Future of SLS

Question 1

Rise of SG as a Legal Disputes Resolution Hub:
SG Int’l Commercial Court -
General

Answer 1

Division of SGHC.

Legislation passed to support the SICC and the Constitution has been amended to allow the appointment of foreign lawyers to the SICC.

Brainchild of Menon CJ, this was his idea before he became CJ.

Question 2

Rise of SG as a Legal Disputes Resolution Hub:
SG Int’l Commercial Court -
Function

Answer 2

1. Intended to act as a bridge b/w liti and arbi as models of DR and also cement SG’s position as a frontrunner in the provision of int’l legal services.
   a. Functions as a Court rather than a tribunal, enabling it to hear otherwise non-arbitrable matters, allowing for appeal to the SGCA and allowing, in certain circumstances, the joinder of 3rd parties.
   b. BUT, proceedings may take place in-camera akin to arbitral proceedings.
2. Idea is to attract cross-border disputes to be tried by SICC.
   a. Need not have any connection to SG and in which SG law might play no role in.
   b. Prepared for this by intro-ing legislation allowing SICC to decide on matters which have no real connection to SG and also allow foreign lawyers to have right of audience before SGHC division which would otherwise be denied to persons without a valid PC.

Question 3

Rise of SG as a Legal Disputes Resolution Hub:
SG Int’l Commercial Court -
Fears + Counters?

Answer 3

1. Some have raised fears that attracting int’l comm work to SG courts and the appt of foreign jurists to the bench will compromise SG’s dev of its own municipal laws.
   a. Per one commentator, for what good is it if we gain the whole world of int’l comm liti but forfeit forever the possibility of an autochthonous legal system?
2. Argued that such fears are somewhat overstated.
   a. Autochthony doesn’t necessarily imply an insular legal system: never required rejection of the foreign simply because it is foreign.
   b. SG arguments on autochthony have at their lowest been based on a refusal to seriously follow the path taken by its formal colonial masters.
   c. Never been a complete rejection of its colonial legal past nor a dogmatic refusal to adopt what the English had simply because the English had done it.
3. Viewed in this light, autochthony provided the theoretical justifications for SG jurists to choose the path they would like to take in developing their own laws.
   a. As such, SG cases and legislation have never shied, when necessary or relevant, from drawing inspirations from foreign systems, including those of the UK, and increasingly from civilian jurisdictions.

Question 4

Rise of SG as a Legal Disputes Resolution Hub:
SG Int’l Commercial Court -
Menon CJ’s comments on SICC’s role?

Answer 4

Role that SICC had to play in developing SG’s autochthonous legal system:
1. Characterised SICC’s role as one based on consanguinity in which SICC would make a deliberate effort to deepen jurisprudence in SG law.

2. Term “consanguine” is deliberate, suggesting a bond based on blood rather than mere convenience.
3. Argued that, as a result, though SICC judgments were not binding on the rest of the court’s structure, it may be thought of as being highly persuasive given the personalities appointed to SICC, including foreign and civilian, and would likely be considered and adopted where useful.

Question 5

Rise of SG as a Legal Disputes Resolution Hub:
SG Int’l Commercial Court -
Push towards Regionalisation

Answer 5

1. 1999 Report: Opened legal sector up to foreign elements.
2. As the region heads towards deeper legal and political integration in the form of the ASEAN economic community, there have been increasing calls for the harmonisation of both substantive and procedural rules across all member States.
   a. BUT, ASEAN is not similar to the supranat’l concept of the EU.
   b. Puts it in a position to effect judicial harmonisation of the region’s commercial law (regardless of whether a deliberate consequence or not).