Etymology
Before the 1997 handover to China, the position was known as the Attorney General (Chinese: 律政司), and the department was known as the Legal Department (Chinese: 律政署; also known as the Attorney General's Chambers (Chinese: 律政司署)). The office of the Attorney General was never localized during British rule and no Hong Kong Chinese ever held this key post.
Read more about this topic: Secretary For Justice (Hong Kong)
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)