Social justice in the courts of the Macau SAR, China

Despite being part of the Chinese territory, the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) has its own legal and judicial systems which are highly separated from the ones of the Chinese mainland. As a development of an investigation about the judiciary of Macau, this text intends to present a portrait of Macau’s two highest courts based on how their judges have been deciding relevant cases concerning rights of immigrants, workers and the right of government officials to block the entry in Macau of certain “undesirables”. The two highest courts are the Court of Final Appeal and the Court of Second Instance of Macau. As the world’s number one gambling region, the minuscule Macau has gained great notoriety in the recent years and has attracted people from all origins and walks of life. A main question to be answered in this paper is what political and social roles those courts are playing during this period when China has regained sovereignty over Macau, although with limitations that shall last at least until 2050. An overall presentation of Macau’s main characteristics will be made so that the discussion about those courts’ decisions can be related to a larger context, which includes specific features of Macau’s politics, culture and society.