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2020

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Covid‐19 As A Frustrating Event Under Singapore Contract Law, Yihan Goh Sep 2020

Covid‐19 As A Frustrating Event Under Singapore Contract Law, Yihan Goh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on commercial arrangements around the world. This would appear to fit the textbook definition of a frustrating event under Singapore contract law. Alternatively, one might expect COVID-19 to be covered by the doctrine of force majeure. This commentary will provide a brief overview of the contractual issues arising from COVID-19.


Pragmatism In The Pandemic: The Protection Of Commercial Tenants In Singapore, Edward Ti Sep 2020

Pragmatism In The Pandemic: The Protection Of Commercial Tenants In Singapore, Edward Ti

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The COVID-19 epidemic has not spared any country, not least a densely populated country like Singapore. The government has been working tirelessly developing new policies and laws to mitigate the human and economic devastation brought on by the virus. The COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020 (COTMA) is intended to tackle some of the negative effects brought about by COVID-19. With an initial application period of 6 months which can be amended at the Minister’s discretion, the COTMA covers a wide range of issues. Summarily, the COTMA provides for public health controls necessary to manage the health crisis, increases bankruptcy and …


Opening The Door To Fickle-Minded Guilty Pleas? Public Prosecutor V Dinesh S/O Rajantheran, Teng Jun Gerome Goh Sep 2020

Opening The Door To Fickle-Minded Guilty Pleas? Public Prosecutor V Dinesh S/O Rajantheran, Teng Jun Gerome Goh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Unlike applications to retract guilty pleas, accused persons are not required to provide valid and sufficient reasons when qualifying their guilty pleas in mitigation. In Criminal Reference No. 5 of 2018, the Court of Appeal held that section 228(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code allows accused persons to qualify their guilty pleas in mitigation to the extent that it amounts to a retraction of their guilty pleas unless there is an abuse of the court’s process. This comment considers the desirability of the current law and suggests that the law applying to such withdrawals of guilty pleas should be …


Defeating The Scourge Of Terrorism: How Soft Law Instruments In Singapore Can Develop Societal Trust And Promote Cooperative Norms, Tan K. B. Eugene Sep 2020

Defeating The Scourge Of Terrorism: How Soft Law Instruments In Singapore Can Develop Societal Trust And Promote Cooperative Norms, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The maintenance of a ‘moderate, mainstream’ Muslim community as a bulwark against the fraying of harmonious ethnic relations has become a key governance concern in multiracial, multi-religious societies post9/11. In light of the global concern, and often paranoia, with diasporic Islam, Islamic religious institutions and civil society have been portrayed in the popular media as hotbeds of radicalism, promoters of hatred, and recruiters for a “conflict of civilisation” between the Muslim world and the modern world. Singapore has taken a broad-based community approach in advancing interreligious tolerance, including a subtle initiative to include the putative Muslim civil society in advancing …


Tax Implications Of Covid-19 In Singapore, Vincent Ooi Sep 2020

Tax Implications Of Covid-19 In Singapore, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

As taxpayers in Singapore deal with a radically changed business environment due to COVID-19, there is a need to make non-routine decisions quickly. These decisions can have significant tax implications, which will likely manifest themselves later as the economy recovers. It is critical for taxpayers to understand the tax consequences of their decisions, even as they focus on issues of immediate survival. While the majority of the relevant tax principles are not new, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the need to apply these existing principles to new situations and increased the frequency of certain activities that may have been …


Urban Warfare: Emerging Geopolitical Conundrum, Bert Chapman Aug 2020

Urban Warfare: Emerging Geopolitical Conundrum, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Urban warfare is as old as human history. It is becoming increasingly important in international political and military planning due to increasing global urbanization and the presence of megacities (urban areas with populations exceeding 10 million) in many global regions and being in areas of recent and potential military conflict. 2018 World Bank data notes that approximately 56% of the world's population lives in urban areas which is up from 34% in 1960. Many of these megacities, including New York City, Los Angeles, Sao Paulo, Mumbai, Shanghai, and Manila are adjacent to oceanic waters and vulnerable to trade and supply …


Access To Treatment For People With Hiv: Do Latin American Governments Cover Medical Treatment For People With Hiv-Aids Who Cannot Afford It?, Veronica M. Belmonte Aug 2020

Access To Treatment For People With Hiv: Do Latin American Governments Cover Medical Treatment For People With Hiv-Aids Who Cannot Afford It?, Veronica M. Belmonte

English Language Institute

I will analyze different Latin American Supreme Court rulings in order to demonstrate that governments are obliged to cover universal medical treatments for people with HIV. This is a worldwide issue and UNAIDS is constantly working to protect this vulnerable group of people. We can see this progress in the following statistics.


Philanthropic Structuring: The Asian Context, Hang Wu Tang, Man Yip, Vincent Ooi Aug 2020

Philanthropic Structuring: The Asian Context, Hang Wu Tang, Man Yip, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Asian philanthropy has tremendous potential for growth. Even as the population of ultra-rich individuals in Asia continues to expand, studies indicate that Asian philanthropists have the capacity to give a lot more. The key to tapping into the massive potential for Asian giving and catalysing sustainable and impactful philanthropy in Asia, is to understand the Asian way of giving and embrace strategic institutional and industry innovation.Our paper proposes three strategic directions to expand access to philanthropy: encouraging giving beyond one’s home and religious causes; encouraging everyone to give regardless of the size of the gift; and encouraging formal giving.Strong support …


14th Parliament Has Weighty Duty Steering Singapore Into Post-Covid-19 Future, Tan K. B. Eugene Aug 2020

14th Parliament Has Weighty Duty Steering Singapore Into Post-Covid-19 Future, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In more ways than one, the five-year term of Singapore’s 14th Parliament has been and will be defined even before it begins. How this institution of the people’s representatives leads the nation amid the raging Covid-19 global pandemic and positions Singapore for the post-Covid world matters immensely.


Ge2020: No Wipeout But Another Breakthrough For The Workers’ Party, Tan K. B. Eugene Aug 2020

Ge2020: No Wipeout But Another Breakthrough For The Workers’ Party, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan examined how the 2020 general election results show both the putative importance and the relative impotence of opposition politics in Singapore.


A Matter Of Interpretation? Understanding And Applying Mediation Standards For The Cross-Border Enforcement Of Mediated Settlement Agreements, Dorcas Quek Anderson Aug 2020

A Matter Of Interpretation? Understanding And Applying Mediation Standards For The Cross-Border Enforcement Of Mediated Settlement Agreements, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article focuses on the future role to be played by mediation standards in view of the signing of the Singapore Convention on Mediation. It argues that the convention has elevated the standing of mediation standards from soft regulatory codes to quasi-legal grounds impacting the enforcement of mediated settlements. However, the inherently generalized nature of mediation standards does not render them amenable to contextualized interpretation. More significantly, the courts may adopt the wrong frame when construing mediation standards. It is therefore imperative that the mediation community find ways to bridge frames and facilitate the cross-border understanding of standards.


Singapore Property Tax Law As It Stands: The Rebus Sic Stantibus Principle And The Statutory Formula, Vincent Ooi Aug 2020

Singapore Property Tax Law As It Stands: The Rebus Sic Stantibus Principle And The Statutory Formula, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Singapore jurisprudence appears to have adopted the proposition that the rebus sic stantibus principle is to be disapplied where section 2(3) of the Singapore Property Tax Act (“PTA”) (the “Statutory Formula”) is applied. This article argues that this proposition perhaps ought to be stated more precisely. The principle is only disapplied where section 2(3)(b) is applied because it would run contrary to the statutory fiction imposed by section 2(3)(b) that the land is to be valued as if it were vacant land. There should be no disapplication of the principle where section 2(3)(a) is applied due to the absence …


Legal Constraint In Emergencies: Reflections On Carl Schmitt, The Covid-19 Pandemic And Singapore | Symposium On Covid-19 & Public Law, Wei Yao, Kenny Chng Jul 2020

Legal Constraint In Emergencies: Reflections On Carl Schmitt, The Covid-19 Pandemic And Singapore | Symposium On Covid-19 & Public Law, Wei Yao, Kenny Chng

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The controversial legal theorist Carl Schmitt’s challenge to the possibility of meaningful legal constraint on executive power in emergencies could not be more relevant in a world struggling to deal with Covid-19. Scrambling against time, governments around the world have declared states of emergency and exercised a swathe of broad executive powers in an effort to manage this highly infectious disease. In times like these, if Schmitt is indeed right that emergencies cannot be governed by law, we are on the cusp of (or perhaps have already entered) a post-law world – where the business of government is characterised by …


Soft Launch Of The Asian Principles For The Recognition And Enforcement Of Foreign Judgments, Adeline Chong Jul 2020

Soft Launch Of The Asian Principles For The Recognition And Enforcement Of Foreign Judgments, Adeline Chong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In January 2018, we reported on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Asia, a publication by the Asian Business Law Institute (ABLI).


Tort Law, Amirthalingam Kumaralingam, Gary Kok Yew Chan Jul 2020

Tort Law, Amirthalingam Kumaralingam, Gary Kok Yew Chan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This review examines the ten most significant decisions in tort law for 2020. It was an interesting year for the range of significant decisions in tort law handed down by the courts on matters including limitation period, medical negligence, the scope of duty in negligence, breach of confidence, conspiracy, and defamation.


Family Law, Wei Jing Tricia Ho, Siyuan Chen Jul 2020

Family Law, Wei Jing Tricia Ho, Siyuan Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Two salient trends emerge from the decisions issued by the Singapore courts in 2019. First, cases with international elements are featured increasingly, with the Court of Appeal adjudicating its first case on financial relief consequential on foreign divorces and the High Court releasing a decision on sham marriages to obtain an immigration advantage. It is evident that the law is evolving to cater to the needs of a changing community in Singapore. There is a recognition of the increase in the number of Singapore citizens working abroad and marrying non-Singaporeans, which has prompted certain legislative changes that seek to provide …


Ge2020 Commentary: Assessing The Voters’ Message To Pap (And Other Parties), Tan K. B. Eugene Jul 2020

Ge2020 Commentary: Assessing The Voters’ Message To Pap (And Other Parties), Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Despite the “crisis of a generation”, the 2020 general election results point to a considered flight from the status quo, rather than a flight to safety. Singaporean voters, through their 2.54 million ballots cast, sent a nuanced message to all political parties and election candidates. It was a renewed, urgent expression of a vote for change, more so than in the 2011 election.


Jurisdiction In Relation To Hostile Trust Litigation, Adeline Chong Jul 2020

Jurisdiction In Relation To Hostile Trust Litigation, Adeline Chong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.


What The New Cabinet Line-Up Says About Leadership Continuity And Renewal, Tan K. B. Eugene Jul 2020

What The New Cabinet Line-Up Says About Leadership Continuity And Renewal, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan discussed three features that stood out in the new Cabinet line-up after the July 10 General Election, and explained what this says about leadership continuity and renewal.


Busting Myths And Dispelling Doubts About Covid-19, Mark Findlay Jul 2020

Busting Myths And Dispelling Doubts About Covid-19, Mark Findlay

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Centre for AI and Data Governance (CAIDG) at Singapore Management University (SMU) has embarked over past months on a programme of research designed to confront concerns about the pandemic and its control. Our interest is primarily directed to the ways in which AI-assisted technologies and mass data sharing have become a feature of pandemic control strategies. We want to know what impact these developments are having on community confidence and health safety. In developing this work, we have come across many myths that need busting.


The Anti-Avoidance Response To Professionals Incorporating Companies In Singapore, Vincent Ooi Jun 2020

The Anti-Avoidance Response To Professionals Incorporating Companies In Singapore, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The issue of whether the incorporating of companies by professionals in Singapore constitutes tax avoidance has attracted considerable attention. The recent case of GCL v. CIT provides some guidance in this area. It reaffirms the general two-part test in CIT v. AQQ, requiring one to first apply the objective predication principle before moving on to consider the subjective bona fides commercial reason exception. It establishes that the mere fact that a professional incorporated a company through which to practise would not be sufficient to constitute tax avoidance, since such an arrangement is common and widely used, with established commercial benefits. …


The Evolving Concept Of Access To Justice In Singapore’S Mediation Movement, Dorcas Quek Anderson Jun 2020

The Evolving Concept Of Access To Justice In Singapore’S Mediation Movement, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article examines the key societal developments underpinning the growth of mediation in Singapore with the view to analysing the evolving conceptualisation of justice within mediation. The introduction of mediation corresponded with a shift from adversarial justice to an indigenous form of conciliatory justice, in which a respected mediator played an advisor role to the disputants and was trusted to ensure the fairness of the process. However, this trajectory was tempered by the need to ensure that Singapore mediation practice conformed with international practices concerning the protection of parties’ autonomy. The ambivalence concerning the mediator’s role has resulted in uncertainty …


Ethics, Ai, Mass Data And Pandemic Challenges: Responsible Data Use And Infrastructure Application For Surveillance And Pre-Emptive Tracing Post-Crisis, Mark Findlay, Jia Yuan Loke, Nydia Remolina Leon, Yum Yin, Benjamin (Tan Renyan) Tham May 2020

Ethics, Ai, Mass Data And Pandemic Challenges: Responsible Data Use And Infrastructure Application For Surveillance And Pre-Emptive Tracing Post-Crisis, Mark Findlay, Jia Yuan Loke, Nydia Remolina Leon, Yum Yin, Benjamin (Tan Renyan) Tham

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

As the COVID-19 health pandemic rages governments and private companies across the globe are utilising AI-assisted surveillance, reporting, mapping and tracing technologies with the intention of slowing the spread of the virus. These technologies have the capacity to amass personal data and share for community control and citizen safety motivations that empower state agencies and inveigle citizen co-operation which could only be imagined outside such times of real and present danger. While not cavilling with the short-term necessity for these technologies and the data they control, process and share in the health regulation mission, this paper argues that this infrastructure …


International Mediation And Covid-19: The New Normal?, Nadja Alexander May 2020

International Mediation And Covid-19: The New Normal?, Nadja Alexander

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

What is the SIMC COVID-19 Protocol? The Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC) has just launched the SIMC COVID-19 Protocol to provide businesses with an expedited, economical and effective route to resolve any international commercial disputes during the COVID-19 pandemic period. SIMC’s Covid-19 protocol is a great example of a leading mediation service provider reaching out to a market severely disrupted by Covid-19. The option for Singaporean and international parties to mediate online means for a highly accessible, time and cost effective path to resolve disputes that have emerged in the wake of Covid-19.


Singapore’S Puzzling Embrace Of Shareholder Stewardship: A Successful Secret, Dan W. Puchniak, Samantha S. Tang May 2020

Singapore’S Puzzling Embrace Of Shareholder Stewardship: A Successful Secret, Dan W. Puchniak, Samantha S. Tang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In the wake of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, the UK created the first stewardship code which was designed to transform its rationally passive institutional investors into actively engaged shareholders. In the UK corporate governance context, this idea made sense. Institutional investors collectively own a sizable majority of the shares in most of the UK’s listed companies. In turn, if the UK stewardship code could incentivize them to effectively monitor management – to act as “good shareholder stewards” – the managerial short-termism and excessive risk-taking, which were identified as contributors to the GFC, could be avoided.The UK’s idea to adopt …


Diversity Of Shareholder Stewardship In Asia: Faux Convergence, Gen Goto, Alan K. Koh, Dan W. Puchniak May 2020

Diversity Of Shareholder Stewardship In Asia: Faux Convergence, Gen Goto, Alan K. Koh, Dan W. Puchniak

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Since the UK adopted the world's first stewardship code in 2010, stewardship codes have proliferated across Asia. Given the UK Code's prominence, it is tempting to assume that every other stewardship code performs the same function as the UK Code. This assumption belies the truth: all these codes--regardless of whether they have in fact drawn inspiration from the UK Code--have taken different trajectories due to each adopting its jurisdiction's distinctive institutional and legal context.Using empirical evidence and in-depth case studies of stewardship in Japan and Singapore, this Article reveals how any reception of United Kingdom-style stewardship concepts is only skin …


Singapore Case Law Series: Dispute Resolution Clauses In Msas, Nadja Alexander, Shou Yu Chong May 2020

Singapore Case Law Series: Dispute Resolution Clauses In Msas, Nadja Alexander, Shou Yu Chong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In this post on the Kluwer Mediation Blog, the Singapore Court of Appeal case of Retrospect Investment (S) Pte Ltd v Lateral Solutions Pte Ltd [2020] SGCA regarding questions on dispute resolution clauses in a mediated settlement agreement (MSA) is analysed.


The Development Of Singapore Law: A Bicentennial Retrospective, Andrew Phang, Yihan Goh, Jerrold Soh May 2020

The Development Of Singapore Law: A Bicentennial Retrospective, Andrew Phang, Yihan Goh, Jerrold Soh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The present article reviews (in broad brushstrokes) the status of Singapore law during its bicentennial year. It is not only about origins but also about growth – in particular, the autochthonous or indigenous growth of the Singapore legal system (particularly since the independence of Singapore as a nation state on 9 August 1965). The analysis of this growth is divided into quantitative as well as qualitative parts. In particular, the former constitutes an empirical analysis which attempts – for the very first time − to tell the development of Singapore law through numbers, building on emerging techniques in data visualisation …


Australian National Audit Office: Evaluating Australian Army Program Performance, Bert Chapman Apr 2020

Australian National Audit Office: Evaluating Australian Army Program Performance, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) evaluates the management and financial performance of Australian government programs for the Australian Parliament, Australian government agencies, Australian taxpayers, and individuals interested in the performance of these programs globally. This article examines how ANAO has examined the performance of Australian Army programs and strengths and weaknesses found in these programs while recommending changes to improve program performance. It also examines how government agencies and corporations which have been the subject of ANAO analyses have reacted to ANAO findings. This assessment also examines how Plan B (the possibility that Australia might have to rely less …


Equal Treatment Of Shareholders Under The Dual Class Share Structure: Recent Updates Of The Takeover Code In Singapore, Chuanman You Apr 2020

Equal Treatment Of Shareholders Under The Dual Class Share Structure: Recent Updates Of The Takeover Code In Singapore, Chuanman You

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

On 24 January 2019, a revised Singapore Code on Take-overs and Mergers (the Take-overs Code) was promulgated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on the advice of the Securities Industry Council (the SIC). The revisions are to ensure that takeover practices targeting at companies with the dual class share (DCS) structures are conducted in compliance with the principle of equal treatment of all shareholders. The key amendments are two-fold: (a) expanding the application of mandatory offer and its dispensation to target companies with the DCS structures. (b) clarifying the fair pricing norms for multiple classes of equity share capital …