Cap. 1027 - Hop Yat Church of The Church of Christ in China Incorporation Ordinance

To provide for the incorporation of the Hop Yat Church of The Church of Christ in China. [22 September 1967](Format changes—E.R. 2 of 2022) 1. Short title This Ordinance may be cited as the Hop Yat Church of The Church of Christ in China Incorporation Ordinance. 2. Interpretation In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires—constitution (章程) means the constitution of the Hop Yat Church approved from time to time by its members in accordance with the constitution for the time being in force;Corporation (法團) means the body incorporated by section 3;Council of a Unit Church (單位堂堂會) means the Council for the time being of a Unit Church of the Corporation;Hop Yat Church (合一堂) means the Hop Yat Church of The Church of Christ in China taken as a whole which shall include all its churches schools and other establishments and their respective members for the time being;ministers (牧師) and preachers (宣教師) respectively mean the ministers and preachers for the time being employed by the Hop Yat Church;Properties Management Committee (管業委員會) means the Properties Management Committee for the time being of the Corporation;repealed Ordinance (已廢除的條例) means the Hop Yat Tong Church of Christ Hong Kong Incorporation Ordinance (Cap. 1027, 1964 Ed.);Unit Church (單位堂) means a church establishment of the Hop Yat Church. 3. Incorporation The Council of Representatives for the time being of the Hop Yat Church of The Church of Christ in China shall be a body corporate, hereinafter called the Corporation, and shall have the name “The Council of Representatives of Hop Yat Church of the Church of Christ in China” and in that name shall have perpetual succession and may sue and be sued in all courts and tribunals in Hong Kong and shall have and may use a common seal, and may from time to time, break, change, alter and make anew the said seal as the Corporation may deem fit.(Amended L.N. 235 of 1996; 33 of 1999 s. 3) 4. Power of Corporation The Corporation shall have full power—(a) to manage, administer and operate the Hong Kong Hop Yat Church, the Kowloon Hop Yat Church, the Kowloon Hop Yat Church School, the Hop Yat Church Kindergarten and the Hop Yat Church Kai Chi School;(b) to establish, manage, administer and operate any clinic or clinics, hospital or hospitals, church or churches, school or schools or educational or charitable institution or institutions as the Corporation shall think fit;(c) to acquire, accept leases of, purchase, take or otherwise hold and enjoy any lands, buildings, messuages or tenements of what nature or kind soever and wheresoever; (Amended 74 of 1974 s. 3)(d) to acquire, by purchase or otherwise, goods and chattels of what nature or kind soever;(e) to invest moneys on deposit in any bank in Hong Kong or in any government bonds or on mortgage of any land, buildings, messuages, or tenements in Hong Kong, or in or on debentures, debenture-stocks, stocks, funds, shares or securities of any corporation or company carrying on business in Hong Kong; (Amended 33 of 1999 s. 3)(f) to grant, sell, convey, assign, surrender, yield up, mortgage, demise, let, reassign, transfer or otherwise dispose of, any land, buildings, messuages, tenements, mortgages, debentures, debenture-stocks, stocks, funds, shares, securities, vessels, goods or chattels for the time being vested in the Corporation, upon such terms as the Corporation may deem fit;(g) to act as custodian trustee or manager of any property or fund for any charitable purpose;(h) to accept gifts, donations and endowments for all or any of the purposes of the Corporation;(i) to subscribe to and to grant donations for any charities or educational purposes;(j) to develop either alone or jointly with other or others and turn to account any land acquired by the Corporation or in which it is interested, and in particular by laying out and preparing the same for building purposes, constructing, altering, pulling down, decorating, maintaining, fitting up, and improving buildings, and by planting, paving, draining, farming, cultivating and letting on building lease or building agreement, and by advancing money to and entering into contracts and arrangements of all kinds with builders, developers, contractors, land investment companies, land mortgage companies, building estate companies, banks, financiers, owners, lessees, tenants and others, in such manner or on such terms and conditions as the Corporation shall deem fit or expedient and to make applications and obtain orders under the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance (Cap. 7) and to agree and pay such compensation as the Tribunal within the meaning of that Ordinance may recommend or order; (Amended 32 of 2002 s. 40)(k) to borrow money upon such terms as the Corporation shall think fit, and to raise money by public or private subscription; and(l) generally to do such other things as may appear to be incidental or conducive to the aims and objects of the Corporation. (Amended L.N. 235 of 1996) 5. Vesting of property On the commencement# of this Ordinance—(a) all those pieces or parcels of ground specified in the second column of the Schedule, together with all rights, easements and appurtenances thereto belonging, shall vest in the Corporation for the unexpired residue of the respective terms of years created by the Crown leases and Conditions of Grant specified opposite thereto in the third column of the Schedule, subject to payment of the rent and performance of the covenants and conditions reserved by and contained in the said Crown leases and Conditions of Grant; and(b) the Corporation shall succeed to all other property, rights, privileges, obligations and liabilities of the trustees for the time being of the Hop Yat Tong Church of Christ Hong Kong incorporated under the repealed Hop Yat Tong Church of Christ Hong Kong Incorporation Ordinance (Cap. 1027, 1964 Ed.). Editorial Note: # Commencement date: 22 September 1967. 6. Members of the Corporation The Corporation shall consist of the following members—(a) all ministers and preachers for the time being of the Hop Yat Church;(b) all deacons and deaconesses for the time being of the Hop Yat Church;(c) the chairman, vice-chairman, and secretary for the time being of the Council of each Unit Church; and(d) representatives for the time being from the Council of each Unit Church, which shall be entitled to have one elected member in respect of every 100 adult-members registered with such Unit Church to represent it in the Corporation: provided that the maximum number of the representatives of each Unit Church shall not exceed 5. 7. Council of Unit Church Each Unit Church shall have a Council, and the organization, powers and duties of such Council shall be prescribed by the constitution for the time being of the Hop Yat Church. 8. Existing constitution to be constitution of Corporation (1) The existing constitution of the Hop Yat Church shall be the constitution of the Corporation.(2) Amendments to the constitution shall be proposed in writing to the Council of Representatives by 2 deacons and 3 elected members of one or more Councils of the Unit Churches or by 10 voting members of the Church, and no amendments shall be made unless such amendment or amendments shall have been passed by three-fourths of the members of the Council of Representatives present at the meeting convened for the purpose.(3) Any such amendment shall not come into operation until it has been published in the Church bulletin 4 consecutive weeks for the information of the members and no objection thereto has been raised within 30 days from the first publication.(4) The constitution shall not be amended without the consent in writing of the Registrar of Companies. 9. Registration (1) The Corporation shall forward to the Registrar of Companies for registration the following—(a) notice of the address of the registered office of the Corporation and any change thereto;(b) a copy of the constitution and any amendment thereto, certified as correct by the Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the Corporation;(c) a list of the names and addresses of the members for the time being of the Corporation and any change therein, certified as correct by the Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the Corporation; and(d) the name and address of any person appointed under section 10 to sign deeds, documents and other instruments, and any change therein certified as correct by the Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the Corporation.(2) Notification in accordance with subsection (1) shall be made within 28 days of the commencement* of this Ordinance or within 28 days of any amendment, change or appointment as the case may be.(3) Any person may inspect any of the documents registered under this section upon payment of such fee as may be payable under the regulations made under section 26 of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622) for the inspection of a document. (Amended 28 of 2012 ss. 912 & 920)(4) The Corporation shall pay such fees for registering any document with any public registry as may be payable under the regulations made under section 26 of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622) for the registration of a document with the Registrar of Companies. (Amended L.N. 31 of 1968; 28 of 2012 ss. 912 & 920) Editorial Note: * Commencement date: 22 September 1967. 10. Seal (1) The seal of the Corporation shall not be affixed to any deed, document or instrument except by the authority of a resolution of the Corporation.(2) All deeds, documents and other instruments requiring the seal of the Corporation shall be signed by any 3 of the 6 members of the Properties Management Committee of the Corporation and such signing shall be taken as sufficient evidence of the due sealing of such deeds, documents and other instruments. 11. Saving Nothing in this Ordinance shall affect or be deemed to affect the rights of the Central Authorities or the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the Basic Law and other laws, or the rights of any body politic or corporate or of any other persons except such as are mentioned in this Ordinance and those claiming by, from or under them.(Amended 33 of 1999 s. 3) Schedule [s. 5] Item Description of property Crown lease and Conditions of Grant 1. Section D of Inland Lot No. 590 Crown lease dated18 August 1859 2. 1/11th undivided share in Section C of Subsection 1 of Section B of Quarry Bay Marine Lot No. 4 Crown lease dated31 December 1932 3. 1/7th undivided share in Subsection 5 of Section B of Kowloon Inland Lot No. 615 Crown lease dated 30 December 1902 4. Remaining Portion of Kowloon Inland Lot No. 6591 Conditions of Grant No. 5259 5. Remaining Portion of Kowloon Inland Lot No. 7266 Conditions of Grant No. 5973 (Amended E.R. 2 of 2022)