An Ordinance to continue the body corporate known as The Church Body of the Chinese Anglican Church in Hong Kong under the name of the Church Body of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, to provide for the constitution, powers and duties of the Church Body of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, and to repeal the Chinese Anglican Church Body Incorporation Ordinance.
[26 February 1999] L.N. 55 of 1999
(Format changes—E.R. 2 of 2022)
(Enacting provision omitted—E.R. 2 of 2022)
(Amended E.R. 2 of 2022)
This Ordinance may be cited as the Church Body of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Ordinance.
(Omitted as spent—E.R. 2 of 2022)
In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires—
Chancellor (法律顧問) means the Chancellor of the Province of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui appointed under the Constitution and Canons; Church Body (管業委員會) means the Church Body of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui constituted under section 5; Constitution and Canons (憲章及規則) means the Constitution and Canons of the Province of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui referred to in the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Ordinance (Cap. 1157); Executive Committee (執行委員會) means the Executive Committee of the Church Body provided for and referred to in section 7; financial year (財政年度) means each period of 12 months ending on 31 March; functions (職能) includes powers, duties, work and activities; General Synod (總議會) means the General Synod of the Province of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui; Province (教省) means the Province of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui established and constituted by the Constitution and Canons.The purposes of this Ordinance are—
to continue in existence as a body corporate The Church Body of the Chinese Anglican Church in Hong Kong under the corporate name of the Church Body of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (香港聖公會管業委員會);
to provide for the constitution and functions of the Church Body; and
to enable property to be held by the Church Body.
The body corporate established and constituted under sections 2 and 4 of the Chinese Anglican Church Body Incorporation Ordinance (Cap. 1012) as The Church Body of the Chinese Anglican Church in Hong Kong is preserved and continues in existence as a body corporate for the purposes of this Ordinance under the corporate name of the Church Body of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (香港聖公會管業委員會).
The corporate identity and the rights and obligations of the body corporate referred to in subsection (1) are not affected by the repeal by this Ordinance of the Chinese Anglican Church Body Incorporation Ordinance (Cap. 1012).
The Church Body—
has perpetual succession under its corporate name;
has and may use a seal; and
is capable of suing and being sued in its corporate name.
The Church Body has the following members—
the Archbishop of the Province;
the Chancellor;
the Archdeacon of each Diocese within the Province;
the General Secretary of the General Synod;
6 persons elected by and as representatives of the General Synod; and
2 persons in respect of each Diocese within the Province, elected by and as representatives of the Synod of that Diocese.
The Archbishop of the Province is the chairman of the Church Body and the Chancellor is the deputy chairman.
The Church Body may—
acquire, hold, grant any interest in, or any kind of licence in relation to, or otherwise dispose of, land, and acquire, hold or dispose of other property of any description;
make contracts or other agreements;
invest moneys on deposit with any bank, or upon mortgage of property in Hong Kong, or in debentures, stocks, funds, shares, or securities of any government, corporation or company, or in such other investment as the Executive Committee thinks proper;
receive and expend moneys;
employ such persons and engage or appoint such consultants, advisers, or agents as the Executive Committee considers necessary upon such terms and conditions as that Committee thinks appropriate;
accept donations, grants or subsidies from any persons or government authority or other body or organization, and in particular accept any gift of property, whether subject to any special trust or not, for the benefit of the Church Body;
undertake and execute any trusts which may seem directly or indirectly conducive to the carrying out of any of the purposes of the Church Body; and
subject to this Ordinance, do or suffer all such acts and things as bodies corporate may in general lawfully do or suffer.
Without affecting the generality of the powers in subsection (1), the Church Body has power—
either alone or jointly with other persons, to improve, develop, redevelop and turn to account any land belonging to the Church Body or in which the Church Body has or may acquire a sufficient interest by reconstructing, altering and demolishing buildings and by constructing new buildings of any kind;
to obtain vacant possession by any lawful means of any land belonging to the Church Body or in which the Church Body has or may acquire a sufficient interest and of any buildings on such land;
to pay compensation to occupiers vacating any land or buildings;
to borrow or raise or secure the payment of money in such manner as the Church Body thinks proper for the purpose of developing any land belonging to the Church Body or in which the Church Body has or may acquire a sufficient interest and for payment of compensation to occupiers for vacating any such land or any buildings on that land;
to lay out and prepare land for building purposes, to let land on building leases and to enter into building agreements, and for such purposes to apply to any tribunal or court or authority for any order, licence, permission, or exemption that may be required.
The governing body responsible for the management of the affairs of the Church Body is the Executive Committee which shall, in accordance with the regulations, be constituted from amongst the constituent members of the Church Body.
Except as provided in the regulations, the Executive Committee may determine its own procedure.
The Executive Committee may by resolution delegate any of its functions, other than the power to delegate, to—
the Chancellor; or
any specified member or members of the Executive Committee.
Where the Executive Committee has delegated a function under this section, the Executive Committee may give directions or provide guidelines to the delegate with respect to the exercise of that function.
A delegation under this section does not prevent the concurrent performance by the Executive Committee of the function delegated.
Where a person purports to act in accordance with a delegation under this section, that person is presumed, unless the contrary is shown, to be acting in accordance with the terms of the delegation.
An act or thing done by a delegate under a delegation under this section has the same force and effect as if it had been done by the Executive Committee.
The seal of the Church Body shall be affixed only with the authority of a resolution of the Executive Committee.
The seal of the Church Body shall be authenticated by the signatures of the Chancellor and one other member of the Executive Committee, or, if the Chancellor is absent from Hong Kong or is otherwise unavailable to authenticate the seal, by the signatures of the General Secretary of the General Synod and any member of the Executive Committee.
Any deed, document or instrument purporting to be duly executed under the seal of the Church Body shall be received in evidence in any court and shall, unless the contrary is proved, be presumed to have been so executed.
The Executive Committee shall cause proper accounts and records to be kept of all the financial transactions of the Church Body and shall, as soon as practicable after the end of each financial year, cause a statement of the accounts of the Church Body to be prepared for that financial year.
A statement of accounts prepared under subsection (1) must include an income and expenditure account and a balance sheet.
The Executive Committee shall, as soon as practicable after the end of each financial year, submit the statement of the accounts prepared for that year as required by section 10 to a certified public accountant (practising) (appointed for the purpose by the Executive Committee) for audit.
The certified public accountant (practising) shall prepare a report on the accounts and send the report to the Executive Committee which shall, as soon as practicable, send a copy of the report and a copy of the statement of accounts to the Standing Committee of the General Synod.
In this section—
certified public accountant (practising) (執業會計師) has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Accounting and Financial Reporting Council Ordinance (Cap. 588). (Replaced L.N. 66 of 2022)(Amended 23 of 2004 s. 56)
A certificate under the signature of the Archbishop of the Province or, if the Archbishop is absent from Hong Kong or is otherwise not available to sign a certificate, under the signature of the Chancellor, that—
the person named in the certificate is the Chancellor;
the persons named in the certificate are the persons constituting the Church Body or the persons constituting the Executive Committee; or
the regulations attached to the certificate are the regulations of, and properly made by, the General Synod under this Ordinance,
shall be accepted for all purposes as sufficient evidence of the facts stated in the certificate.
The General Synod may, by resolution passed by the majority of its constituent members, make regulations for the administration of the Church Body and the control of its expenditure, the management of its property of all kinds and the performance generally of the Church Body’s functions.
The General Synod may, by resolution passed by the majority of its constituent members, amend or revoke any regulations made under this section.
Regulations made by the General Synod under this section are to be held by the Chancellor and are to be available for inspection at reasonable times.
The regulations are not to be regarded as subsidiary legislation.
The Chinese Anglican Church Body Incorporation Ordinance (Cap. 1012) is repealed.
This section applies to any vested or contingent gift or disposition, made either before or after the commencement* of this Ordinance, by will, deed, testamentary disposition, or in any other manner for the benefit of The Church Body of the Chinese Anglican Church in Hong Kong.
A gift or disposition to which this section applies is to be construed for all purposes after the commencement of this Ordinance as if the gift were expressed to be for the benefit of the Church Body, and a receipt given by the Chancellor on behalf of the Church Body shall be a sufficient discharge to any person making a payment or otherwise acting in respect of such a gift or disposition in accordance with this subsection.
Nothing in this Ordinance shall affect or be deemed to affect the rights of the Central Authorities or the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the Basic Law and other laws, or the rights of any body politic or corporate or of any other persons except such as are mentioned in this Ordinance and those claiming by, from or under them.
(Amended 4 of 2000 s. 3)