Jerome A. Cohen
Yesterday the Hong Kong High Court declared the Government’s mask ban unconstitutional. Here’s the full text of the judgment.
It is a great and important opinion by the two-judge court of first instance. It is a supreme example of the excellence of the Hong Kong court system and the flesh that it puts on the general bones of the rule of law. It demonstrates “government under law” in a vivid, albeit lengthy, way that is wholly alien to the People’s Republic of China. The reasoning and analysis on display here are a tribute to the Hong Kong Judiciary and to the members of the Bar and the Law Society who facilitated the Court’s remarkable response in so short a time.
Of particular interest are the Court’s references to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UN Human Rights Committee and the European Court of Human Rights, although the decision is based on traditional English and Anglo-American legal principles and practices. It is inconceivable that a PRC court might invalidate a formally promulgated government norm on the ground that it constitutes an insufficiently justified infringement on freedoms of expression. Indeed, Chinese courts are not even allowed to consider any Constitutional issues. What a contrast with the Taiwan Constitutional Court that in recent years has done so much to protect political and civil rights!