law (first enacted in 1979) provides for diminished responsibility to deaf defendants who can't speak (又聋又哑的人), on the outdated idea that deaf-mute people must have intellectual disability. Note that neither deafness nor muteness alone benefits a defendant under this Article.
- And also, the Act's provision may also cover section 2 of the Homicide Act 1957 (5 & 6 Eliz. 2 c. 11, section 3 of the Homicide Ordinance (Cap. 339) in Hong Kong), relating to general diminished responsibility in murder.
- Prison Act 1952 (15 & 16 Geo. 6 & 1 Eliz. 2 c. 52)
- The end of first-instance criminal trial, and the beginning of the criminal's reformation—bye, have a great time.
- Also created offences against prison administration. The penalties were eventually increased and revised throughout time.
- Prevention of Crime Act 1953 (1 & 2 Eliz. c. 14)
- Criminalizes possession of offensive weapons in public places without lawful authority or reasonable excuse. Later amended by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (c. 10) to create another fresh offence of threatening with offensive weapon in public.
- The Act is also the basis of section 33 of the Public Order Ordinance (Cap. 245) in Hong Kong, and is an useful reference when dealing with charges under s. 33, although s. 33 provides different sentencing arrangement (see subsection (2) of s. 33).
- Although in light of all the mess in 2019, the administration do need to seriously consider a revision on s. 33 (along with other content) of the Public Order Ordinance to clarify what is an "offensive weapon", like, how to properly deal with extra-powerful laser pointers?
- Suicide Act 1961 (9 & 10 Eliz 2 c. 60)
- Decriminalized suicide, prescribed penalties for assisting and aiding suicide.
- For corresponding Hong Kong law, see ss. 33A-33B of the Offences Against the Person Ordinance.
- P.S.: Also related to the last of the last UKHL appeal, see R (Purdy) v Director of Public Prosecutions (Society for the Protection of Unborn Children intervening) [2009] UKHL 45, [2010] AC 345. Basically a UK version of Tang Siu-pun who asked the legality of assisting those wishing for suicide from leaving UK is an offence under the Suicide Act 1961.
- Criminal Law Act 1967 (c. 58)
- Enacted before the wave of English criminal law reform. Abolished the distinction between felony and misdemeanour, introduced the concept of arrestable offences, created offences for assisting offenders, concealing offences and providing false information to law enforcement, and wiped out archaic legislation dated back from 1275.
- Though felony and misdemeanour are still widely adopted by the Americans (partially thanks to the Model Penal Code). Don't know why state legislators have the interest to classify offences from Class A felonies to Class X misdemeanours.
- For corresponding Hong Kong law provisions, see notes on the page.
- Enacted before the wave of English criminal law reform. Abolished the distinction between felony and misdemeanour, introduced the concept of arrestable offences, created offences for assisting offenders, concealing offences and providing false information to law enforcement, and wiped out archaic legislation dated back from 1275.
- Firearms Act 1968 (c. 27)
- Gun control, or in other words, the key prerequisite for unarmed British police officers roaming on the street.
- Part of the Act's contents forms the basis of Hong Kong's Firearms and Ammunition Ordinance (Cap. 238), though the conditions for lawful gun holding is much stricter for obvious reasons.
- Theft Act 1968 (c. 60)
- Covers property offences like theft, robbery and blackmail, and obviously, is the basis of Hong Kong's Theft Ordinance (Cap. 210)
- The offences about obtaining property and pecuniary advantage by deception were repealed by the Fraud Act 2006.
- Though remember that these offences still remains in the Theft Ordinance: see ss. 17 to 18 of that Ordinance.
- Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (c. 38)
- Drugs, narcotics, psychoactive substances...
- Honestly to all of those so called "harm reductionists" and "drug reformists", if you seek self-degeneration of your society, that's good. Just don't let other countries suffer from crime, health problems, and additional financial spending brought by your drugs.
- If not? Go **** yourselves. In such context my emotion would totally support LKY's mandatory death penalty to clear such social parasites.
- Well, apart from those personal opinion, this is probably one of the most tech-demanding piece of text I've dealt with. Also give me vibes when dealing with the Macau equivalent, also filled with tables and nearly incomprehensible organic chemistry.
- Probably also influenced the Singaporean Misuse of Drugs Act 1973 in terms of drafting (especially the penalty table at the end), though LKY hang drug dealers extensively, plus there's no need to distinguish summary conviction and conviction by indictment in SG.
- Criminal Damage Act 1971 (c. 48)
- Reforms then-archaic English law on vandalism (N.B., the Malicious Damage Act 1861, enacted approximately at the same period of the Offences against the Person Act 1861).
- While broad enough, the enactment is not applicable to intangible properties like computer data, which is the reason why the Computer Misuse Act 1990 is enacted.
- See R v Gold & Schifreen [1988] 1 AC 1063
- Covered by Part VIII of the Crimes Ordinance in Hong Kong, and note that the Hong Kong provisions covers computer data (s. 59(1)(b) and 59(1A)), similar to provisions of the Irish Criminal Damage Act 1991 (Ireland 31 of 1991) before the Criminal Justice (Offences Relating to Information Systems) Act 2017 (Ireland 11 of 2017) was passed.
- Immigration Act 1971 (c. 77)
- Papers, please...
- Covers everything about right of abode (known as patriality in the original Act), immigration control and deportation. Part III of the Act also created the offences of illegal entry and assisting illegal entry, and more offences were added to that Part since the Act's commencement.
- Part II relating to immigration adjudicator and immigration appeals tribunals repealed by the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (c. 33). After waves of revisions and repeals, the current provisions are in Part 5 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (c. 41), as amended.
- For provisions related to right of abode/permanent residency in Hong Kong law, see Part IA and Schedule 1 of the Immigration Ordinance (Cap. 115) as amended.
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (c. 37)
- The main enactment for dealing with not-so-serious industrial accidents. Also enables the HSE to make safety regulations.
- And at the end of the day, the British Statutory Instrument system is ten-folded complicated than Acts. Of the thousands of S.I.s per year, there is a mix of your daily bits of flight prohibition regulations, road closure orders and development consent orders, code of practice authorization orders, appointment, mixed with more important subsidiary legislation and commencement orders/regulations.
- While some have different series (e.g. C. for commencement, L. for legal series), you can't search them directly on legislation.gov.uk!
- The HSE does prepare a list of S.I. enforced by them. Not the case for other stuffs like regulations under the European Communities Act 1972 (and even less true if there are more than one authorizing enactment).
- Maybe the Malaysian way would work, but I think uncontroversial stuff like flight prohibition regulations, road closure orders and appointments should be directly thrown into Gazette notifications.
- Criminal Law Act 1977 (c. 45)
- While mostly about criminal conspiracy and modes of trial (pre-consolidation amendments before the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980), the Act also made provisions about trespassing offences. The offences of bomb hoaxes and inciting girl under sixteen to have incestuous sexual intercourse was also created, with the latter one being repealed by Sexual Offences Act 2003.
- Protection of Children Act 1978 (c. 37)
- The easiest way to get globaned by the WMF with two-digit edits on Wikipedia. Refer to Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance (Cap. 579) and Sections 377BG to 377BL for relevant provisions in HK and SG.
- After all, they share similar classification and sentencing guidelines: see R v Mark David Oliver and Others [2003] 2 Cr App R 64, which was subsequently adopted by Secretary for Justice v Man Kwong Choi [2008] 5 HKLRD 519.
- While not mentioned in the Act, various civil organizations also enforces the Act by blacklisting relevant websites, in which an example can be found at here.
- The easiest way to get globaned by the WMF with two-digit edits on Wikipedia. Refer to Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance (Cap. 579) and Sections 377BG to 377BL for relevant provisions in HK and SG.
- Theft Act 1978 (c. 31)
- Criminalizes offences related to deception, along with making off without payment (i.e. 霸王餐). ss. 1 and 2 has since been repealed by the Fraud Act 2006 to update provisions related to white-collar crimes.
- Though ss. 18A to 18C of the Theft Ordinance in Hong Kong law are still active provisions since they are enacted in 1980.
- Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (c. 2)
- Import and export, trafficking and the HMRC. Also note that most of the offences' punishments are relatively minor at the time of enactment.
- Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 (c. 45)
- Revised British criminal provisions on forgery and counterfeiting. Corresponding provisions exist in Hong Kong law under Part IX and XI of the Crimes Ordinance.
- Hot fact: Counterfeiting British currency was originally treated as treason.
- Taking of Hostages Act 1982 (c. 28)
- Criminalizing hostage taking. In other words, if Pagett took hostage after the Act commences, he won't be able to use causation to defend (9up) his act.
- Aviation Security Act 1982 (c. 36)
- Consolidates crimes against aviation security: aircraft hijacking, bombing, bomb hoaxes, and so on. Related to Hong Kong's Aviation Security Ordinance (Cap. 494), in which both are consolidations of previous enactments with little modification.
- Schedule 4 of the Space Industry Act 2018 (c. 5) copy-pasted these provisions to spacecrafts. It's somewhat hilarious that British legislators had gone such far when mankind is still meddling with orbital space stations...
- Public Order Act 1986 (c. 64)
- Covering public order offences that one will find in out-of-control demonstrations.
- Refer to ss. 18-19 of the Public Order Ordinance for similar provisions in Hong Kong law. Also note that the requirement in England and Wales is 12 people, consistent with the earlier tradition of the Riot Act.
- The British offence of riot also explicitly requires proof of common purpose, while both the offences of unlawful assembly and riot under the Hong Kong Public Order Ordinance explicitly waived common purpose: see HKSAR v Lo Kin Man (2021) 24 HKCFAR 302 para. 37 and 39.
- Official Secrets Act 1989 (c. 6)
- Humphrey: The Official Secrets Act is not there to protect secrets, it is there to protect officials!
- Computer Misuse Act 1990 (c. 18)
- Creates statutory computer misuse offences, and is the template for other common law jurisdiction enactments like Computer Misuse Act 1993 in Singapore.
- P.S., honestly, when can our administration consider revising our cybercrime legislation? It's obviously too obscure to prosecute all of these cases under the
all-powerful"access to computer with criminal or dishonest intent"? (s. 161, Crimes Ordinance)
- Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (c. 40)
- Dealing with the offence of harassment. While not explicitly marked, it seems that it's also somehow related to Singapore's Protection from Harassment Act 2014 (albeit with more recent drafting style)?
- Terrorism Act 2000 (c.11)
- One of the UK's main anti-terrorism legislation, which originates from a review of Northern Ireland legislation.
- International Criminal Court Act 2001 (c. 17)
- Meanwhile in the US: How dare you touch my operations in Afghanistan? SANCTION!!!
- Also apparently there were misinformation that claims that genocide is legalized with the repeal of Genocide Act 1969 (c. 12). They should probably be served with a big POFMA notice.
- Sexual Offences Act 2003 (c. 42)
- Reforms English criminal law on sexual offences, introduces new measures on preventing repeated sex offenders, and strengthens penalty on child pornography by increasing maximum penalty to 10 years.
- And it seems that the UK Parliament is quite satisfied with the "prevention order" model, and tried to expand it's usage to other legislation, eg. Serious Crime Act 2015 (c. 9) section 73 (which inserts sections 5A to 5C to the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 (c. 31)) and Part 2 of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 (c. 17) (Knife crime prevention orders).
- Part of the Act is also used to improve portions related to sex offences in the Singaporean Penal Code 1871 vide the Criminal Law Reform Act 2019.
- Terrorism Act 2006 (c. 11)
- Creates additional terrorist offences on top of existing legislation like Terrorism Act 2000.
- Fact: Terrorism per se is not an offence in E&W (and unlike jurisdictions like Australia and New Zealand), so terrorists must be prosecuted based on their offences committed, whether it is murder, aircraft hijacking or using chemical weapons. But encouragement of terrorism is a standalone offence.
- Fraud Act 2006 (c. 35)
- Basically dealing with white-collar crimes, also see the blurb regarding Theft Act 1978.
- Meanwhile in Hong Kong, a separate fraud offence was inserted into the Theft Ordinance by the Theft (Amendment) Ordinance 1999 (45 of 1999).
- However one should note that the fraud offence in Hong Kong doesn't require proof of dishonesty, contrary to what is required in England: see paras. 138-139, HKSAR v Chan Kam Ching [2022] HKCFA 7, (2022) 25 HKCFAR 48.
- Animal Welfare Act 2006 (c. 45)
- So called animal welfare or rights... Would be happy to grant more animal rights if cats or dogs can vote for me! (/s)
- IMO, if any animal welfare legislation should exist, they should exist only for the purpose of preventing violent crime and protecting public health. Anything more is rubbish.
- Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (c. 19)
- Creating the offence of corporate manslaughter, an entirely corporate offence. Mostly used to prosecute industrial accidents.
- Export Control Order 2008 (S.I. 2008/3231)
- Offences made by S.I. are typically lenient... Perhaps this is an exceptional case (max. penalty 10 year's imprisonment).
- Also the tables are as complex as the export control regime itself. Took me a lot of effort to tidy up those ML and PL stuff...
- Bribery Act 2010 (c. 23)
- An British effort to reform the archaic British criminal law on corruption (honestly, you want some 1889 or 1916 Acts to come up with modern corrupt practice?). So can I describe it's a "Great Leap Forward to 1960 or 1970"?
- Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 (c. 2)
- Introduces a blanket ban on "new psychoactive substances" (i.e. synthetic drugs). Despite unwarranted criticism at the beginning, at least the UK Government did something correct.
- That said, without compulsory drug rehabilitation nothing is going to change. Plus are the Tories sure that local authorities will have sufficient firepower to clamp down on drug offences?
- Cf. Part 2A of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1973 as inserted by Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Act 2023 in Singapore.
- Control of Trade in Endangered Species Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/703)
- First attempt to cover principal subsidiary legislation implementing EU directives.
- Implements the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. There's also the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act 1976, though a 1996 amendment to the Act's schedule made the Act effectively useless in prosecuting illegal import/export of endangered species: see R v Sissen [2001] WLR 902.
There's also a list of Acts that create criminal offences as principal provisions, being mixed with amending provisions and nearly unidentifiable in TOC. Again as they are chaotically organized and often repealed frequently, these are on my lowest priority.
Standalone provisions (only principal)
|
---|
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...And the inchoate offences
[edit]That said, as most inchoate offences are codified in big massive chaotic Criminal Law Acts or Criminal Justice Acts (which are usually a mix of amendments and principal provisions, don't know why the Brits are such messy in law drafting), one shouldn't expect quick digitalization by me.
Offence | Legislation | Notes |
---|---|---|
Attempt | Criminal Attempts Act 1981 (c. 47) |
|
Encouraging or assisting an offence | Serious Crime Act 2007 (c. 27) Part 2 |
|
Conspiracy | Criminal Law Act 1977 (c. 45) Part I |
|
...And criminal procedure law
[edit]Things are much easier for civil law jurisdictions, or even common law jurisdictions that compiled their Criminal Procedure Codes/Code of Criminal Procedure, but in E&W, things rely on individual legislation and precedent.
- Indictments Act 1915 (5 & 6 Geo. 5. c. 90.)
- The beginning of all criminal proceedings in Crown Courts (or in Hong Kong/Singapore, the District Court and Court of First Instance/General Division of High Court).
- First Schedule revoked by Indictment Rules 1971 (S.I. 1971/1253), which was in turn revoked by the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2007 (S.I. 2007/699). Currently found in Criminal Procedure Rules 2020 (S.I. 2020/759).
- ⇒In most civil law jurisdictions, an indictment is a detailed list of alleged facts, including the actus reus (physical element(s)) and mens rea (mental element(s)) that lead up to the prosecuted offence. Some complex cases can have indictments with some hundred or thousand paragraphs. The proved facts will be reiterated by the court when the judgment is handed down, so one can expect how long are those judgments. Lazier (yet cleverer) judges may opt to state what facts cannot be verified by them, and the rest are deemed verified.
- ⇒And it seems that the American federal indictments signed by grand juries is also closer to the civil law jurisdictions.
- Courts-Martial (Appeals) Act 1968 (c. 20)
- The military justice counterpart of Criminal Appeal Act 1968. The UK military contributed awkward, if not outright mind-blowing cases in criminal law textbooks, not sure the "mortar supermen" in RAF Honington will have their indecent conduct recorded in textbooks.
- Criminal Appeal Act 1968 (c. 19)
- Things to do when you're discontented with the judgment and sentencing. Final appeal to UKHL transferred to the SCOTUK.
- Note that Hong Kong only adopted Part I of the Act in the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Cap. 221) in ss. 80 and 82-83Y, as colonial-era final appeals to the UKPC was regulated by Hong Kong (Appeal to Privy Council) Order in Council 1909 (S.R. & O. (Rev. XI, p. 374)) — old enough that it doesn't have a serial number.
- Plus, it's common sense that final appeal functions are exercised by the HKCFA after 1997.
- Things to do when you're discontented with the judgment and sentencing. Final appeal to UKHL transferred to the SCOTUK.
- Juries Act 1974 (c. 23)
- Consolidates enactment related to the selection of jury, also changed the requirement for juries to convict somebody from unanimous to allowing 1 dissent vote for criminal cases, and 7 yeas for civil suits.
- Bail Act 1976 (c. 63)
- Made provisions for bail in criminal proceedings. Also created the offence of absconding and indemnifying bail sureties.
- Also probably loosely the base of Part IA of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance in Hong Kong added after the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance 1994 (56 of 1994), which is also bail-related.
- Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 (c. 43)
- Hot fact: 90% of the English magistrates are lay part-time worker, and therefore their sentencing power is only 6/12 months. Professional magistrates in other jurisdictions would be pretty shocked by such system.
- Contempt of Court Act 1981 (c. 49)
- Swearing on judicial officers? Contempt of court. Photographing in court? Contempt of court. Violation of injunction? Contempt of court. Malaysian judges are fairer than Singaporean judges? Contempt of—
- Just remember that scandalizing the court was abolished in England and Wales through s. 33(1) of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 (c. 22).
- Act also introduces the strict liability contempt. One can guess what it's about by its name.
- Swearing on judicial officers? Contempt of court. Photographing in court? Contempt of court. Violation of injunction? Contempt of court. Malaysian judges are fairer than Singaporean judges? Contempt of—
- Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (c. 60)
- My first attempt to deal with >100 pages UK legislation. Again a typical UK legal hodgepodge containing multiple topics and mixing principal and amendment provisions in main text. TBH it's still better than recent legislation by organizing provisions based on chapters: modern AoPs are literally legal dumpsites.
- Governs the initial steps of criminal procedure: stop and search, search warrants, arrest, detention... One may also remember current HK legislation related to intimate sampling (amendments made by 68 of 2000) was also based on this stuff.
- Although remember the Brits no longer use arrestable offences since 2006, so technically the police can indeed arrest you for littering, as long as the prerequisite reasons (listed out in the new s. 24(5)) were fulfilled.
- Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 (c. 46)
- Typically reserved for serious mismanagement of a company, though can also apply to white collar criminals as well.
- Criminal Justice Act 1987 (c. 38)
- Establishes the Serious Fraud Office that investigates and prosecutes its own white-collar offences.
- Interestingly the SFO is not given typical police powers of arrest, search and seizure (commercial affairs officers in Singapore are more powerful than SFO employees, cf. s. 64 of Police Force Act 2004), though they have the power to extract information for investigation.
- Act also excluded complex commercial crimes from preliminary hearing in the Magistracy, empowered the court to restrict reporting (cf. Complex Commercial Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 394) in Hong Kong). Perhaps most importantly, the Act fixed the maximum penalty for conspiracy to defraud.
- Establishes the Serious Fraud Office that investigates and prosecutes its own white-collar offences.
- War Crimes Act 1991 (c. 13)
- Extended E&W and NI criminal jurisdiction to prosecute German war criminals, funds the Met Police's war crime unit, and originally provides for special pre-trial procedures (which were repealed before commencement).
- Teutonic appeasers will rot six feet underground[Dubious—discuss], but by far there's only one conviction...
- Extended E&W and NI criminal jurisdiction to prosecute German war criminals, funds the Met Police's war crime unit, and originally provides for special pre-trial procedures (which were repealed before commencement).
Others
[edit]Other British legislation
[edit]- Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 (c. 80)
- By all means will probably enter the list of "top ten worst-named statute law". Can you guess what does this Act of Parliament does?
- British Nationality Act 1981 (c. 61)
- The current main British nationality law that divides British personal status into 3 distinct types.
- Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955 (3 & 4 Eliz. 2 c. 28)
- Enacted in response to alleged harmful effects caused horror comics (like vampire comics) popular among British children. Probably a prime example of moral-panic induced legislation?
- But still a current enactment in EW and Scotland, and is listed as one of the possible options (though one that needs the A-G's permission for prosecution) when dealing with obscene publications by the DPP.
- Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919 (9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 76)
- Enabling the Church of England to legislate their own affairs like church property management, clergy discipline, suppression of sexual abuses, religious marriage in churches, and so on. Things appear in the secular jurisdiction have their counterparts in church measures.
- Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c. 36)
- Humphrey: Knowledge only means complicity in guilt; ignorance has a certain dignity. (/s)
- Finally, after being abandoned for over a decade, I've completed this pothole.
- Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill (Prohibition on Submission for Royal Assent) Order 2023 (S.I. 2023/41)
- The first time where a Scottish Bill was disallowed by Westminister, triggering a massive political blame game.
- Human Rights Act 1998 (c. 42)
- The British constitutional law giving effect to the ECHR (convention).
- After the Rwandan refugee plan screwed up (plus the Tories' longstanding distaste of the HRA1998), Dominic Raab attempted to submit a Bill to repeal HRA1998, with one of the key points is to limit ECHR litigations related to deportation. That porkchop was halted by Liz Truss at the end—don't even need a filibuster from the opposition.
- Update: that lad was doomed for bullying wef. 2023-04-23.
- Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918 (8 & 9 Geo. 5. c. 47)
- The shortest Act of Parliament in history. Simple, concise and empowering.
- Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 (c. 56)
- The PAP's eternal enemy.
- Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/2426)
- Mainly dealing with unsolicited cold calls, though also part of the conditions of OGL1 license.
- Regency Act 1937 (22 Geo. 5. c. 4)
- Plus Regency Act 1943 (6 & 7 Geo. 6. c. 42) and Regency Act 1953 (2 & 3 Eliz. 2. c. 1)
- Governs regency of the British monarch in exigency. Well, well, well, certainly, totally and absolutely not related to Mr. Tabby. These kind of a*-holes are best dealt under the Geneva Conventions Act 1957 (5 & 6 Eliz. 2 c. 52 U.K.).
- Just please don't deface Wikipedia. Any addition there will be deleted within hours for insufficient notability.
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (S.I. 2005/1541)
- The first time (and so far the only time) a Regulatory Reform Order was used to consolidate existing primary legislation. Pretty reasonable step as the previous law was scattered between several Acts of Parliament and local Acts.
- TBH, I think since the European Communities Act 1972 was enacted, the distinction between primary and secondary legislation has been significantly blurred...
- Government buildings doesn't require fire safety clearance [...] perhaps because Her Majesty's Civil Servants are not easily inflamed.—Humphrey
- Riot Compensation Act 2016 (c. 8)
- An Act to revamp the century-old Riot (Damages) Act 1886 (49 & 50 Vict. c. 38) following the 2011 riots. As of mid-2024 it appears that there will be another surge of claims under it...
- Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 (c. 8)
- If you can't beat the courts, override them.—Tories (2010–2024)
- Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46)
- The basic law of Scottish devolution. TBH I consider devolution as a futile attempt of appeasement: it fails to stop the SNP from promoting their separatist agenda while adds extra burden in daily governance. At the end of the day, the Scottish Government is using public fund to FF what would happen should Scottish independence were achieved.
- Also some reason British sovereignty towards Scotland is not declared, unlike s. 1(1) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. Things would have been clearer if such provisions were included at the beginning.
- Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 (c. 34)
- Despite being called an "amendment", this Act actually made principal provisions for the protection of sexual offence victims. IMO probably better to be called "Sexual Offences (Protection of Victims) Act 1992".
- We also have a similar case in South Africa named Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007 (South Africa Act 32 of 2007), which it's amendment is meant for "amending and abrogating the previous common law offences". This led to woefully confusing cases when it was further amended, like Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act Amendment Act, 2015 (South Africa Act 5 of 2015)...
- Statute of Westminster 1931 (22 Geo. 5. c. 4)
- A British law loosening colonial control on a number of colonies (dominions), triggering the eventual collapse of the British Colonial Empire.
Other miscellaneous legislation
[edit]- Anti-Torture Act, 2017 (Nigerian Act 21 of 2017)
- Good ideals, sh*t enforcement, and nothing much changed in the Western African state even after the 2020 protests.
- "This is Nigeria, look how I'm living now, look how I'm getting now, everybody be criminal..."
- Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth.) (Australia Act No. 12 of 1995)
- One of the latest criminal codes in the common law world, also a good example of plain law drafting in explaining the general principles of criminal law (if not having too many notes and with inconsistent bolding). While the vanilla version is short, later amendments will eventually expand this Act into 2 volumes of massive consolidated compilations.
- Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 (Ireland No. 26 of 1997)
- The Irish solution in modernizing criminal law regarding offences against the person. Replaces most provisions of the inherited Offences against the Person Act 1861.
- Meanwhile in Hong Kong we are still using the archaic Offences against the Person Ordinance (Cap. 212) (original version)...
- Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 (Malaysia [Act 694])
- While antiqued legislations like Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 (6 Edw. 7 c. 34) is inefficient in clamping down on corruption, the Malaysian case shows that legislation itself (and perhaps an anti-corruption agency) doesn't equate with good governance...
- Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Malaysia [Act 747])
- A replacement for the Internal Security Act 1960 [Act 82] (i.e. the former Cap. 143 in Singapore, as the ISA extended to there since Singapore became a component part of Malaysia, along with other Malaysian enactments), though critics claim that it's nothing different than the old one.
- Criminal Code of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
- The criminal code of Russia (as part of the Soviet Union) from 1960 to 1996. While not verified, this seems to be the basis for the Chinese Criminal Law, especially the 1979 version—you know, offences like "hooliganism" (cf. 流氓罪) or "spetaculation" (cf. 投机倒把).
- Syariah Penal Code Order, 2013 (Brunei S 69/2013)
- Introduced medieval punishments like amputation for thieves and stoning for gay couples... US: Should we invoke the Global Magnitsky Act to sanction the Sultan? Oh, he's oily, so perhaps we should then condemn him and continue import oil from them, nothing happens! :-)
Macau Laws
[edit]I'm also responsible for importing and maintaining the consolidated Macau laws on Chinese Wikisource. All laws after the handover, important pre-handover laws and all codes have been completely Done.
Whether administrative regulations will be continued depends on my workload on other projects: some are really really trivial with many table formatting work, while others have really short lifespan (similar to some Chinese ministerial decrees): certainly I don't want to have something quickly repealed after importation.
Fun stuffs
[edit]Not done by me, but found intersting:
- The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, translated by Yei Theodora Ozaki
- One of the earliest Japanese folklore. A more famous adaptation involves a tale of our heroic shrine maiden with a
thousand-year fhsja;nfska;f17-year old gap youkai, - Or depending on your choice:
- a reputed magician thief (DA☆ZE) and her magician marionette concubine
- a >500-year old vampire and her padded maid [Knifed]
- a hungry ghost and... wait where is the half phantom??
- engaging in some astonishing
masochisticfirework fighting with three Lunarian immortals...
- Additional comment: You know, this is what happens to students when your holiday assignments were left untouched until the last minute...
- Certainly you don't want yourself being screwed up as compost...
- Or find yourself in an abandoned hell (aka. nuclear reactor) after you jumped off from the mushroom...
- Certainly you don't want yourself being screwed up as compost...
- One of the earliest Japanese folklore. A more famous adaptation involves a tale of our heroic shrine maiden with a
- Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn
- How should I comment on this? In the [redacted] series, there was the BBA who created the Land of Fantasy. . .
- [Head smashed and rolled on keyboard again]
- The Calling—Emma
- V. Takamachi: Nice to meet you.
- Proclamation of State of Emergency in Los Angeles County regarding I-10 closure
- Just think about how come an interstate fire deserves its state of emergency, and how many concurrent states of emergency are in place in the US. Luckily, none are as powerful as in Brunei.
- The A B C's of the Twenty-One Demands
- How Japanese colonialism on China after the World War I was cleverly translated into words understandable by Americans.
- Songs for Children Sung in Japan
- Japanese songs! Written in 1940! Seriously? My first thought is some random song about Miluo River and Wu Mountains (/s)!
- Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects
- Might otherwise be known as Poems (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act legally... (/s)
- AI's response on legal enquiries, and more
Potholes
[edit]Big projects which are very likely to be suspended for a very long time
- German Civil Code/BGB (transcription project)
- Mother of all civil codes throughout the world (apart from the
hereticFrench Napoleonic Code). It's so lengthy and bulky that English Wikisource can't even properly display the file's preview...
- Mother of all civil codes throughout the world (apart from the
- Civil Code of Switzerland (transcription project)
- Civil Code of Japan (transcription project)
- Some of the most influential civil codes of the East and the West apart from the BGB.
- Revised Civil Code of the State of Louisiana (transcription project)
- Quebec: Nice to meet you, but yours is too outdated.
- Indian Penal Code (Indian Act 45 of 1860)
- One of the earliest criminal law codification in common law jurisdictions.
- Thanks to (???) British colonialism, the code was later extended and become the basis of the modern Indian, Pakistan, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Burmese, Malaysia, Singapore and Bruneian criminal codes—although some provisions implicitly replaced with the Syariah Penal Code Order, 2013 (o. 252 of the code) in Brunei.
- Section 505 of the Code regarding criminal intimidation even get incorporated in Section 24 Hong Kong's Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200).
- UPDATE: A new Penal Code was gazetted in December 2023 together with a new set of Code of Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act. BBC describes it retaining 80% of the IPC, which is pretty accurate: just think about how many illustrations are copy-pasted from the original IPC without even the slightest word change.
- Revised Penal Code of the Philipines, 1946 Compliation (Act 3815) (transcription project)
- The result when you attempt to combine Spanish civil law and common law with American Characteristics.
- Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622) (transcription project)
- Hong Kong's current company law, with an unimaginable length of 1428 pages, and published by 6 volumes in the printed gazette.
- Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571) (transcription project)
- Securities and Futures Act 2001 (42 of 2001/Cap. 289) (transcription project)
- Important regulatory laws on the securities industry in two of the most notable international financial markets, with the latter one incorporating some provisions of the former one (when it was still a bill).
- Report of the United Nations Commission for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea (transcription project)
- A report of an UN commission for dealing with the aftermath of the Korean War. Contains translations of the Third Republic Constitution and other relevant legislation
- Sousa marches intensified...
- Sentencing Act 2020 (c. 17) (transcription project)
- Good news: all sentencing legislation consolidated into one big Sentencing Code;
- Bad news: The full document is 602-page long.
- Even worse news: It would be a mess and a waste of money to burn the entire Act as an offering to Bingham LJ.