# Hong Kong Letters Patent 1960

Issued by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on 19th July 1960, and published in the Hong Kong Government Gazette on 24th August 1960, the Hong Kong Letters Patent 1960 further amended the Hong Kong Letters Patent 1917 and made new provisions for the grant of Crown Leases in Hong Kong.
ELIZABETH THE SECOND, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Our other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.
To all to whom these Presents shall some, Greeting!
WHEREAS by Hong Kong Letters Patent, 1917 to 1954 (hereinafter called the “principal Letters Patent”) the Office of Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over Our Colony of Hong Kong and its Dependencies is constituted and provision is made for the government thereof:
AND WHEREAS We are minded to amend the provisions of the principal Letters Patent in manner hereinafter appearing:
Know Ye that We have declared and by these Presents do declare Our will and pleasure as follows-
1. (1) These Our Letters may be cited as the Hong Kong Letters Patent, 1960, and shall be construed as one with the principal Letters Patent.
(2) The principal Letters Patent and these Our Letters may be cited together as the Hong Kong Letters Patent, 1917 to 1960.
(3) These Our Letters shall be published in the Hong Kong Government Gazette and shall come into operation upon the date of such publication.
2. The principal Letters Patent shall have effect as if the following Article were substituted for Article XIII of the Letters Patent dated the fourteenth day of February, 191, as amended by Letters Patent dated the sixteenth day of March, 1950-
“Disposal of lands.
XIII. (1) The Governor, in Our name and on Our behalf, may make and execute grants and dispositions of any lands within the Colony that may be lawfully granted or disposed of by Us.
(2) The powers conferred on the Governor by this Article may be exercised on behalf of the Governor by any person authorized, whether by name or by reference to an office, to exercise those powers by the Governor and such authorization shall be notified in the Hong Kong Government Gazette.
(3) Any such authority shall be subject to such conditions and restriction (if any) as the Governor may specify, and may be varied or revoked by the Governor, and such conditions, restrictions, variation or revocation shall be notified in the Hong Kong Government Gazette.
(4) Grants and dispositions of land made under this Article shall be made in conformity with the provisions of such Instructions as may from time to time be given to the Governor under Our Royal Sign Manual and Signet or through a Secretary of State and such laws as may for the time being be in force in the Colony.”
3. (1) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (2) of this Article, where any public officer has, before the coming into operation of these Letters Patent, entered into an agreement in writing for the lease of any land in the Colony that might at the time the agreement was entered into have been lawfully granted or disposed of by Us, such agreement shall have effect, and shall be deemed always to have had effect, as if it had been entered into by the Governor under the powers conferred on him by paragraph (1) of Article XIII of the principal Letters Patent as substituted by these Letters Patent.
(2) The following Provisions shall have effect in relation to any legal proceedings commenced before the coming into operations of these Letters Patent involving a question the decision on which depends upon the validity of title to any land, that is to say-
(a) nothing in this Article shall affect the validity of any determination of that question before the date upon which these Letters Patent come into operation; and
(b) in any proceedings after that date, that question shall be determined as if this Article had not been enacted,
but without prejudice to the operation of the provisions of paragraph (1) of this Article in relation to that land in so far as those provisions can operate notwithstanding the determination of that question.
4. We do hereby reserve to Ourselves, Our Heirs and Successors, full power and authority to amend or revoke these Letters Patent as to Us or Them shall seem fit.
In Witness whereof We have caused these Our Letters to be made Patent.
Witness Ourself at Westminster this nineteenth day of July, in the ninth year of Our Reign.
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This work is in the public domain worldwide because it was created by a public body of the United Kingdom with Crown Status and commercially published before 1974.
See Crown copyright artistic works, Crown copyright non-artistic works and List of Public Bodies with Crown Status.
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