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Legal Updates
Legal update: Liquidators in the Labour Tribunal
To prevent legal costs making it prohibitive for employees to pursue claims relating to their employment, lawyers are not able to represent clients in Labour Tribunal proceedings. Where a party is a company, under Hong Kong law, only an “officer or servant” of that company…Read More
Reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments on matrimonial and related matters
Introduction Hong Kong and Mainland China have entered into a new arrangement on the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of civil judgments in matrimonial and family cases (the “Arrangement”) on 20 June 2017. The Arrangement is a significant step to providing clearer legal protection for relevant…Read More
Legal update: Court of Appeal upholds insider dealing and fraud decision in favour of SFC against two solicitors
Case background On 9 November 2017, the Court of Appeal (“CA”) dismissed the appeal by a solicitor, Eric Lee, and Eric’s two sisters, Patsy Lee and Stella Lee, against the judgment by the Court of First Instance (“CFI”) finding them guilty of insider dealing and…Read More
Judicial Separation or Divorce? When to file for one or the other?
What is Judicial Separation and why choose it? A Judicial Separation application may be appropriate where parties wish to legally separate but for various reasons they do not wish to divorce. Traditionally, this procedure was available to parties who did not see divorce as appropriate…Read More
Foreign Marriages, Bigamy, Polygamy and Nullity in the Law of Hong Kong
What is bigamy? Bigamy is the act of marrying a person while being legally married to another. It is a criminal offence triable upon indictment which, upon conviction, renders the offender liable to imprisonment for 7 years (section 45 of the Offences Against the Person…Read More
Legal obstacles to surrogacy remain in Hong Kong
Surrogacy is becoming an increasingly popular option for families hoping to start a family in Hong Kong. The acceptance of non-traditional family structures, increased access to reproductive technologies and cheaper international travel mean that surrogacy is no longer always altruistic, and it is less frequently…Read More
Legal update: Show me the money: specificity, credibility, and the fraud exception
The last five years have seen a massive increase in cyber fraud in Hong Kong and a corresponding growth in cases being brought before the Hong Kong Courts to trace and recover the proceeds. Fraud victims appreciate prompt recovery, but are often frustrated by ‘bona…Read More
High Court applies wardship to plug legal gap created by Hong Kong’s surrogacy legislation
In a pathbreaking decision the High Court has used the inherent wardship jurisdiction to fill a hole in Hong Kong’s family law that threatened to leave it without the ability to regulate children’s upbringing: S v J (Director of Immigration intervening), HCMP 1857 of 2016,…Read More
Legal update: Is a genuine belief that an underage victim is over 16 a defence to an indecent assault?
Update: On 9 May 2018, the Court of Final Appeal (“CFA”) overruled the decision of the appellate judge. Read our update posted on 24 May: Court of Final Appeal’s answers on the issue of establishing a defence to indecent assaults on underage victims In a recent magistracy appeal…Read More
Legal update: Keeping your child secure during a divorce
This article was contributed by Dr. Monica Borschel of MindnLife. During a divorce, parents might experience intense emotions towards the other estranged parent. Often, unknowingly, one of the parents emotionally harms a child during and after the separation. For your child’s emotional and social well-being,…Read More
Halfway house in criminal strict liability offences
Many Ordinances in Hong Kong contain offences to regulate issues of social concern such as public safety in the provision of goods and services. These offences are commonly drafted without the prosecution having to prove any intention or ‘mens rea’ of the Defendant to commit…Read More
Legal update: New apology legislation for Hong Kong
An apology can assist in the restoration of trust between parties in all kinds of dispute and certainly encourage settlement in disputes which have already escalated to Court action. The most obvious cases are disputes containing elements of ‘damage to feelings’ such as defamation, personal…Read More
