International Human Rights Law and Domestic Constitutional Law: Internationalisation of Constitutional Law in Hong Kong

國際人權法與內國憲法：香港憲法的國際化

做為一個前英國殖民地、並於1997年後成為中華人民共和國特別行政區域的地位，香港提供了國際人權法、內國憲法及憲法國際化相互交流的有趣案例。自1991年以來，香港透過憲法及立法規定的方式，使公民與政治權利國際公約具有憲法效力、可為香港法院所適用、並可作為司法違憲審查相關立法及政府行為是否違憲時的基準。在1997年香港主權移交給中共並頒布香港特別行政區基本法後，這個制度仍有效運行。
本文第二部分則提供國際人權規範在香港特別行政區法令中的適用概況。第三部分則透過香港近年來幾個重要案件的內容，闡述憲法國際化的情形。第四部分則試圖將香港案例鑲嵌於國際及全球脈絡之中，並發展一個研究憲法國際化的概念框架。香港在缺乏本土憲政傳統、處在「一國兩制」並對香港「大陸化」有所焦慮這種特殊心理下，試圖在特別行政區內的範圍內，對憲法國際化有所理解或闡述，以保留公民自由並維持他們所珍愛生活方式。

The case of Hong Kong, a former British colony which since 1997 has become a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, provides an interesting case study of the interaction of international human rights law and domestic constitutional law and the internationalisation of constitutional law. Hong Kong has, since 1991, introduced constitutional and legislative arrangements to enable the human rights norms in International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to have constitutional force in Hong Kong, to be justiciable before the Hong Kong courts and to be used as yardsticks for constitutional judicial review of legislative and governmental actions. This system has continued to operate effectively after the handover in 1997 under the new constitutional regime established by the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region enacted by the PRC.
Part II of this article provides an overview of the application of the norms of international human rights in the domestic law of the HKSAR. Part III consists of several case studies of major court cases in recent years that illustrate the internationalisation of constitutional law in Hong Kong. Part IV seeks to locate the case of Hong Kong in the international and global context, and to develop a conceptual framework for the study of the internationalisation of constitutional law. It seeks an understanding or explanation of the internationalisation of constitutional law in the HKSAR in terms of the lack of an indigenous constitutional tradition in Hong Kong and the peculiar mentality of the people of Hong Kong living under “one country, two systems,” particularly their anxiety regarding the “mainlandization” of Hong Kong and their aspirations for the preservation of civil liberties and the maintenance of their cherished way of life.