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Full-Text Articles in Law
Constitutional Equality And Executive Action: A Comparative Perspective To The Comparator Problem, Kenny Chng
Constitutional Equality And Executive Action: A Comparative Perspective To The Comparator Problem, Kenny Chng
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
A general right to equality is a common feature of written constitutions around the world. Interesting questions arise when one seeks to apply such rights to discrete executive acts. The subject of such acts has necessarily been singled out from a multitude of possibilities for the purposes of the act. To determine whether a differentiation has occurred such that like cases have not been treated alike, to what or whom should this subject be compared? The question of how one selects the proper comparator becomes especially significant when one notes that whether the equal protection guarantee is triggered at all …
The Relevance Of Purpose In Constitutional Equal Protection Challenges To Executive Action, Wei Yao, Kenny Chng
The Relevance Of Purpose In Constitutional Equal Protection Challenges To Executive Action, Wei Yao, Kenny Chng
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
Written constitutions often include generalized guarantees of equal protection which imply a proscription on unconstitutional differential treatment. This paper will examine what the analytical focus ought to be when evaluating challenges to executive action based on such rights, a particularly relevant issue given recent developments in Hong Kong’s and Singapore’s equal protection jurisprudence. These developments suggest that there are three possible analytical focal points, each of which takes a different perspective on the relevance of the executive’s purpose in utilizing differential treatment: (1) the connection between the chosen differentiation and the specific purpose of the challenged executive action; (2) the …
Singapore: National Report For The Global Access To Justice Project, Tan K. B. Eugene
Singapore: National Report For The Global Access To Justice Project, Tan K. B. Eugene
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
Global Access to Justice Project is gathering the very latest information on the impact of the world’s major justice systems, analyzing legal, economic, social, cultural and psychological barriers that prevent or inhibit many, and not only the poor, from entering and using the legal system. The country report for Singapore follows the common framework provided by the Global Access to Justice Project Questionnaire.
The Role Of The Law Of Unjust Enrichment In Singapore, Hang Wu Tang
The Role Of The Law Of Unjust Enrichment In Singapore, Hang Wu Tang
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
Singapore's unjust enrichment law may be described as a form of adoption with adaptation from English law, which is indicative of two phenomena: first, the idea of law as a travelling phenomenon and, second, the development of law as a circulation of ideas. In Singapore, unjust enrichment is now accepted as a distinct branch of the law of obligations alongside tort and contract, providing relief to a plaintiff who has transferred an enrichment to the defendant in circumstances where the plaintiffs intent was vitiated. This vitiation of intent is expressed as an 'unjust factor'. While certain 'unjust factors' are regarded …
Massive Covid‐19 Infections In Foreign Workers Dormitories: The Dog That Did Not Bark In Singapore’S Fight Against The Covid‐19 Pandemic, Eugene K. B. Tan
Massive Covid‐19 Infections In Foreign Workers Dormitories: The Dog That Did Not Bark In Singapore’S Fight Against The Covid‐19 Pandemic, Eugene K. B. Tan
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
In the ongoing battle to combat the massive COVID-19 infections in the foreign workers’ dormitories, the focus and dominant narrative, unsurprisingly, has been on overcoming the clear and present public health issues there. The imperative is to safeguard the wellbeing and interests of the foreign workers who reside there (and including those who have been moved out), which is also fundamentally about protecting the rest of the community.
Legal Constraint In Emergencies: Reflections On Carl Schmitt, The Covid-19 Pandemic And Singapore | Symposium On Covid-19 & Public Law, Wei Yao, Kenny Chng
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 …
Symposium On Pofma: Parliamentary Debates About Pofma – Hansard Beyond Statutory Interpretation?, Benjamin Joshua Ong
Symposium On Pofma: Parliamentary Debates About Pofma – Hansard Beyond Statutory Interpretation?, Benjamin Joshua Ong
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
The issue of a legislative response to falsehoods first drew public attention when the Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods held its public hearings. This public attention was renewed when the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (“POFMA”), in Bill form, was unveiled. Questions arose among both the public and MPs about whether POFMA would grant the Government power to stifle academic research, journalism, or the expression of opinion, as well as whether it would be difficult for an individual to seek recourse against an allegedly wrongly made Direction.This post focuses not with the substance of these issues (important …
Looking Beyond The Vague Terms In Singapore's Fake News Laws, Benjamin Joshua Ong
Looking Beyond The Vague Terms In Singapore's Fake News Laws, Benjamin Joshua Ong
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
Protection from Online Falsehoods andManipulation Act (Pofma), some criticised it for being too vague. Pofma contains words and phrases whose meaning is not explicitlyclear, e.g. statements that are “falseor misleading”, but does not define “misleading”. But case law gives us aclearer understanding of what “misleading” means
Government Funding Of Town Councils: The Role Of Private Law, Benjamin Joshua Ong
Government Funding Of Town Councils: The Role Of Private Law, Benjamin Joshua Ong
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
Section 42 of theTown Councils Act (Cap 329A, 2000 Rev Ed) provides for the Government toprovide grants to Town Councils “subject to such conditions as theMinister may determine”. The imposition of such conditions can beuseful in theory. However, there is no clear mechanism by which suchconditions may be enforced. This article proposes that this lacuna befilled as follows: such conditions are to take the form of private-lawrelationships between the Government and Town Councils. After outliningthe benefits of this proposal, the article critiques the Court of Appeal’sdecision in a 2016 case which held that such private-lawrelationships cannot exist as a matter …
Norming "Moderation" In An "Iconic Target": Public Policy And The Regulation Of Religious Anxieties In Singapore, Eugene K. B. Tan
Norming "Moderation" In An "Iconic Target": Public Policy And The Regulation Of Religious Anxieties In Singapore, Eugene K. B. Tan
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 post-September 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 civilization” between the Muslim world and the modern world. Having declared itself a terrorist's “iconic target,” Singapore has taken a broad-based community approach in advancing inter-religious tolerance, including a subtle initiative to include the “Muslim civil society” in …
Norming "Moderation'' In An "Iconic Target'': Public Policy And The Regulation Of Religious Anxieties In Singapore, Eugene K. B. Tan
Norming "Moderation'' In An "Iconic Target'': Public Policy And The Regulation Of Religious Anxieties In Singapore, Eugene K. B. Tan
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
The proposed research will examine Singapore’s response to terrorism post September 11, in particular the maintenance of a “moderate mainstream” Muslim community as a bulwark against the fraying of harmonious ethnic relations. 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 civilization’ between the Muslim world and the modern world. Islamist attacks in Madrid and London have since brought increased urgency to the question of how to contain or moderate Islamic radicalism among …
The Right Of Access To Justice: Judicial Discourse In Singapore And Malaysia, Gary Chan
The Right Of Access To Justice: Judicial Discourse In Singapore And Malaysia, Gary Chan
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
This is an essay on judicial discourse in Singapore and Malaysia pertaining to the nature and scope of the right of access to justice, including access to justice for the poor. We will examine the statements and pronouncements by the Singapore and Malaysia judiciary in case precedents and extra-judicial statements. Some of the issues explored include the legal status of this right of access to justice (namely, whether it is a right enshrined in the constitution or merely a right derived from the common law and whether it is qualified by economic and other interests) and the associated rights of …
Re-Examining Public Policy: A Case For Conditional Fees In Singapore?, Gary Chan
Re-Examining Public Policy: A Case For Conditional Fees In Singapore?, Gary Chan
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
Conditional fee agreements are currently prohibited in Singapore. The Singapore courts still adhere to the public policy considerations expressed in the English common law which proscribe maintenance and champerty. However, the United Kingdom as well as Ontario (Canada) and Australia have recently ‘departed’ from the old system prohibiting conditional fee agreements. It is thus timely for Singapore to re-examine the public policy arguments against conditional fee agreements and inquire whether a conditional fee based system ought to be introduced. Apart from the above jurisdictions, lessons will also be drawn from the problems and issues faced by the US and the …