HKU Jessup Team crowned 2025 Hong Kong Overall Champion

(Left to right): Mr Thomas Lam (coach), Mr Fergus Tam (coach), Ally Chan, Veronica Yu, Chunghin Yue, Leo Pang

The HKU Jessup Team was declared the Hong Kong Overall Champion in the 2025 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition on 2 March 2025. The Jessup Moot is also known as one of the most prestigious international mooting competitions in the world. This year’s Jessup problem concerned the issues of jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, immunities of state officials, law of the sea and recognition of governments.

The Team consists of Ally Chan (PCLL), Leo Pang (PCLL), Chung Hin Yue (PCLL), and Veronica Yu (PCLL). In addition to the Champion title, the Team was awarded the Best Respondent Memorial Award and all Best Oralist awards, with Leo Pang, Chung Hin Yue, and Veronica Yu winning the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Best Oralist awards respectively.

The Team would like to express their sincerest gratitude to the coaches, Mr Fergus Tam and Mr Thomas Lam, for their valuable feedback and guidance. The Team would also like to thank the guest judges, Ms Lisa Henderson KC, Ms Natalie So, Mr Ryan Cheung, Mr Raphael Leung, Mr Jason Louie, Mr Abdullah Bin Azhar, Mr Alex Chan, Mr Ambrose Yu, Ms Tiffany Ng, Ms Faith Lee, and Ms Holly Leung, for their kind assistance, helpful advice and rigorous advocacy training. The team now advances to the Global Rounds in Washington DC, in which they will represent Hong Kong.

Zealot Kenneth Tsui and Wang Tat Max Lam on Knowing receipt, characterisation, and proper law: a persistent duty and the cloak of invisibility (Trusts & Trustees)

"Knowing receipt, characterisation, and proper law: a persistent duty and the cloak of invisibility"
Zealot Kenneth Tsui (PCLL student), Wang Tat Max Lam (PCLL Graduate 2023)
Trusts & Trustees
Published online: February 2025

Abstract: The categorisation of knowing receipt remains uncertain in both domestic and private international law contexts, despite efforts by judges and scholars to clarify it. This article argues that knowing receipt is viewed as a breach of a continuing restorative and custodial duty owed to the beneficiary. It explains how these duties arise and outlines their content. Under this view, the traditional proprietary and fault-based perspectives on knowing receipt can be reconciled while establishing an equitable nexus for the claim. Additionally, this article suggests that this perspective aligns with the sui generis characterisation in private international law, preventing circumvention of liability.

Ilda Cristina Ferreira on The Legal Status of the Financial Action Task Force in the International Legal System (Brill)

The Legal Status of the Financial Action Task Force in the International Legal System
Ilda Cristina Ferreira (PhD 2023)
Brill
Published in January 2025
356 pp.

Description: The FATF challenges traditional axioms and patently illustrates the dynamics of the international legal system. This book fills a significant gap in academic literature by studying FATF’s legal nature and its responsibilities in the international legal system as an organisation with public authority. It makes a bold argument that the FATF has gradually evolved into an international organisation, addressing international law and international organisation law discourse, combining theory and practice.

This book’s analytical framework can be applied to any organisation whose legal nature remains undefined, attempting to provide clarity and legal certainty in the international legal system’s architecture of the 21st century.

Emily Lee on Advancing Digital Economy and Financial Inclusion through Central Bank Digital Currencies (African Journal of International and Comparative Law)

"Advancing Digital Economy and Financial Inclusion through Central Bank Digital Currencies: A Comprehensive Analysis of Policies and Legal Implications through e-CNY and eNaira"
Emily Lee
African Journal of International and Comparative Law, Volume 33, Issue 1, February, 2025, pp. 1–28
Published online: February 2025

Abstract: This article explores the implementation of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) as a proactive measure by central banks to achieve policy objectives such as financial inclusion, data and privacy governance and economic growth in the digital economy. The design concepts of e-CNY and eNaira, the two primary retail CBDC prototypes discussed herein, are shaped by these objectives.

The analysis focuses on regulatory policies, risks and legal implications associated with the shift from conventional digital payments to CBDC payments, using e-CNY and eNaira as case studies. It discusses CBDC’s competitiveness and interoperability within the current payment landscape and other regulatory concerns, such as data and personal privacy, CBDC interface providers’ performance and scalability, cybersecurity, compliance for anti-money laundering regulations and the operational robustness and resilience of payment systems.

By examining these issues and challenges, the article aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the potential benefits and challenges associated with CBDC implementation. The insights drawn from the e-CNY and eNaira implementations can provide food for thought for governments that wish to work towards implementing secure and user-friendly CBDCs that coexist with traditional financial intermediaries while offering enhanced payment capabilities.

New Issue of Asia-Pacific Journal on Human Rights and the Law (Volume 26, Issue 1, Feb 2025)

ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE LAW

Editor-in-Chief: Simon NM Young

Publisher: Brill, Leiden

2025, Volume 26, Issue 1

Table of Contents

Articles:

The Exercise of Discretion in the Criminal Justice System

Author:  Ian McWalters

Pages: 1–22

Online Publication Date: 21 Feb 2025

Resurgence of Diplomatic Asylum in International Law: Human Rights the Missing Piece of Puzzle

Author: Atul Alexander

Pages: 23–46

Online Publication Date: 21 Feb 2025

Diplomatic Asylum in US-China Relations

Author: Stacy Lau

Pages: 47–79

Online Publication Date: 21 Feb 2025

Daniel Bell's SCMP interview on China’s melding of Confucius and Marx

"Political theorist Daniel A. Bell reflects on China’s melding of Confucius and Marx"
Yuanyue Dang
South China Morning Post
24 February 2025

Daniel A. Bell, a Canadian political theorist specialising in Confucianism and China’s political meritocracy, is chair of political theory at the University of Hong Kong’s law faculty. He was the first foreigner to be appointed as dean of Shandong University’s school of political science and public administration, and also taught at Beijing’s Tsinghua University.

In this interview, Bell shares his views on the links between the ruling Communist Party’s guiding philosophy and Confucianism, as well as the fight against corruption and his outlook for the future of Chinese politics...

Click here to read the full interview on SCMP.

To understand more about Prof. Daniel Bell's work, please click here to read the article written by Peter Baehr on Springer Nature.

Xin He on Threat to Family Stability or Social Stability? Domestic Violence Protection Orders in Two Chinese Courts (LSI)

"Threat to Family Stability or Social Stability? Domestic Violence Protection Orders in Two Chinese Courts"
Xin He
Law & Social Inquiry
Published online: February 2025

Abstract: In this examination of domestic violence protection orders in two lower-level Chinese courts, the interpretation of gender violence with respect to political concerns for social stability plays an essential role in the law’s effectiveness. In an urbanized coastal area court, judges see gender violence as a direct threat to social stability. To maintain stability, they facilitate claims against gender violence. Conversely, in a rural court, judges view gender violence as a direct threat to family stability. To maintain family stability, which is closely linked to social stability, they suppress claims against gender violence. This study proposes that, when global discourses are reformulated, new forms of cultural and political appropriation emerge. It highlights the complexities that arise when law, culture, and politics intermingle in the process of law and globalization. Understanding these complexities is crucial for addressing challenges in implementing global legal reforms at the local level and ensuring protection against gender violence.

Stefano Osella on A caring academia? Afterword to the Foreword by Gráinne de Búrca, Rosalind Dixon, and Marcela Prieto Rudolphy (ICON)

"A caring academia? Afterword to the Foreword by Gráinne de Búrca, Rosalind Dixon, and Marcela Prieto Rudolphy"
Stefano Osella
International Journal of Constitutional Law
Published online: January 2025

Abstract: This Afterword to the Foreword by Gráinne de Búrca, Rosalind Dixon, and Marcela Prieto Rudolphy aims to foster the debate on the recognition of care as a means to achieve gender equality in academia. Drawing inspiration from the ongoing revaluation of care across various disciplines, including constitutional law, the article emphasizes the importance of a cultural revaluation of care within academic institutions. It interrogates whether such a shift could favor a more equitable distribution of care-related tasks and foster a symbolic move toward values such as collegiality, reciprocal nurturing and support, and relationality. Finally, the Afterword asks whether such a transformation could be a crucial first step toward a more sustainable higher-education and research environment.

New Book Edited by Yun Zhao and Jędrzej Górski: Aviation Law and Governance - Navigating Global Challenges and Conflicts (Routledge)

Aviation Law and Governance - Navigating Global Challenges and Conflicts
Edited by Jędrzej Górski, Yun Zhao
Routledge
Published in February 2025
444 pp.

Book Description: Exploring the intricate relationship between law, economics, and global politics, this book examines the regulatory environment of the aviation industry.

Tracing the historical development of aviation law, the book has a particular focus on how economic polycentrism and the liberal international economic order have influenced the sector's regulatory framework. It discusses the aviation industry's responses to unforeseen global events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical conflicts, providing a detailed analysis of the legal mechanisms that ensure industry stability and resilience. Key topics include the role of arbitration in resolving disputes, the impact of international regulations, and the critical contributions of both public and private actors in shaping aviation law. Additionally, the book explores the challenges posed by new and emerging technologies, such as the increasing automation in aviation systems and the legal considerations surrounding cybersecurity in aviation operations. The collection also features diverse international case studies, offering practical examples of legal challenges and solutions in different contexts. By examining the intersection of various legal disciplines and the global nature of aviation, this comprehensive exploration not only reflects on past and present challenges but also provides forward-looking insights into the future of aviation law.

The book will be of interest to researchers in the field of air transport law and dispute resolution, offering a thorough understanding of the legal and economic complexities facing the industry today.

Cora Chan on Gender, democracy, and the legal academy: Afterword to the Foreword by Gráinne de Búrca, Rosalind Dixon, and Marcela Prieto Rudolphy (ICON)

"Gender, democracy, and the legal academy: Afterword to the Foreword by Gráinne de Búrca, Rosalind Dixon, and Marcela Prieto Rudolphy"
Cora Chan
International Journal of Constitutional Law
Published online: February 2025

Abstract: This Afterword reflects on the Foreword’s three key contributions—proof of a gender gap in the legal academy, revelation of the problem’s complexity, and an exploration of solutions—from the perspective of a woman scholar specializing in constitutional law in Hong Kong, a former British colony and now a special administrative region of China. While Hong Kong is an international financial center with a strong higher education sector, and its government is explicitly committed to gender equality, the territory is steeped in traditional Chinese values and culture and has undergone a sharp authoritarian turn since the protest movement in 2019. It therefore provides an interesting vantage point from which to assess issues of gender in the legal academy. In particular, this Afterword cites and provides data substantiating the existence of a gender gap in Hong Kong’s legal academy, highlights the intersectional challenges arising from authoritarianism, marketization, and gender as well as other forms of marginalization, and underscores the relationship between gender equality and democratic governance.

Haochen Sun on The Law and Ethics of AI Creativity (St. John’s Law Review)

"The Law and Ethics of AI Creativity"
Haochen Sun
St. John's Law Review
Published online: January 2025

Abstract: This Article comprises three parts. In Part I, after demonstrating that creativity is a social process, I explore the ethical principles of originality, attribution, and authenticity of creative activities. In Part II, I scrutinize the opacity of AI systems in the collection, utilization, and generation of works, highlighting the need for a greater focus on the legal and social problems arising from these black box processes. Lastly, in Part III, I explore why the ethical principles of originality, attribution, and authenticity should govern AI creativity, and how they would lead to the adoption by AI companies of filtering and watermarking responsibilities.

Jedidiah Kroncke and Haimo Li on Carsun Chang's Jefferson: A Lost Era of Transnational Sino-American Constitutional Imagination (LHR)

"Carsun Chang's Jefferson: A Lost Era of Transnational Sino-American Constitutional Imagination"
Jedidiah Kroncke and Haimo Li
Law and History Review
Published online: January 2025

Abstract: This article recovers a lost era of Sino-American constitutional imagination surrounding the drafting of the 1946 Republic of China Constitution. It examines the transnational dynamics that led the Constitution's initial drafter, Zhang Junmai or Carsun Chang, to travel to the U.S. in 1945 to ostensibly study the ideas of Thomas Jefferson then ascendant in New Deal constitutional rhetoric. Recovering this episode recontextualizes Chang's early and late life as one of China's cosmopolitan intellectuals emerging from its contentious post-1911 dynastic politics who shaped China's engagement with evolving institutions of the modern international legal order. This recontextualization broadens and revises extant accounts of Chang's engagement with the 1946 constitutional drafting process by challenging accepted understandings of Chang's personal and intellectual trajectory and illuminating how the geopolitics of the Chinese Civil War intersected with presumptions about the overseas projection of American constitutional values increasingly embedded in twentieth-century American internationalism. Herein, Chang's long-standing interest in Jefferson's constitutional ideals was reshaped by the strategic considerations he faced situated between his consistent criticism of Guomindang leader Chiang-Kai Shek and Chang's suddenly heightened status among American political leaders. His near year-long stay in the U.S. before the 1946 drafting process involved many little known but determinative turns, including the role of a subset of Roosevelt and Truman Administration officials actively enamored with Jefferson's own study of Confucianism. The article also details the telling contours of Chang's post-1949 life as a political exile in the United States. Ultimately, this recovered episode demonstrates the pervasive and impactful nature of transnational dynamics in modern Sino-American relations which blur the line between national and international legal history. Most broadly, the fallout from the 1946 drafting process and the varied Chinese interpretations of thinkers like Jefferson reflect the mid-twentieth century transition of America from a global symbol of constitutional revolution to a global symbol of racialized empire. Recapturing this era thus also has implications for originalist-styled constitutional arguments made in contemporary Taiwan as well as for evaluating the international dimensions of Jefferson's problematic domestic legacy.

Hailiang Xiong on The Legislative Adjustment of Chinese Enforcement Regulation of the International Commercial Settlement Agreement in the context of the Singapore mediation convention (JIDS)

"The Legislative Adjustment of Chinese Enforcement Regulation of the International Commercial Settlement Agreement in the context of the Singapore mediation convention"
Hailiang Xiong (LLM Graduate 2024)
Journal of International Dispute Settlement, Volume 16, Issue 1, March 2025, idae025
Published online: January 2025

Abstract: The United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation has established an external legal framework for the cross-border enforcement of international commercial mediation settlement agreements. By virtue of the two-aspect institutional design, this Convention has constructed a modern mechanism for the direct enforcement of international commercial mediated settlement agreements. As one of the first signatories, China does not yet have the specific mediation legislation to conform to the Convention and cannot channel the Singapore Convention. This article discussed the dilemma of the ratification of the Singapore Convention in China from a comparative perspective and argues that China should adjust its mediation regulation by reducing the requirement of application for enforcement and limiting the judicial supervision to establish a direct enforcement mechanism following the potential international obligation under the Singapore Convention and further refine the macro mediation system.

Hui Jing and Wanyi Zhang on Enforcing Chinese charitable trusts (Trusts & Trustees)

"Enforcing Chinese charitable trusts"
Wanyi Zhang, Hui Jing
Trusts & Trustees, ttaf002
Published Online: January 2025

Abstract: This article examines the enforcement mechanisms of Chinese charitable trusts, highlighting the limitations of public law enforcement by civil affairs departments due to resource constraints. Through a comparative analysis of the English particular interest rule, it explores alternative enforcement frameworks, arguing that the beneficiary–recipient debate, while academically insightful, does not address practical enforcement challenges. The study suggests that the public law elements of charitable trusts necessitate a flexible, context-sensitive enforcement approach. For Chinese courts, the focus should be on whether supporting a plaintiff-charitable trust beneficiary’s claim ensures proper management of trust property and preserves the public benefit.

Scott Veitch on Friendship, Labour, Attention: Thinking with Simone Weil (CLT)

"What Matters?"
Scott Veitch
Critical Legal Thinking
Published online: January 2025

As part of a series on "Friendship, Labour, Attention: Thinking with Simone Weil" co-edited by Scott Veitch (HKU) and Maksymilian Del Mar (QMU London), Scott Veitch's contribution - 'What Matters?' - is here: 

Please click here to view full text.

Hualing Fu on Managed freedom in precarious times: Maintaining academic freedom in transitional Hong Kong (GlobCon)

"Managed freedom in precarious times: Maintaining academic freedom in transitional Hong Kong"
Hualing Fu
Global Constitutionalism
Published online: January 2025

Abstract: This article examines the status of academic freedom in Hong Kong in light of the increasing securitization of higher education since the implementation of the National Security Law (NSL) in 2020. It provides an analytical framework to comprehend the changing landscape of academic freedom in Hong Kong, highlighting the impact of the NSL and the conflict between the necessity of political control on securitized campuses and the demand for international, free, and high-quality universities to make Hong Kong a global hub for higher education. The article concludes by asserting that the NSL has reshaped and will continue to impact academic freedom and university autonomy concerning core security issues, but there is still a possibility to establish a defendable space for genuine academic freedom in classrooms.

Anfield Tam on The requisite intention for constituting a Quistclose trust (Trusts & Trustees)

"The requisite intention for constituting a Quistclose trust"
Anfield Tam (PCLL student)
Trusts & Trustees
Published online: January 2025

Abstract: In China Life Trustees Ltd v China Energy Reserve and Chemical Group Overseas Co Ltd [2024] HKCFA 15, the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal clarified that a positive intention for the transferor to retain beneficial interest in the transferred assets is not necessary for a Quistclose trust to arise. Rather, it suffices when the parties intended the transferred assets to be used exclusively for a specific purpose, such that it is not at the transferee’s free disposal. This note appraises the decision for disentangling the conceptual nuances between these two types of intention. The Court rightly held that the transferor’s retention of beneficial interest is merely a legal consequence of the restrictive intention, as on a correct reading of the authorities such retention need not be intended for a Quistclose trust to arise.

Daniel Bell on China in the Year 2050: A Look Backwards (Society)

"China in the Year 2050: A Look Backwards"
Daniel A. Bell
Society
Published online: January 2025

Abstract: This article discusses China’s political history from 2025 to 2050. In 2025, there was strong support for the political system due to measures that curbed corruption, reduced pollution, and alleviated poverty, but intellectuals felt stifled by increased repression. From 2025 to 2035—known as China’s “Lost Decade”—China’s economy worsened and relations with the USA further deteriorated, nearly leading to war. The next fifteen years—known as China’s “Golden Age”—saw unparalleled prosperity, an open and pluralistic political system, the setting up of the East Asian Union, and sustained cooperation with the USA to deal with global challenges. Nobody knows what will happen after 2050, but we need optimistic and realistic political scenarios to inspire change for the future.

Jedidiah Kroncke on An Empire of Anti-Democracy: The Imperial Legacies of American Territorial Labor (WLR)

"An Empire of Anti-Democracy: The Imperial Legacies of American Territorial Labor"
Jedidiah J. Kroncke
Washington Law Review (Vol. 99, No. 4 (2024))
Published online: January 2025

Abstract: A great deal of recent attention has been given to acknowledging the full historical scope of American empire and its legal foundations. A recurrent focus of this attention has been the impact of the Insular Cases—a set of early twentieth century doctrines that legitimate American territorial acquisitions while denying their full incorporation under the United States Constitution. Issues of political citizenship and property have thus predominated critical work on the Insular Cases.

This Article expands on this resurgent interest by focusing on another critical element of this acknowledgment: the history of territorial labor which has long been central to the political economy of American empire. Explicating the role and regulation of territorial labor enables a more complete picture of American empire and centers its evolving pursuit of new legal forms to project national power while avoiding democratic accountability.

Most concretely, the unprincipled doctrines of the Insular Cases have led to a paradigm of perpetually precarious bargaining in which territorial labor only enjoys the formal protection of labor and employment law subject to complete federal discretion and potential revocation. Mapping the diverse and contingent legal regimes this bargaining has produced unearths all too many tragedies past and present as the largely invisible labor of territorial people has been circulated throughout American empire while building its economic and military foundations.

Further complicating this formally inchoate set of rights are the practical realities territorial labor has historically been subject to under conditions of American empire: localized employer domination, tactics of racialized labor migration, and the overshadowing anti-democratic disciplinary rationales of U.S. national security. These realities are evident throughout the diverse range of contemporary territories as well as in their scarring effects within former American territories and military occupations. Moreover, imperial labor’s roaming logics of dehumanization are today increasingly displaced onto even more vulnerable foreign migrant workers within many territories themselves.

Acknowledging the role of territorial labor in American empire blurs the line between territorial and incorporated life and law. Most powerfully, it reveals how the conditions of territorial labor reflect back the enervated nature of American economic citizenship writ large. This reflection is just one of the many ways in which territorial history presents lessons increasingly applicable to broader swaths of American life under conditions of modern economic globalization. The Article ultimately integrates territorial history into renewed demands for a democratic political economy for all those living under American sovereignty.

Gary Meggitt on The Changing Landscape of Professional Liabilities (New book chapter)

"The Changing Landscape of Professional Liabilities"
Gary Meggitt
in Insurability of Emerging Risks: Law, Theory and Practice, edited by Baris Soyer and Özlem Gürses (Bloomsbury Publishing, January 2025), Chapter 11, pp. 233 - 254
Published in January 2025

Introduction: Once upon a time, it was relatively easy to identify who was ‘a professional’ . As the authors of Jackson & Powell on Professional Liability put it, ‘the occupations which are regarded as professions have four characteristics’ . These are the ‘mental’ rather than ‘manual’ nature of their work; the ‘moral’ or ‘societal’ aspects of their role; the existence of collective organisations to which they belong and which oversee their activities; and the elevated social status which they enjoy.

Those characteristics are passing into history. Professionals’ work may still be mental rather than manual, but the quality of their work is no longer ‘judged’ by their professional peers but by the managers of the corporate entities in which they are now often employed. Moreover, emerging technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), presents an even greater challenge. Can a ‘bot’ be a barrister ? If not, why not ? If an architect uses AI to design a building and that design is defective, who is to blame ? The architect or the AI or the AI’s developer ? If the design is superlative, who takes the credit ?

The demise of traditional partnerships and the ‘commercialization’ of their practices has exacerbated the tensions between professionals’ disparate ethical duties to their colleagues, clients and the wider community. The supervisory role of collective organisations such as national law societies has been diluted by the growth of statutory regulatory bodies and, in the view of some, sidestepped by multinational professional service firms. Finally, professionals’ supposed social status has been all but eradicated by the public’s disinclination to defer to their ‘betters’. This is reflected, most importantly for professional indemnity (PI) insurers, in the growth of claims against professionals for both their own alleged misconduct and in ‘facilitating’ the misconduct of others.

This chapter addresses the changing nature of the work, obligations and regulation of professionals by reference to the ‘four characteristics’ in Jackson & Powell. It considers the possible risks that may be brought about by these changes. It discusses the need for policyholders and insurers to familiarise themselves with these risks and to address them when it comes to their practices (in the case of the former) and underwriting, claims management possible development of alternative forms of cover (in the latter’s case). Although this chapter focuses on legal professionals (so as to keep it to a manageable length) it touches upon the experiences of other professions where appropriate. Finally, although it concentrates on developments in the UK, it does not neglect those in other significant jurisdictions.