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Following is the speech by the Secretary for Justice, Ms Elsie Leung in moving the Second Reading of the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 1999 in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Madam President,

I move that the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 1999 be read a second time.

The Bill is part of the on-going process of statute law reform directed at repealing obsolete statutory provisions, removing anomalies and inconsistencies in legislation and making a variety of minor improvements which do not justify the introduction of separate bills.

Amendments to law in criminal matters

I will turn first to the provisions dealing with criminal matters.

At present, there are no statutory provisions governing what happens to an existing detention order, supervision order or recall order when a detainee in a Detention Centre, or a Drug Addiction Treatment Centre, or a Training Centre, is further sentenced to one or other of the centres for a separate offence. Clauses 3 to 5 of the Bill clarify the appropriate treatment in such circumstances.

Clause 8 abolishes the "year and a day" rule which prevents a person from being convicted of the offence of homicide if the victim does not die within a year and a day after the injury was inflicted. This rule is no longer appropriate in the face of medical and technological advances made since it was first established.

Clauses 9 to 12 provide for amendments to the Mental Health Ordinance and the Hospital Authority Ordinance. These will ensure that, where evidence relating to a person's mental fitness is required, it is obtained from psychiatrists who are on the Specialist Register of the Medical Council, established in March 1998.

Clause 13 amends section 153A of the Crimes Ordinance, which relates to the closure of premises in respect of which certain vice offences have been committed on two occasions. The section requires warning notices to be published after a relevant offence has been committed for the first time. The notice must set out the text of certain sections of the Ordinance. The proposed amendment deals with the situation where more than one notice is published in the same issue of a newspaper and provides that the text of the sections need only be set out once.

Clause 14 removes a possible ambiguity in the present section 159E of the Crimes Ordinance, which abolished the offence of conspiracy at common law. The amendment will ensure that acts of conspiracy committed before the commencement of the section on 2 August 1996 may still be prosecuted, under the common law.

Clauses 25 and 26 amend the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Ordinance to allow inward transfer of persons who do not have any mental incapacity and who are sentenced for an indeterminate period. The current law does not cater for this.

Other improvements

I now turn to other improvements not relating to the criminal law, beginning with property law.

At the moment, a mortgagor of an interest in land will be unable to repay the outstanding amount of the mortgage money if the mortgagee cannot be found, the mortgage documents are missing, or the date on which the mortgage should have been repaid is unknown. Clauses 6 and 7 amend the Conveyancing and Property Ordinance so that, in these circumstances, the amount outstanding under the mortgage can be paid into court, and the court may make an order declaring the property free from that particular encumbrance. This will facilitate the sale or development of the relevant property.

Clauses 17 to 24 amend the Audit Ordinance to empower the Director of Audit to delegate to directorate officers of the Audit Commission the duties or powers to certify and report on certain accounts. This would free the Director to perform more important audit work. In addition, legal backing is provided for the Director of Audit to audit suitors' funds held by specified courts and tribunals as well as specified funds which are not "public moneys" in the ordinary sense of those words.

Clauses 44 to 47 remove any doubt about the validity of 20 pieces of subsidiary legislation, that were inadvertently not laid before the Legislative Council. 15 of these are commencement notices appointing dates for the coming into operation of Ordinances, three are orders making minor amendments to legislation, and two pertain to changes in title of government offices and officers.

Clause 16 enables former judges of the High Court to be appointed to serve on the Post-Release Supervision Board and the Long-term Prison Sentences Review Board.

Clauses 27 to 39 reflect the change in the title of the former Child Care Centres Ordinance to "Child Care Services Ordinance" in various pieces of subsidiary legislation.

Clauses 40 to 43 amend various pieces of subsidiary legislation to reflect the changes in name of a number of international organizations.

Clauses 48 and 49 make minor amendments to a number of Ordinances to ensure consistency of terminology and to ensure consistency between the Chinese and English texts.

Clause 50 repeals certain redundant legislation.

As I indicated earlier, this Bill is part of a continuing process of tidying up Hong Kong's statute law and effecting minor reforms.

Madam President, I commend the Bill to the Council.

End/Wednesday, June 23, 1999

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