The Hong Kong Royal Instructions 1917 was one of the principal
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
al instruments of
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
when it was a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
Crown colony
A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Counci ...
and
dependent territory
A dependent territory, dependent area, or dependency (sometimes referred as an external territory) is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a sovereign state, yet remains politically outside the controlli ...
; the other principal constitutional instruments were the
Hong Kong Letters Patent 1917
The Hong Kong Letters Patent 1917 was one of the principal constitutional instruments of Hong Kong when she was a British Crown colony and dependent territory; the other principal constitutional instruments were the Hong Kong Letters Patent 1960 ...
, the
Hong Kong Letters Patent 1960, the
Hong Kong Letters Patent 1982, and the
Hong Kong Letters Patent 1991 (No. 1).
[While other post-1917 letters patent only contain provisions amending the 1917 letters patent, the ones issued in 1960 and 1982 and the first one in 1991 contain a stipulation that any act done before the amendment concerned coming into force and contrary to that amendment remains valid.] The Hong Kong Royal Instructions 1917 has been amended many times since its coming into force by instruments titled 'Hong Kong Additional Instructions
ear
An ear is the organ that enables hearing and, in mammals, body balance using the vestibular system. In mammals, the ear is usually described as having three parts—the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear consists of ...
.
The Hong Kong Royal Instructions 1917 superseded the royal instructions issued on 6 April 1843, all additional instructions amending the 1843 royal instructions, the 1888 royal instructions (replacing the 1843 royal instructions and all additional instructions amending the 1843 royal instructions), and all additional instructions amending the 1888 royal instructions. The royal instructions issued on 14 February 1917, as amended from time to time, formed part of the basis for Hong Kong's system of government until the
transfer of the territory's sovereignty on 1 July 1997 to the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
Issued under the
royal prerogative
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy, as belonging to the sovereign and which have become widely vested in th ...
, and subordinated to the Hong Kong Letters Patent 1917, the Hong Kong Royal Instructions 1917 set out such matters as the constitution of the
Executive Council and the
Legislative Council, and in particular made provision for the latter's procedures, and for the enactment of laws.
After the transfer of sovereignty to China, the Hong Kong Royal Instructions 1917 ceased to have legal effect, being superseded by the new
Basic Law.
See also
*
Hong Kong Royal Instructions
The expression 'Hong Kong Royal Instructions' is most commonly used to refer to the Hong Kong Royal Instructions 1917, one of the principal constitutional documents of British Hong Kong (others being the Hong Kong Letters Patent 1917, the Hong Kon ...
(see this article for a list of all Hong Kong Royal Instructions and Hong Kong Additional Instructions)
*
Royal instructions
Royal instructions are formal instructions issued to governors of the United Kingdom's colonial dependencies, and past instructions can be of continuing constitutional significance in a former colonial dependency or Dominion.
Content
Traditional ...
*
Hong Kong Letters Patent 1917
The Hong Kong Letters Patent 1917 was one of the principal constitutional instruments of Hong Kong when she was a British Crown colony and dependent territory; the other principal constitutional instruments were the Hong Kong Letters Patent 1960 ...
*
Hong Kong Letters Patent
The expression Hong Kong Letters Patent is most commonly used to refer to the Hong Kong Letters Patent 1917, one of the principal constitutional documents of British Hong Kong (others being the Hong Kong Letters Patent 1960, the Hong Kong Letters ...
(see this article for a list of all Hong Kong Letters Patent)
*
History of Hong Kong
The region of Hong Kong has been inhabited since the Old Stone Age, later becoming part of the Chinese Empire with its loose incorporation into the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC). Starting out as a farming fishing village and salt production site, ...
*
Colonial Hong Kong
Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the British ...
*
Estatuto Orgânico de Macau
The Organic Statute of Macau ( pt, Estatuto Orgânico de Macau, EOM; ) was a Portuguese organic law (Law No. 1/76) that provided for government in Portuguese Macau. Approved on 17 February 1976, the Portuguese legislation also reclassified Macau ...
,
Portuguese Macau
Portuguese Macau (officially the Province of Macau until 1976, and then the Autonomous Region of Macau from 1976 to 1999) was a Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colony that existed from the first official Portuguese settlement in 1557 to the ...
equivalent
Footnotes
External links
Full text of the Hong Kong Royal Instructions 1917 as of 30 June 1997Full texts of all Hong Kong Royal Instructions and all Hong Kong Additional Instructions
Hong Kong Royal Instructions
The expression 'Hong Kong Royal Instructions' is most commonly used to refer to the Hong Kong Royal Instructions 1917, one of the principal constitutional documents of British Hong Kong (others being the Hong Kong Letters Patent 1917, the Hong Kon ...
History of Hong Kong
Law of Hong Kong
Defunct constitutions
{{HongKong-stub