ABSTRACT
This chapter constitutes a first attempt to demythologise the well-rehearsed history of common law in Hong Kong told by Sir Anthony Mason and like-minded historians through a close reading of trial hearing record. The early 'umbrella movement' not only demonstrates the shared nationalism between the Chinese population of Hong Kong and their mainland counterparts. The record shows that judicial independence was blatantly disregarded during the trial hearing in one of Hong Kong's Magistrates' Courts, which were responsible for trying over 90 per cent of criminal cases in the first century of British rule in Hong Kong. The common-law system of Hong Kong became an accomplice in the pursuit of an authoritarian form of colonial law and order to achieve the colonial power's strategic aim of maintaining its overseas territorial and economic possessions. The chapter shows how the law and prosecution were used to pursue the geopolitical interests of the British Empire.
