Cross-border crime and legal jurisdiction in post-colonial Hong Kong

Decolonization should be viewed as a process that both precedes and follows a change of sovereignty rather than as a discrete, historic event. Seen in this light, decolonization is now well advanced in Hong Kong. One of the major institutions engaged in this process is the Hong Kong legal system. In this paper I analyze the constitutional arrangements for Hong Kong's post-colonial legal system; describe Hong Kong's most sensational cross-border criminal case of the 1990s; and evaluate Hong Kong's prospects for retaining a separate legal system under Chinese sovereignty. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.