本文指出，一百多年来，香港司法当局一直试图保留中国清代的法律和习惯在一定范围内的效力，然而香港法庭对于中国传统法律和习惯的认识是非常模糊的。本文围绕一件关于财产继承的个案展开分析，通过“妻”与“妾”在中国法律与社会生活中的地位，揭示出传统法律（制定法）在民事问题上向民间习惯妥协的重要特色。香港法庭对于渗透了儒家伦理和人情关系的中国传统法律文化缺乏了解，法官们凭借英国法的推理模式和英国文化的价值观念来解释中国法律和习惯，难免失之于偏颇。文章认为问题的症结在于：大多数西方人不相信中国传统法律中也有与西方法律相似的正义、公平精神 This article points out that for more than a century, the judicial authorities in Hong Kong have tried to retain the validity of the laws and customs of the Qing Dynasty in China to a certain extent. However, the Hong Kong courts’ understanding of traditional Chinese laws and customs is very vague. This article analyzes the case of inheritance of property and reveals the important features of the traditional law (enacted law) to compromise folk custom on the civil issues through the status of “wives” and “concubines” in Chinese law and social life. Hong Kong courts have no understanding of the traditional Chinese legal culture that infiltrated Confucian ethics and human relations. Judges are inevitably biased in explaining Chinese laws and customs based on the reasoning model of British law and the values ​​of British culture. The crux of the article is that most Westerners do not believe that there is also a sense of justice and fairness similar to Western law found in traditional Chinese laws