[2] The term is used to describe detention in prison for an indefinite length of time;[3] a judge may rule that a person be "detained at His Majesty's pleasure" for serious offences or based on a successful insanity defence.
[6] In Commonwealth republics, such as Botswana,[7] India,[8] Kenya,[9] Pakistan, Singapore,[10] South Africa,[11] and Sri Lanka, the phrase is "during the president's pleasure".
This term is also applied in other republics that are outside of the Commonwealth, such as Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Montenegro and Serbia.
[12] Subsequently, this was held, by Judge Michael Hartmann, in the case Yau Kwong Man v. Secretary for Security, to be incompatible with the separation of powers enshrined in the Basic Law.
In the United States, Russia, and the Philippines, the equivalent standard for political appointments is called "at the pleasure of the president" (Russian: по усмотрению президента, romanized: po usmotreniyu prezidenta; Filipino: Sa kasiyahan ng Pangulo).