All men are equal before law? Perhaps you got it wrong

In the past few months the whole island is heated up because of the social activities arising from the protests on the extradition bill. The origin of the people's vigorous resistance is the concern on the two legal systems in the Mainland and Hong Kong respectively. At the beginning of this social movement Hong Kong people voted with their marches on how lack of confidence on the judicial systems in China, one may assume that they are contented on the one that is being practiced here in Hong Kong, at least comparatively and relatively.

China's judicial system is no doubt infamous due to the root cause of its constitution that the CCP leads every governmental functions including the courts. When the ruling party is above and rules the courts then naturally no fair trial can be expected as long as the defendant is the government meaning the CCP itself. Compounded with the serious corruption both in private and public sectors including the courts, so justice is just something of lip service only even if in the ordinary civil cases which dignitaries or the riches are defendants. This is the reason why, prior to the withdrawal of the Bill, Hong Kong people is so worried that if one day they are extradited to China no matter for true or fabricated accusations. 

The fear on China's judicial system is substantive because it is notorious with countless existing examples. This undermines the propaganda of the promotion of living in Greater Bay Area.  Naturally the reality is that there are already many Hong Kong people living in China due to work or other reasons. They might think as long as they stay away from any anti-government movements and to be an obedient citizen then they should be free from the threat. Naturally the danger is not imminent but the problem is that even if one does not actively engage in "dangerous activities", it does not necessarily means he will not come across injustice incident. For example, one may be knocked down by a car driven by a drunken senior official, or say his business is too good but hurts that of his jealous dignitary competitor whom thus sends in wretches to teach the former a lesson. In both cases the plaintiff most probably will not receive a fair trial on the cases.

Perhaps everybody agrees that judicial system in countries with totalitarian regime is injustice. So how about those in the democratic countries? Naturally the latter is far more better than the former but having said that, injustice seems to be a dark side of human nature disregard the difference in the ideology. To look into the issue, a scrutiny on the formation of the legal system, even if in the democratic countries, is essential.

Depending on the constitution in a particular country, laws are drafted and then passed in the law-making body. Therefore the legislative system, ie., who draft and who is responsible for passing the laws are equally important to the fairness of the judicial system among the whole legal system. The controversy brought out by the anti-extradition bill incident often rests on the confidence of Hong Kong's judicial system but the courts are the parties who judge cases based on the established laws. When the laws themselves are in favour of some particular "beneficiaries" in the first place or the legal proceeding process is not friendly to some segments of the society then no matter how fair the courts are, injustice is just inevitable.

For the first point on the law-making process, the proposal of a bill is usually drafted by the related governmental agency which may or may not have consultation with the public. In reality most ordinary people are not equipped with the needed knowledge or time to attend consultations, let alone those at the bottom of social minority who is often neglected. On the other hand those wealthy classes or big corporations have much more resources in engaging professionals on the lobbying of the law to their favour. The lobbyists in K Street in Washington D.C. is a good example of this unfairness at the start.

On the other hand, the complicated legal process on a proceeding and the most of all, the associated legal fees often scare common folks away on the attempt to get justice through legal action. In most places, lawyer's legal advice charge is hourly based. One even cannot afford to pay the charge for the legal advice whether a further legal action is justified. Even if one's pocket is deep enough for the legal advice bill but the subsequent court proceeding costs and the barrister fee which is unknown till the end of the case often wards ordinary people off from this route in pursuit of justice. This is particularly true for the case of a small potato plaintiff vs a wealthy defendant.

After all, no matter totalitarian nations or democratic nations, laws are so constructed to mainly serve the dignitaries and riches. The reality is that justice comes with a price tag which is often too costly to ordinary people. This is an untold truth that could break the heart of billions of people who is dreaming all men are equal before law.