### Law Amendment and Reform (Consolidation) Ordinance 《法律修訂及改革(綜合)條例》

15. Right of surety who discharges liability to assignment of all securities held by creditor
(1) Every person who, being surety for the debt or duty of another or being liable with another for any debt or duty, pays such debt or performs such duty, shall be entitled to have assigned to him, or to a trustee for him, every judgment, specialty, or other security which is held by the creditor in respect of such debt or duty, whether such judgment, specialty, or other security is or is not deemed at law to have been satisfied by the payment of the debt or performance of the duty.
(2) Such person shall be entitled to stand in the place of the creditor, to use all the remedies, and, if need be and upon a proper indemnity, to use the name of the creditor, in any action or other proceeding at law or in equity, in order to obtain from the principal debtor or any co-surety, co-contractor or co-debtor, as the case may be, indemnification for the advances made and loss sustained by the person who has so paid such debt or performed such duty, and such payment or performance so made by such surety shall not be a bar to any such action or other proceeding by him.
(3) No co-surety, co-contractor, or co-debtor, shall be entitled to recover from any other co-surety, co-contractor, or co-debtor, by the means aforesaid, more than the just proportion to which, as between those parties themselves, such last mentioned person is justly liable.
(13 of 1864 s. 6 incorporated. Replaced 53 of 1971 s. 2)[cf. 1856 c. 97 s. 5 U.K.]

15A. Charges and mortgages over choses in action
For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that a person (the first person

### Law Amendment and Reform (Consolidation) Ordinance 《法律修訂及改革(綜合)條例》

17. Provision as to the application of sections 16, 17 and 18
(1) This section and sections 16 and 18 shall save as is hereinafter provided apply to contracts whether made before or after 18 June 1948, as respects which the time of discharge is on or after 8 December 1941, but not to contracts as respects which the time of discharge is before the latter date.
(2) This section and sections 16 and 18 shall apply to contracts to which the Crown is a party in like manner as to contracts between subjects.
(3) Where any contract to which this section and sections 16 and 18 apply contains any provision which, upon the true construction of the contract, is intended to have effect in the event of circumstances arising which operate, or would but for the said provision operate, to frustrate the contract, or is intended to have effect whether such circumstances arise or not, the court shall give effect to the said provision and shall only give effect to section 16 to such extent, if any, as appears to the court to be consistent with the said provision.
(4) Where it appears to the court that apart of any contract to which this section and sections 16 and 18 apply can properly be severed from the remainder of the contract, being a part wholly performed before the time of discharge, or so performed except for the payment in respect of that part of the contract of sums which are or can be ascertained under the contract, the court shall treat that part of the contract as if it were a separate contract and had not been frustrated and shall treat section 16 as only applicable to the remainder of that contract.
(5) This section and sections 16 and 18 shall not apply—
(a) to any charterparty, except a time charterparty or a charterparty by way of demise, or to any contract (other than a charterparty) for the carriage of goods by sea; or
(b) to any contract of insurance, save as is provided by section 16(5); or 
(c) to any contract to which section 9 of the Sale of Goods Ordinance (Cap. 26), (which avoids contracts for the sale of specific goods which perish before the risk has passed to the buyer) applies, or to any other contract for the sale, or for the sale and delivery, of specific goods, where the contract is frustrated by reason of the fact that the goods have perished.
(6) In this section and section 16, court (法院) includes any arbitrator by or before whom the matter falls to be determined.
(26 of 1948 ss. 2 & 4 incorporated)[cf. 1943 c. 40 s. 2 U.K.]

### Law Amendment and Reform (Consolidation) Ordinance 《法律修訂及改革(綜合)條例》

18. Saving for settlement or contrary agreement
Nothing in sections 16 and 17 shall affect any settlement or agreement between the parties subsequent to date of discharge whereby the rights and liabilities of the contracting parties fell to be determined otherwise than in accordance with the said sections.
(26 of 1948 s. 5 incorporated)

### Law Amendment and Reform (Consolidation) Ordinance 《法律修訂及改革(綜合)條例》

20A. Abolition of rights to damages for loss of expectation of life
(1) In an action for damages for personal injuries—
(a) no damages shall be recoverable in respect of any loss of expectation of life caused to the injured person by the injuries; but
(b) if the injured person’s expectation of life has been reduced by the injuries, the court, in assessing damages in respect of pain and suffering caused by the injuries, shall take account of any suffering caused or likely to be caused to him by awareness that his expectation of life has been so reduced.
(2) The reference in subsection (1)(a) to damages in respect of loss of expectation of life does not include damages in respect of loss of income.
(Added 40 of 1986 s. 3)[cf. 1982 c. 53 s. 1 U.K.]

20B. Abolition of common law actions for loss of society or service
Except as provided in section 20C, no person shall be liable in tort—
(a) to a husband on the ground only of having deprived him of the services or society of his wife;
(b) to a parent (or person standing in the place of a parent) on the ground only of having deprived him of the services of a child; or
(c) on the ground only—
(i) of having deprived another of the services of his menial servant;
(ii) of having deprived another of the services of his female servant by raping or seducing her; or
(iii) of enticement of a servant or harbouring a servant.
(Added 40 of 1986 s. 3)[cf. 1982 c. 53 s. 2 U.K.]

### Law Amendment and Reform (Consolidation) Ordinance 《法律修訂及改革(綜合)條例》

22A. Interpretation and other supplementary provisions
(1) Without prejudice to subsection (2), this Part applies in respect of births after (but not before) the commencement# of this Part, and in respect of any such birth it replaces any law in force before such commencement whereby a person could be liable to a child in respect of disabilities with which it might be born; but in section 22B(3) the expression liable in tort (承擔侵權責任) does not include any reference to liability by virtue of this Part, or to liability by virtue of any such law. [cf. 1976 c. 28 s. 4(5) U.K.]
(2) Section 22B does not affect the operation of the Nuclear Material (Liability for Carriage) Ordinance (Cap. 479), as to liability for, and compensation in respect of, injury or damage caused by occurrences involving nuclear matter or the emission of ionising radiations. (Amended 45 of 1995 s. 15)
(3) In this Part, born (出生) means born alive (the moment of a child’s birth being when it first has a life separate from its mother), and birth (出生) has a corresponding meaning.
(4) References in this Part to a child being born disabled or with disabilities are to its being born with any deformity, disease or abnormality, including predisposition (whether or not susceptible of immediate prognosis) to physical or mental defect in the future.
Editorial Note:
# Commencement date: 14.4.1978