Court of Final Appeal (Hong Kong) Court of Final Appeal (Hong Kong) The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal () is the final appellate court of Hong Kong. Before 1 July 1997, Hong Kong was a British Dependent Territory, and the power of final adjudication on the laws of Hong Kong was vested in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. The sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China on 1 July 1997. Based on the one country, two systems principle, Hong Kong retains its highly autonomous power and maintains its own legal system. The
Britons in Hong Kong Britons in Hong Kong Britons never made up more than a small portion of the population in Hong Kong, despite Hong Kong having been under British rule for more than 150 years. However, they did leave their mark on Hong Kong's institutions, culture and architecture. The British population in Hong Kong today consists mainly of career expatriates working in banking, education, real estate, law and consultancy, as well as a large number of British-born ethnic Chinese, former Chinese émigrés to the U.K., and Hong Kongers (mostly ethnic Chinese) who successfully applied for full British citizenship before the transfer of sovereignty