The Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong also known as The Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Hong Kong Incorporation v. Secretary for Justice

Read the full judgment text of CACV 18/2007 on BabelCite. This Court of Appeal judgment was delivered on 3 June 2010.

1. This is an application under section 22(1)(b) of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance, Cap. 484 for leave to appeal from the judgment of this Court handed down on 3 February 2010 whereby the court had dismissed the appeal from a judgment of Andrew Cheung J in a judicial review which challenged the constitutionality of the Education Amendment Ordinance (2004).

Cited by 3 cases

Leave to appeal granted to the applicant by Court of Final Appeal. Please refer to FAMV19/2010 dated 13 December 2010
Case No.CACV 18/2007
Court
Court of Appeal
Date03 Jun 2010
Judge
Case Document
100%Judiciary

CACV 18/2007

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 18 OF 2007

(ON APPEAL FROM HCAL NO. 157 OF 2005)

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BETWEEN    
  THE CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF HONG KONG ALSO KNOWN AS THE BISHOP OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN HONG KONG INCORPORATION Applicant
  And  
  SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE Respondent

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Before: Hon Stock VP, Yeung JA and Hartmann JA in Court

Dates of Hearing: 3 June 2010

Date of Judgment: 3 June 2010

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J U D G M E N T

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Hon Stock VP (giving the judgment of the Court):

1.This is an application under section 22(1)(b) of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance, Cap. 484 for leave to appeal from the judgment of this Court handed down on 3 February 2010 whereby the court had dismissed the appeal from a judgment of Andrew Cheung J in a judicial review which challenged the constitutionality of the Education Amendment Ordinance (2004).

2.The notice of motion asks us to grant leave on the basis of a number of questions which are said to be involved in the appeal and to be of great general public importance and which ought for that reason to be submitted to the Court of Final Appeal for determination.

3.The questions adumbrated in the notice of motion have today been replaced by a single suggested question in these terms:

“Are the provisions of sections 40BK(2) and (3)(a) and 40BU(2) and (3) of the Education Ordinance, Cap. 279, inconsistent with Article 136(1) and/or Article 137(1) and/or Article 141(3)of the Basic Law and are therefore unconstitutional?”

4.It is in an application of this kind inappropriate for us to repeat the reasoning in the judgment of 3 February 2010.  It suffices to say that we consider that, adopting a contextually purposive approach, the answers are palpably clear.

5.Accordingly, in the exercise of the discretion conferred upon us by the statutory provision, we decline to grant leave.

6.The applicant shall pay the costs of this application, to be taxed if not agreed.

(Frank Stock) (Wally Yeung) (M.J. Hartmann)
Vice-President Justice of Appeal Justice of Appeal

Mr Martin Lee, SC, Mr Erik Shum and Mr Hectar Pun, instructed by Messrs Wong, Hui & Co., for the Applicant

Mr Sanjay A Sakhrani instructed by Department of Justice, for the Respondent

Leave to appeal granted to the applicant by Court of Final Appeal. Please refer to FAMV19/2010 dated 13 December 2010