Chu Yung-Chuen v Director of Immigration
| Jurisdiction | Hong Kong |
| Date | 02 December 1968 |
| Court | Supreme Court (Hong Kong) |
(Briggs and Huggins JJ.)
The individual in international law In general Human rights and freedoms Freedom of movement Passports Extent of legal right to a passport Whether denial of a passport an infringement of the fundamental right to freedom of movement as defined in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights The law of Hong Kong
Summary: The facts:The applicant sought an order of mandamus to compel the issue of a passport to him.
Held:(1) the applicant had no legal right to a passport.
(2) The denial of a passport did not infringe the fundamental right to freedom of movement as defined in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
(3) Mandamus did not lie to compel the issue of a passport in any circumstances.
The following is the text of the judgment of the Court delivered by Huggins J.:
Another division of the Court, of which I was also a member, gave leave to apply for an order of mandamus but refused leave to apply for an order of certiorari because we were clearly of opinion that the respondent was not required to act judicially in deciding whether to issue a passport. We were inclined to think that mandamus also would not lie but being aware of the short reports of die decision in Satwant Singh Sawhney v. The Government of IndiaTLR1 and as the applicant was not professionally represented we thought it right to give leave to apply so that the matter could be more fully considered.
Having now had the advantage of hearing Mr. Hogg on behalf of the respondent I am satisfied that the application must be dismissed. It is perhaps to be regretted that passports have been so far debased that their true nature is in danger of being forgotten. Lord Alverstone, CJ. said in R. v. Brailsford2:
(A passport) is a document issued in the name of the Sovereign on the responsibility of a Minister of the Crown to a named individual, intended to be presented to the Governments of Foreign nations and to be used for that individual's protection as a British subject in foreign countries, and it depends for its validity upon the fact that the Foreign Office in an official document vouches the respectability of the person named.
That some countries now appear to require their own nationals (whose respectability they have themselves vouched) to produce a passport both upon departure and upon entry does not in my view affect...
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