Law, Patriarchies, and State Formation in England and Post-Colonial Hong Kong

The rise of the modern state is often associated with the demise of particularistic ties and authoritarian patriarchy. Classically, particularism gives way to universalism, patronage, hierarchy, and deference to the 'equalities' of contract. But history is not a one-way street nor is patriarchy all of one kind. Society's legal arrangements, structure, custom, power, affect, and sex swing back and forth between values of distance, deference, and patronage and those stressing greater egalitarianism in personal and political relations. Though they vary in type, patriarchy and particularism as cultural systems do not disappear but ebb, flow, and are revived, their oscillation driven by particular economic goals and political insecurities.     

Culling the cousins: Kingship,kinship, and competition in mid-millennial England

Kin selection, an aspect of evolutionary theory, argues that, all else equal, individuals should give preferential treatment to relatives, based on the degree of relatedness [Hamilton, W. D. (1964). The genetical evolution of social behaviour I, II. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 7, 1–52.]. However, one may observe instances where competition for scarce or unique resources is stronger between family members than between unrelated individuals. Such a situation existed between 1377 and 1603 with intense competition for the throne of England among descendents of Edward III. During this period, monarchs were executed by relatives to gain or maintain the throne for him or herself or descendents. Despite the widespread destruction of kindred, we show that executioners never sacrificed lineal relatives nor executed collateral relatives in excess of their own legitimate nuclear relatedness, and the number of executed relatives was positively correlated to the age and legitimate reproductive success of the executioner. Moreover, when resources are scarce, have an intrinsically high value, and are inherited, it may be in your Darwinian reproductive interest not to maximize but to minimize the number of legitimate children in order to reduce competition among family members.     

Wife Abuse in Hong Kong Chinese Families: A Community Survey

The present study aimed to explore the extent and pattern of wife abuse in Hong Kong Chinese families. The sample included 1,132 married women aged 18 or older randomly selected from the community. Results showed that 67.2% of the surveyed women reported at least one incident of verbal abuse, and 10% experienced at least one incident of physical abuse by their husbands during the surveyed year. Husband-to-wife minor physical violence was almost seven times more than husband-to-wife severe physical violence (9.8% vs 1.4%). Couples' age and their age differences were related to physical wife abuse but not verbal wife abuse. Specifically, physical wife abuse in the form of minor violence occurred most frequently among married men and women aged 30 or below; and both minor and severe physical violence to wife was found most frequently among couples whose ages were more than 20 years apart. Couples' education level, differences in education, occupation, family income, and number of children were not related to various forms of wife abuse; whereas the length of marriage and marital satisfaction were significant correlates of wife abuse. Results were discussed with regard to relevant local and Western studies.     

香港社区警务制度及其影响探究

社区警务是20世纪末在国际范围内兴起的一种适应市场经济体制的警务模式,这种模式已经成为国际警务发展的大趋势。作为原英国殖民地,香港的法律制度和警察体制都深受英国警务制度的影响,从而形成了具有香港特色的较为严谨的法律体系和专业警察队伍。20世纪70年代,英国的社区警务制度在香港悄然兴起,并在遏制犯罪和促进警民关系等方面起到积极作用,形成了相对完整、系统的社区警务模式。香港回归以来,内地公安机关逐渐引入香港先进的警务模式和理念,从而对大陆的警务政策的制定和警民关系的维护产生了巨大的影响。     

Community Support and Diversionary Measures for Juvenile Offenders in Hong Kong: Old Legacy, New Age

This paper begins by examining the arguments that led to the change of emphasis from residential training and detention to community-based measures in Hong Kong. Police cautioning and community support services are introduced. An evaluation of the services provided found that the majority of respondents reported high levels of satisfaction with them. It is likely that the services exerted positive influences on the respondents’ deviant behaviour, family values and sense of social responsibility, but one-fifth of them continued to commit deviant acts. Parents’ participation was not high. Young offenders rarely took responsibility for the offence they committed or understood the harm they had done to victims, and victims were not involved in deciding the intervention plan. The conclusions raise issues about the future for Hong Kong. They consider new diversionary strategies for responding to young people and debate the values that should underpin them.

Anti-triad legislations in Hong Kong: issues, problems and development

One way to tackle triad societies is through effective legislation. The present article first describes and reviews the legislation dealing with triad activities in Hong Kong – The Societies Ordinance – and highlights the main issues and problems. Four issues are discussed, namely ambiguity in the definition of triad membership, doubtful neutrality of triad experts, outdated triad-related literature cited in the court, and the contradiction with human rights and freedom of expression. The article further examines the effect of the ordinance in suppressing triad activities and argues that the law is not very effective in penalizing senior triad members, thus justifying the need for a new legislation to contain the growth of triad activities and organized crime.     

Robbery, recession and real wages in Hong Kong

Between 1965 and 1975 Hong Kong experienced a dramatic increase in reported crime. Criminologists have put forward two major explanations for this: 1) modernization (or convergence) theory, and 2) the alleged break-up of the police-triad (Chinese secret societies) alliance following the establishment of the Independent Commission Against Corruption. Data from the 1970s show a remarkably close relationship in Hong Kong between changes in real wages and robbery rates. In this paper we argue that declining wages are related to increased rates of such 'quick cash' crimes, particularly in societies lacking a safety net of unemployment benefits, universal health insurance and income security provisions. The results offer support for this alternative, but admittedly partial, explanation of Hong Kong's rising crime rate. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Pretrial procedure in England and Wales

A.B., Harvard College 1980; J.D., Yale Law School 1984.     

进一步推进粤港两地法律服务合作的思考

CEPA协议的有效落实大力地推进了香港与内地的经贸发展,为香港有效地开拓内地市场提供了政策性的支持.其中关于法律服务的规定更是为两地的法律服务业的合作发展提供了坚实的法律基础.但随着双方在法律服务中合作发展的深度和广度的加深,逐渐暴露出CEPA中关于法律服务的规定存在许多不完善的地方,成为了双方法律服务业进一步合作发展的绊脚石.因此,对当前香港和内地两地法律服务业的现状及问题进行实事求是的分析,进而提出解决问题的对策,对今后法律服务业的进一步发展具有重要的现实意义.     

Workplace violence in Hong Kong, China: nature, impact, and preparedness

This article reports a survey of workplace violence in Hong Kong. A sizable number of the 1,198 organizations that were questioned reported that they had experienced such violence over the 2 years preceding the study, but the problem was not prevalent. In both the private and government sectors, nonphysical violence happened more frequently than physical violence, and there was a reported lack of preparedness of many organizations to deal with the violence. Compared with private organizations, government organizations experienced more coworker and customer violence, but more private than government organizations believed that workplace violence caused the loss of key employees and clients. Correlation analysis found that a subculture of workplace violence appears to emerge over time, such that the more customer violence is experienced, the more is coworker violence, and the more the nonphysical violence, the more the physical violence. These findings are discussed with reference to international findings.     

以香港為視角看兩岸四地司法協助制度

随着内地与港澳对一国两制下司法协助新模式的积极探索和2008年以来两岸关系的历史性转折,内地和港、澳、台四地间的司法协助成效显著。尤其是近年来,两岸签署了经济合作框架协议等一系列协议,四地间经济、文化等交流日趋紧密,涉及司法协助的案件整体上增长势头明显,数量上远超国际司法协助案件。2012年人民法院办理涉港文书送达司法协助案件1515件,涉澳文书送达和调查取证司法协助案件81件,较2008年分别上升了38.5%和72.3%。2009年6月25日两岸司法互助协议生效后,当年人民法院办理的两岸司法协助案件数量即突破1000件,此后每年都在6000件以上。四地间司法协助工作的全面开展,既有利于区际司法合作的深入推进,也为四地的融合和经贸关系发展提供了制度保障和动力。本期特选取温嘉明律师关于四地间司法协助制度的文章,梳理区际司法协助的法律基础和发展历程,研讨其取得的成就及尚存的不足。