Basic Law (PLS HELP)

1) The most special thing about the Basic Law ("BL") is that it creates a Special Administrative Region in Hong Kong that enjoys a high degree of autonomy except in foreign affairs and defence. The fundamental principle underlying this arrangement is the principle of "One Country Two Systems", which maintains that Hong Kong shall maintain a separate political, legal, social and economic system from Mainland China. A characteristic that follows from this is the principle of "Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong".

Another essential characteristic is its constitutional status in Hong Kong. Although BL is strictly speaking not a constitution, it enjoys the status of constitution in Hong Kong because it is the highest law and the "mother law" of Hong Kong laws: all laws of Hong Kong depend on BL for validity and no laws of Hong Kong may contravene the BL.

2) The Basic Law has 160 articles and 3 annexes.
There are no separate laws in BL, because BL itself is a law! You can't have a law within a law.
If you are referring to the national laws that apply in Hong Kong, there are 12, listed in Annex III of BL.

3) This is a question that has troubled legal scholars.

It is beyond doubt that the HKSAR Government is bound by the BL.

It is also generally thought that the BL does NOT bind the Hong Kong people. (In legal terms, having no horizontal effect - Wiki provides a brief explanation of horizontal effect in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizontal_effect_%28Human_Rights_Act%29)

The most troublesome question is whether the BL binds the National People's Congress and the Central People's Government. There is NO SETTLED ANSWER and involve legal analysis which is beyond the scope of this discussion. For a debate on this among legal scholars, see the book "Hong Kong's Constitutional Debate: Conflict over Interpretation" by HKU professors Johannes Chan, H.L. Fu and Yash Gai.

2010-05-02 14:26:21 補充：
Regarding the last q., the answer depends on the source of authority for BL. Most Chinese legal scholars argue that BL is a purely domestic legislation deriving its authority from the Constitution of China. If that's true, the NPC is not bound by BL. However, Art. 159(4) seems to say otherwise.

2010-05-02 14:26:34 補充：
However, some local legal scholars argue that the Basic Law derives its authority directly from the Sino-British Joint Declaration. If that's true, the NPC is bound by the BL. But then, Art. 159(1) seems to negate this.