等候英女皇發落

Chinese

to wait for; to await the British Queen to handle; to deal with; to punish
trad. (等候英女皇發落) 等候 英女皇 發落
simp. (等候英女皇发落) 等候 英女皇 发落
alternative forms 等候女皇發落等候女皇发落
Literally: “To be dealt by the British Queen”.

Pronunciation


Phrase

等候英女皇發落

  1. (Hong Kong, historical) at Her Majesty's pleasure (indefinite imprisonment for juvenile offenders)

Usage notes

Term changed to 等候行政長官酌情決定 (“at the Chief Executive's discretion”) after handover until the mechanism was quashed by the High Court for being inconsistent with the Hong Kong Basic Law (Yau Kwong Man v Secretary for Security [2002] 3 HKC 457).