ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the punishment side of civil disobedience. Whether and how to punish a conscience-based deliberative action of breaching the law remains a challenging prospect in modern legal and political philosophy. The fundamental concerns of these difficulties invite re-thinking not only of the relations between civil disobedience and punishment, but also the justification of civil disobedience when the punishment turns out to have a legitimate basis and firm moral grounding. The chapter analyses these intriguing issues by discussing traditional theories of punishment. It evaluates deterrent and retributive grounds and their proposed defence to the punishment of civil disobedience. The chapter explores whether engagement in civil disobedience might be deemed to be a right of conduct, and whether this moral right to civil disobedience could provide a normative protection against state punishment. It describes the role of the Hong Kong courts and the image of the rule of law constituted by Hong Kong's judiciary.
