Civil Procedure in Hong Kong, 7th Edition

 About the book

This book aims to provide practitioners with a clear and up-to-date exposition of the rules and judicial decisions governing the conduct of civil litigation in Hong Kong. The Civil Justice Reform has now been effective for more than 13 years and there are many judicial decisions reflecting judicial approaches and attitudes to the implementation of the new rules. The jury is, however, still out as to whether the Reform has significantly achieved its objectives. Aside from chronicling these recent developments, this edition also includes the most updated and significant cases touching upon not only the new rules but also those rules unaffected by the Reform. In fact, there is a considerable body of important decisions continuously emanating from the courts which renders the task of civil litigation practitioners ever more demanding. The contributions of the late Professor Michael Wilkinson to the previous editions of this publication are deeply appreciated.

What’s key in this title

In 2021, in addition to general updates for each topic that enable readers to keep abreast of the latest developments in procedural laws in civil litigation, this title has substantially revised the part on legal professional privilege to discuss the recent judicial developments both in Hong Kong and other common law jurisdictions and the unsettled areas in this regard. It also raises an interesting and important discussion as to whether “legal advice privilege” and “litigation privilege” should be treated as two “distinct conceptual animals” instead of “two branches of the same tree”, as explained by the Canadian Supreme Court in Blank v Canada (Minister for Justice) [2006] 2 SCR 319. How that may affect the scope and application of the two heads of privilege in Hong Kong remains to be seen. This seventh edition also includes an entirely new chapter on judicial review. Not only does it provide a step-by-step guide for those who may need to handle judicial review proceedings, but it also explains the boundary of judicial review by reference to the administrative court’s jurisdiction, the concept of justiciability, and the administrative court’s discretion. It is a user-friendly chapter, especially for those who are not familiar with judicial review.