Bad news means a short article. Today I will be brief.

The Rule of Law is the rock on which Hong Kong has been built. No midnight knock at the door, a free press, law & order/freedom from crime, are all based on the principal that all men and women are equal before the eyes of the law. Our court system in Hong Kong was the last line of defense for street vendor and tycoon alike from an overzealous government or a rouge police force.

No more. This past Thursday, September 17th, the Rule of Law in Hong Kong was dealt a blow that will be nearly impossible to recover from. Maybe I should write,“never recover from”, but I can’t bring myself to such doom, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.

On the 17th, my boss, Jimmy Lai was told that his acquittal, on a charge of non-violent criminal intimidation, was not going to be tolerated by the government, and an appeal to his not guilty verdict, in the name of Secretary of Justice Teresa Cheng, was launched. So for a crime that would not result in a custodial sentence in any manner as it was non-violent, the Hong Kong government has sent word; if we come for you, we keep coming.

Not guilty is not allowed in Hong Kong.

As depressing as that action was, we learned on Friday, the 18th of September, Australian James Spigelman, appointed to the Court of Final Appeals in 2013, resigned from his judgeship the day before, Thursday the 17th, according to sources. He has since told the media that it was over his concerns about the National Security Law (NSL), a law that Beijing and Carrie Lam now say would be interpreted along the lines of Hong Kong Courts not being separated from the Executive Branch.

A rough translation, but one we can all understand, is that our Courts will no longer offer independent rulings, rather they will offer decrees approved or directed by the Executive Branch.

So now our courts can neither acquit or decide final outcome if the CCP objects.

For politics, we have known the end results coming due to the NSL, yet for those who had hopes Hong Kong could remain a base in Asia for civil and commercial law, Thursday ended those hopes as well. With the CCP there is no difference in civil or political, no difference in laws of contract or control.

The bleedout will be a slow one.  Arbitration clauses will slowly shift from Hong Kong to London, New York, or Singapore. Funds that have not already left Hong Kong will slide away, and just as the UK and US have warned their citizens to exercise caution due to an unknown risk of legal detention and prosecution, business will, adhering to the wishes of employee’s, move away from Hong Kong.

History will record many dates in the decline of Hong Kong. Arguments will happen over which date is most significant. Yet for now, to me, it is Thursday September 17th 2020, the day the Rule of Law died in Hong Kong.

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