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Madam Justice Ho, sitting in the Court of First Instance, hears a dispute over a broker's lien. A 2015 Hong Kong Court of Appeal judgment is directly on point; a 2022 English Court of Appeal decision disagrees. Which of the following statements are CORRECT? I. She is bound by the 2015 Hong Kong Court of Appeal judgment. II. She must refer the conflict to the Court of Final Appeal before giving judgment. III. The 2022 English decision is persuasive authority only. IV. Article 8 of the Basic Law makes post-1997 English Court of Appeal decisions binding in Hong Kong.
Statement I is correct: under the doctrine of precedent a lower court is bound by the decisions of courts above it in the same hierarchy, so the Court of First Instance must follow the Court of Appeal. Statement II is wrong: no procedure obliges a trial judge to refer conflicting authorities to the Court of Final Appeal; the point can reach it only on appeal. Statement III is correct: Article 84 of the Basic Law lets Hong Kong courts refer to precedents of other common law jurisdictions, which makes later English decisions persuasive, not binding. Statement IV is wrong: Article 8 preserves the laws previously in force in Hong Kong, including the common law; it does not import later English judgments as binding law. Source: Basic Law of the HKSAR, Articles 8 and 84; doctrine of stare decisis (as at October 2026).
Candidates treat English case law as still binding after 1997. Article 84 makes it persuasive; the Hong Kong hierarchy binds.
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