7/17/2020 CACV73/2020 JUNIOR POLICE OFFICERS’ ASSOCIATION OF THE HONG KONG POLICE FORCE AND ANOTHER v. ELECTORAL … “ … However, the Court is not asked in these applications to settle the issue by defining what the reasonable restrictions should be. That is not the task of the Court. What the Court is asked to do is to examine the restrictions imposed … are unreasonable. The Court is not here to perform the hypothetical task of settling a reasonable restriction. That is the task of the legislature and Executive. Nobody has suggested that it is an easy task.” 71. We believe the same can be said in respect of the principal issue which is before us in this appeal though the question should now be framed in terms of proportionality instead of reasonable restrictions. 72. In Kwok Cheuk Kin v Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, supra, at [41], the Chief Justice cited the following passage from the judgment of McLachlin CJ in Sauvre v Canada (Chief Electoral Officer) [2002] 3 SCR 519 and said at [42] that this placed the margin of appreciation in proper context. The relevant part of the judgment of McLachlin CJ reads: “ … The right to vote is fundamental to our democracy and the rule of law and cannot be lightly set aside. Limits on it require not deference, but careful examination. This is not a matter of substituting the Court’s philosophical preference for that of the legislature, but of ensuring that the legislature’s proferred justification is supported by logic and common sense.” 73. We are concerned more with the right to privacy though it could also have significant impact on the right to vote for the reasons canvassed above. Having regard to the issue raised in the appeal and the justifications for the restriction put forward by Mr Leung (and also by Mr Shieh), we are of the view that we should adopt the “no more than necessary” approach for the determination of the present appeal. In so doing, though we respectfully depart from the approach of the Judge, we wish to highlight that we have had the benefit of more focused submissions and the issue has been narrowed down in the appeal. https://legalref.judiciary.hk/lrs/common/search/search_result_detail_frame.jsp?DIS=128057&QS=%2B&TP=JU&ILAN=en 23/39