Societies Act · 2010 Revised Edition · Part IX · General
56. Evidence
Official textFrom Attorney General's Chambers, unchanged
In any prosecution under this Act, it shall be no objection to the admissibility of expert evidence that the expert is not or has not been a member of an unlawful society.
society
“society” includes any club, company, partnership or association of 10 or more persons whatever its nature or object, whether temporary or permanent, but does not include — (a) any company incorporated or registered under the Companies Act; (b) any body corporate incorporated or constituted under any written law; (c) any trade union registered or required to be registered under the Trade Unions Act; (d) any company, association or partnership formed for the sole purpose of carrying on any business that has for its object the acquisition of gain by the company, association, partnership or by the individual members thereof; (e) any co-operative society registered under the Co-operative Societies Act; (f) any organisation or association that forms part of the curriculum of a school; (g) any school, management committee of a school, parents’ association or parent-teachers’ association registered or exempted from registration under any written law; (h) any organisation or association formed by any Government department or ministry whose members wholly consist of public servants. Appointment of Registrar, Deputy Registrars and Assistant Registrars.
In any prosecution under this Act, the court may refer for the purposes of evidence to any of the following books —
“Thian Ti Hwui, the Hung League or Heaven-Earth League,” by
G. Schlegel;
“The Triad Society,” by W. Stanton;
“The Hung Society or the Society of Heaven and Earth,” by J. S.
M. Ward and W. G. Stirling;
“Triad Societies in Hong Kong,” by W. P. Morgan,
Societies 44
and to any other published books or articles on the subject of unlawful societies in general or of particular unlawful societies, which the court may consider to be of authority on the subjects to which they relate.
Terms defined in s 2
society
Defined · s 2“society” includes any club, company, partnership or association of 10 or more persons whatever its nature or object, whether temporary or permanent, but does not include — (a) any company incorporated or registered under the Companies Act; (b) any body corporate incorporated or constituted under any written law; (c) any trade union registered or required to be registered under the Trade Unions Act; (d) any company, association or partnership formed for the sole purpose of carrying on any business that has for its object the acquisition of gain by the company, association, partnership or by the individual members thereof; (e) any co-operative society registered under the Co-operative Societies Act; (f) any organisation or association that forms part of the curriculum of a school; (g) any school, management committee of a school, parents’ association or parent-teachers’ association registered or exempted from registration under any written law; (h) any organisation or association formed by any Government department or ministry whose members wholly consist of public servants. Appointment of Registrar, Deputy Registrars and Assistant Registrars.