[scottLobster]

Yeah, but Mauritius isn't China. If the UK had reneged on the Hong Kong lease, there were economic and military options for China to potentially enforce it.

A lot can happen in 99 years, but even assuming a serious decline in US economic/military might I don't see a scenario where Mauritius could successfully enforce the lease on its own.

[simonh]

If the treaty is UK law, they can take the case to UK courts. It's not guaranteed to work, it depends on the legal technicalities, but the government has no say in the findings of UK courts.

A lot can happen in 99 years, but as Hong Kong shows, the UK has a decent track record on long term legal continuity.

[skissane]

> If the treaty is UK law, they can take the case to UK courts. It's not guaranteed to work, it depends on the legal technicalities, but the government has no say in the findings of UK courts.

Presently, the UK lacks an entrenched written constitution. Hence, any court decision can be overturned by an ordinary Act of the UK Parliament, passed by a simple majority. If a court makes a ruling which the government of the day sufficiently dislikes, the court ruling will be overturned, assuming the government has the numbers to get the legislation through the House of Commons and House of Lords.

But, in 99 years time, who knows. Maybe by then, the UK will have a written constitution. Maybe by then, the UK won't even exist anymore. Maybe by the time the lease expires, it will actually be between Mauritius and the English Republic.

[mhh__]

> Presently, the UK lacks an entrenched written constitution. Hence, any court decision can be overturned by an ordinary Act of the UK Parliament, passed by a simple majority

This is something that our America obsessed cultural elite have forgotten. The "Brown versus Education versus Alien versus predator" style of activist/political focus on the courts rather than parliament is quite ridiculous at times.

[selimthegrim]

Whoever wins, the King/Queen loses?

[smegger001]

until the government decides that only evidence they like can be presented to the court like the last administration did with their Rwanda plan for migrants.

[lmm]

The UK government never wanted to keep Hong Kong. (It may have wanted to pantomime trying to keep it to placate some voters).

While the UK did have a long history of legal continuity, it's made a lot of dramatic changes in recent years - the switch to the Supreme Court which has then made some legally bizarre decisions, the complete demolition of the House of Lords over a pretty short period, the efforts to entrench human rights legislation which have simply no precedent in UK constitutional history at all...

[ClumsyPilot]

> efforts to entrench human rights legislation which have simply no precedent in UK constitutional history at all...

How so? UK was instrumental in creating the European Court of Human rights? Surely they did not believe at the time that they are just creating it for everyone else?

[lmm]

The people who created the ECHR were very conscious that they were doing something unprecedented, that would change European jurisprudence dramatically. Indeed that was something they trumpeted.

[throwuk3]

as always UK courts favour their country/people.

[ta1243]

Mauritius isn't China today. In 99 years time it could be part of a China. Or a future country that is more powerful than China.

[thefounder]

Well someone more powerful would not care about the lease agreements anyway so if the U.S can’t fight back the lease agreement won’t help them anyway. See Russia-Ukcraine and the agreements that were signed. They are not worth their paper