Three different legal systems within China are able to co-exist harmoniously, said Secretary for Justice Elsie Leung when delivering a speech at a City University conference Tuesday.

Leung was referring to the socialist law system on the mainland, the common law system in Hong Kong and the civil law system in Taiwan and Macao.

She said that while the topics of recognition and enforcement of judgments and arbitral awards were studied between the different legal jurisdictions, cooperation in those areas could be achieved.

"It undoubtedly helps if we understand each other's system first. Since reunification, it is gratifying to see that positive steps have been taken by the various legal jurisdictions to understand each other better," she said.

She said there was no reason why different legal systems could not co-exist within one country.

"The United States and Canada are largely common law jurisdictions, and yet Louisiana and Quebec operate under civil law. The European Union has demonstrated that both common law and civil law countries can give effect to the multitude of EU obligations, in areas such as commerce and human rights," she noted.

She said legal systems existed for a purpose and there was a growing consensus among the mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao that the purpose should be to contribute to political stability and social order and to protect the basic rights of citizens.

She said the way in which this was done may vary in the various parts of China.

"But if we are working towards the same goal, we can overcome obstacles and contribute to the economic and social development of our country," she said.

Cooperation between the various jurisdictions within China is not short of examples, according to the SAR's Solicitor-General Bob Allcock.

Also making a speech at the same seminar, Allcock said that before reunification, arbitral awards made in Hong Kong were enforceable on the mainland and vice versa.

Ironically, they ceased to be enforceable after reunification because the New York Convention, on which the pre-reunification arrangement was based, no longer applied to the SAR.

"The problem was, however, short-lived.

"In June 1999, an agreement was reached with the mainland for the mutual enforcement of arbitral awards and this came into effect in February 2000," Allcock said.

As a result of the arrangement, he said Hong Kong was able to continue to develop as a leading centre for international and domestic arbitration.

(China Daily HK Edition November 10, 2004)