The local charter states that final interpretive power resides with China's legislature. In its five-paragraph statement, the CFA retracted nothing from the substance of its original judgment, including the ruling that even locals' illegitimate children were entitled to residency. Some had argued that this ruling in effect overturned an earlier NPC directive. Still, the court's action triggered some unease. The Hong Kong government's decision to ask the CFA for a clarification was unusual, if not unprecedented, in common-law jurisdictions.
Courts often revise their rulings, but usually during subsequent cases.
That is why the episode was widely condemned in Hong Kong's legal circles. Lawyers said the CFA could have had the chance to clarify its stance as it faced new cases stemming from its ruling. But that may not have been soon enough, especially with the NPC meeting imminently, raising fears of intervention. He suggested that both the local government and judiciary basically performed their jobs in an open and public way. He found that encouraging.