Hong Kong Civil Court Practice Desk Edition 2021

The original practitioner’s reference work on civil procedure in Hong Kong

About The Book

Hong Kong Civil Court Practice is the original practitioner’s reference work on civil procedure in Hong Kong, having first been published in 1994. This title contains the full text of the Rules of the High Court (Cap 4A), along with extensive commentary .The commentary in the Desk Edition 2021 continues to focus on Hong Kong, referring primarily to decisions of the local courts as well as practice directions and other guidance from the Hong Kong judiciary. As provided in Article 84 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong SAR, precedents of other common law jurisdictions may be referred to by the local courts. Where such precedents are relevant, we continue to refer to them, particularly those from the UK. The UK is a natural source as the Hong Kong rules have their genesis in and are still largely based on the Supreme Court Rules which applied in England and Wales until the changes introduced in the UK by the Woolf reforms in 1999.

Some guidance on the changes to the rules implemented by the Civil Justice Reforms, particularly on points which may not yet have been fully considered by the local courts, can be found in our sister publication in the UK, the Civil Court Practice. Relevant passages from the Civil Court Practice are reproduced in this work. On occasion commentary goes further afield, referring to relevant authorities from Australia, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore which all have similar civil procedure rules deriving from the UK experience.

What’s Key In This Title

Commentary has been updated to reflect dozens of important decisions of the Hong Kong courts on points of procedure, such as pleadings, sanctioned offers, and service of documents.

‘Implementation rules’ by ‘The Committee for Safeguarding National Security’ and the Chief Executive – The application of RHC Order 116 and 117 has been extended to national security cases following the implementation in the Hong Kong SAR of national security legislation made by Mainland authorities.

Various parts of the commentary have been substantially revised, providing more electronic citations, enhanced cross-referencing and clearer commentary.
The amendments made by the Rules of the High Court (Amendment) Rules 2020 have been incorporated. The main amendments are to Orders 11 and 69, to provide for service of Hong Kong court process in Macao, and vice versa.