Hong Kong Ruling Favors Government

A Hong Kong appeals court crushed a challenge to the legal and constitutional arrangements that have been in place since China resumed sovereignty over the territory four weeks ago.

In a ruling today favoring the post-colonial government, the court dismissed a claim that because British laws were never formally adopted by Beijing after the hand-over, they had all ceased to be valid, and it said it had no power to rule on the legality of the Provisional Legislature installed by China on July 1.