Legal Mobilization

Legal mobilization has become an important political phenomenon in post-colonial Hong Kong. Citizens and groups have increasingly turned to the court to challenge decisions made by the Hong Kong government. This chapter examines how the Hong Kong government and its challengers fared in all the administrative cases that the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (HKCFA) heard between July 1997 and 2015. It addresses three questions. First, what kinds of issues were challenged before the HKCFA? Second, who litigated against the Hong Kong government before the top court? Third, how did the HKCFA dispose of administrative cases? This study highlights three important findings. First, the overall success rate of the Hong Kong government in administrative litigation was relatively high – 63 percent – even higher than its counterpart in Singapore. Second, although the overall success rate of the Hong Kong government was high, there were substantial variations in success rates across different types of issues. Third, this study demonstrates the diverse background of the non-government litigants. Apart from big and small business and individual litigants, civil society organizations have also increasingly played an important role in mobilizing the law, particularly in social policy litigation.