him guilty of 'confounding family distinctions,' and punishing him
with 60 blows; the father of the son who shall 'give away' ... his
son is to be subject to the same punishment. Again, section 79
enacts that whosoever shall receive and detain the strayed or lost
child of a respectable person, and, instead of taking it before
the magistrate, sell such child as a slave, shall be punished by
100 blows and three years' banishment. Whosoever shall sell such
child for marriage or adoption into any family as son or grandson
shall be punished with 90 blows and banishment for two years and
a half. Whosoever shall dispose of a strayed or lost slave shall
suffer the punishment provided by the law reduced one degree. If
any person shall receive or detain a fugitive child, and, instead
of taking it before the magistrate, sell such child for a slave,
he shall be punished by 90 blows and banishment for two years and
a half. Whosoever shall sell any such fugitive child for marriage
or adoption shall suffer the punishment of 80 blows and two years'
banishment.... Whosoever shall detain for his own use as a slave,
wife, or child, any such lost, strayed or fugitive child or slave,
shall be equally liable to be punished as above mentioned, but if
only guilty of detaining the same for a short time the punishment
shall not exceed 80 blows. When the purchaser or the negotiator of
the purchase shall be aware of the unlawfulness of the transaction
he shall suffer punishment one degree less than that inflicted on
the seller, and the amount of the pecuniary consideration shall
he forfeited to Government, but when he or they are foun
have been unacquainted therewith they shall not be liable to
punishment, and the money shall be restored to the party from whom
it had been received." The Chief Justice continues: "After reading
these extracts from the Penal Code of China--an old Code revised
from time to time ... I cannot see how it can be maintained that
any form of slavery was ever tolerated by law in Hong Kong, as it
_de facto_ exists here, or how the words of the two proclamations
of 1841 could be said to bear the color of tolerating slavery
under the British flag in Hong Kong. It is clear to me that the
Queen's proclamation of 1845, which I have already quoted at full,
declares slavery absolutely illega