Ying Zhu
Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law
Published online: July 2024
Follow the research activities and scholarship of the Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong
"DIAMANT, Neil J. 2022. Useful Bullshit: Constitutions in Chinese Politics and Society. Ithaca: Cornell University Press."
Hualing Fu
China Perspective (Issue 137, 2024)
"Complicity or Complacency? Judging Judges in Authoritarian States"
Raymond Wacks
The Montréal Review
Published online: June 2024
Courts personify the law. In the more grandiloquent accounts of the legal system, judges are depicted as its custodians, guardians of its values, sentinels of justice and fair play. They embody fairness, evenhandedness, and impartiality. And an independent judiciary is among the hallmarks of the rule of law. The jurist Ronald Dworkin memorably observed that ‘courts are the capitals of law’s empire, and judges are its princes.’
Judges are not, however, always perceived in these lofty terms. In the words of a distinguished English judge:
[T]he public entertain a range of views, not all consistent (one minute they are senile and out of touch, the next the very people to conduct a detailed and searching inquiry; one minute port-gorged dinosaurs imposing savage sentences on hapless miscreants, the next wishy-washy liberals unwilling to punish anyone properly for anything), although often unfavourable.
Judges are, like all of us, tainted by personal predilections and political prejudices. Yet occasionally it is asserted that to acknowledge judicial frailty is, in some sense, subversive, ‘as if judges’, as the illustrious American judge Benjamin Cardozo put it, ‘must lose respect and confidence by the reminder that they are subject to human limitations.’ They are, nevertheless, the archetypical legal institution. Their independence epitomises the very apotheosis of justice, and the ostensible demarcation between legislation and adjudication is one of the most cherished elements of a free society.
Whatever their imperfections, independent judges perform another important role in a democratic society......(Please click here to view the full text of the article)
"Macau and Hong Kong: Convergence or Divergence? An Analysis of the 2023 Macau National Security Law"
Han Zhu
Hong Kong Law Journal, Vol. 54, Part 1 of 2024, pp.53 - 63
"The Accountability of Non-charitable Donation-based Crowdfunding Platforms in China"
Dejian Li and Hui Jing
Hong Kong Law Journal, Vol. 54, Part 1 of 2024, pp.231 - 252
Abstract: Due to the wide application of internet tools, non-charitable donation-based crowdfunding platforms (NDCPs) serving personal requests for help have been developing rapidly in China. However, due to the lack of a specific regulatory framework for the administration of donation funds by NDCPs, risks regarding the misuse of donation funds by beneficial objects and the mismanagement of donation funds by NDCPs have been frequently realised. To address these risks, Chinese legislators intend to authorise the Ministry of Civil Affairs and related departments to establish a systemic regulatory framework for NDCPs. Against this backdrop, this article explores one specific question: What measures can be implemented to ensure that NDCPs are held accountable for their administration of donation funds in China? This is the first English-language article to explore this question in the Chinese law context. First, it analyses the emergence of NDCPs in China and identifies the problems inherent in the administration of donation funds by these NDCPs. Second, it proposes a trust law framework to regulate the administration of donation funds by NDCPs.
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Welcome to Prof. Weilin Xiao, who joins the Faculty of Law as an Assistant Professor.