BOOK: Michael C. DAVIS, Making Hong Kong China - The Rollback of Human Rights and the Rule of Law (New York: Columbia University Press, 2020). ISBN 9781952636134, 16.00 USD

 

(Source: Columbia University Press)

Columbia University Press has published a new book on the legal history of Hong Kong since 1997.

ABOUT THE BOOK

How can one of the world’s most free-wheeling cities transition from a vibrant global center of culture and finance into a subject of authoritarian control? As Beijing's anxious interference has grown, the “one country, two systems” model China promised Hong Kong has slowly drained away in the years since the 1997 handover. As “one country” seemed set to gobble up “two systems," the people of Hong Kong riveted the world’s attention in 2019 by defiantly demanding the autonomy, rule of law and basic freedoms they were promised. In 2020, the new National Security Law imposed by Beijing aimed to snuff out such resistance. Will the Hong Kong so deeply held in the people’s identity and the world’s imagination be lost? Professor Michael Davis, who has taught human rights and constitutional law in this city for over three decades, and has been one of its closest observers, takes us on this constitutional journey.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Professor Michael C. Davis is in the Fall of 2020 a Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong where he teaches core courses on international human rights. He is also currently a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC, a Senior Research Scholar at the Weatherhead East Asia Institute at Columbia University and a Professor of Law and International Affairs at O.P. Jindal Global University in India (where he is in residence each spring). A professor in the Law Faculty at the University of Hong Kong until late 2016, he has held a number of distinguished visiting professorships, including the J. Landis Martin Visiting Professor of Human Rights Law at Northwestern University (2005-6), the Robert and Marion Short Visiting Professor of Human Rights at the University of Notre Dame (2004-5) and the Frederick K. Cox Visiting Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University (2000).

 

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BOOK: Max Wai Lun WONG, Chinese Marriage and Social Change - The Legal Abolition of Concubinage in Hong Kong (Cham: Springer, 2020). ISBN 978-981-15-1643-6, EUR 83,19

(Source: Springer)

Springer is publishing a new book on the legal history of the abolition of concubinage in Hong Kong.

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

This book provides a comparative account of the abolition of concubinage in East Asia, offering a new perspective and revised analysis of the factors leading to – and the debates surrounding  – the introduction of a new Marriage Reform Ordinance in Hong Kong in 1971. It uses this law as a platform to examine how the existence of concubinage – long preserved in the name of protecting Chinese traditions and customs — crucially influenced family law reforms, which were in response to a perceived need to create a ‘modern’ marriage system within Hong Kong’s Chinese community after the Second World War. This was, by and large, the result of continued pressure from within Hong Kong and from Britain to bring Hong Kong’s marriage system in line with international marriage treaties. It represented one of the last significant intrusions of colonial law into the private sphere of Hong Kong social life, eliminating Chinese customs which had been previously recognised by the colonial legal system’s family law. This book contextualizes the Hong Kong situation by examining judicial cases interpreting Chinese customs and the Great Qing Code, offering a comprehensive understanding of the Hong Kong situation in relation to the status of concubines in Republican China and other East Asian jurisdictions. It will be of particular interest to teachers and students of law, as well as researchers in gender studies, post-colonialism, sociology and cultural studies.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Max Wai Lun Wong is an Assistant Professor at the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Hong Kong. He holds a PhD from SOAS, University of London. He is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in the UK. His research interests include Law and Public Administration, Chinese Customary Law and Practice in South East Asia, Law and Creative Industries and Traditional Cultural Expression and Law in South East Asia.

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BOOK: Richard CULLEN, Hong Kong Constitutionalism : The British Legacy and the Chinese Future (London: Routledge, 2019). ISBN 9781138320130, £96.00

(Source: Routledge)

Routledge is publishing a new book on the history of Hong Kong constitutionalism.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Hong Kong is widely regarded as an exemplar of authoritarian jurisdictions with a positive history of adhering to Rule of Law shaped governance systems. British Hong Kong provides a remarkable story of the effective development and consolidation of such a system, which has continued to apply since 1997 when it became the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) within the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

This book adopts a fresh approach in examining the evolution of Hong Kong’s political-legal experience. It establishes that these prominent governance achievements were built on particular British constitutional foundations forged over many centuries. The work shows how the analysis of the British theorist Albert Dicey and, in particular, `Diceyan Constitutionalism’ was fundamental, within the pivotal context of `Chinese Familism’, in shaping the development of governance institutions and operational procedures within the new British Colony.

It discusses how Hong Kong’s system of Authoritarian Legality has come to pass. Exploring the essence of that system, the study probes how thoroughly it has been stress-tested, not least in 2019, and how well it may be placed to cope with tests yet to come. It also analyzes Hong Kong–Beijing relations and the long-term prospects for the HKSAR within the PRC based on a balanced contemporary assessment of China’s exceptional One Party State.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard Cullen is a Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong. He first began working in Hong Kong in 1991. His research interests are in Public Law, Taxation Law, Comparative Law, Fundamentals of the Common Law, and Media Law. He has published extensively on these and related areas.

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