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Full-Text Articles in Law

Challenges In The Enforcement Of Animal Protection Laws In Singapore, Alvin W. L. See Aug 2014

Challenges In The Enforcement Of Animal Protection Laws In Singapore, Alvin W. L. See

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Singapore has fairly powerful animal protection laws. In practice, however, these laws are only powerful to the extent that they are actually enforced. In Singapore, the low number of prosecutions for animal cruelty is a cause for serious concern. While there can be a myriad of reasons for this phenomenon, this paper argues that one primary cause is the insufficient understanding of what amounts, or may amount, to cruelty at law. This results in an unsound enforcement policy which reduces the protection afforded to animals. By highlighting this problem, this paper hopes to draw attention to the importance of the …


Misperceptions And Challenges With Immigrant Kids: Taking A Closer Look At The Border Crisis, Barbara L. Loach Jul 2014

Misperceptions And Challenges With Immigrant Kids: Taking A Closer Look At The Border Crisis, Barbara L. Loach

English, Literature, and Modern Languages Faculty Publications

Why are so many unaccompanied Mexican and Central American children showing up in the United States? What should be done about them? In this guest column by Cedarville University professor Barbara Loach, she argues that this crisis shows illegal immigration is not a domestic issue, but rather is an international issue that must be addressed by cooperation of all nations involved.


Restitution Of Mistaken Enrichment Under Section 73 Of Malaysia's Contracts Act 1950: Pouring New Wine Into An Old Bottle?, Alvin W. L. See Jul 2014

Restitution Of Mistaken Enrichment Under Section 73 Of Malaysia's Contracts Act 1950: Pouring New Wine Into An Old Bottle?, Alvin W. L. See

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article makes two main suggestions regarding the interpretation of s 73 of Malaysia's Contracts Act 1950, which sets out the right to recover a mistaken enrichment. The first suggestion is that the courts should have regard to the historical background against which the section was enacted, especially because the pre-enactment common law was a historical curiosity. This will dispel certain misconceptions about the nature of the statutory right by shedding light on its supposed affinity with contract and its relationship with the obsolete forms of action and the principle of unjust enrichment. The second suggestion is that the content …


Public Health Regulation: Convergence, Divergence, And Regulatory Tension: An Asian Perspective, Locknie Hsu Jul 2014

Public Health Regulation: Convergence, Divergence, And Regulatory Tension: An Asian Perspective, Locknie Hsu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Regulatory issues relating to public health, including regulation of access to medicines and tobacco control have increasingly been the source of tension in recent trade and investment negotiations, treaties and disputes. The ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, which include a number of developing Asian states, are an example that brings some of these issues to the fore and show a divergence of negotiating views.

The intersection between public health regulation and trade and investment treaties has given some Asian states significant pause for thought; it has further led the international system to a critical need to confront the overlap of legal …


Singapore's New Discretionary Death Penalty For Drug Couriers: Public Prosecutor V Chum Tat Suan, Siyuan Chen Jul 2014

Singapore's New Discretionary Death Penalty For Drug Couriers: Public Prosecutor V Chum Tat Suan, Siyuan Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The article offers information on the history, evolution and significance of the new discretionary death penalty legislation for drug couriers in Singapore under the application of the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA). It discusses the judicial decision of the Singaporean High Court in the case of Public Prosecutor v. Chum Tat Suan in which the Court convicted the accused with chareges of importing of more than 94.96g of diamorphine into Singapore that was punishable under section 33 of the MDA.


Migrant Workers' Access To Justice At Home: Nepal, Sarah Paoletti, Eleanor Taylor-Nicholson, Bandita Sijapati, Bassina Farbenblum Jun 2014

Migrant Workers' Access To Justice At Home: Nepal, Sarah Paoletti, Eleanor Taylor-Nicholson, Bandita Sijapati, Bassina Farbenblum

All Faculty Scholarship

Nepal’s citizens engage in foreign employment at the highest per capita rate of any other country in Asia, and their remittances account for 25 percent of the country’s GDP. The Middle East is now the most popular destination for Nepalis--nearly 700,000 were working in the Middle East in 2011 on temporary labor contracts. For some Nepalis, working abroad provides much-needed household wealth. For others, their contributions to Nepal come at great personal cost. Migrant workers in the Gulf, for example, routinely report wage theft, lack of time off and unsafe and unhealthy working conditions. Some migrant workers report psychological and …


Tort Law, Kumaralingam Amirthalingam, Gary Kok Yew Chan Jun 2014

Tort Law, Kumaralingam Amirthalingam, Gary Kok Yew Chan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Teo Wei Hsin Lawrence (Zhang Weixin), Tin Yan Ying Geraldine (Cheng Yanying Geraldine) v Management Corporation Strata Title Plan No 1525 [2014] SGDC 350 involved a suit by the owners of a condominium unit (the plaintiffs) against the management corporation of the development (the defendant). Three months after purchasing the unit, the plaintiffs undertook renovation works which were completed after about five months. Prior to moving in, the plaintiffs discovered mould on the interior walls and on their new cabinets located at the rear end of the unit. As the unit was in the corner of the development, the outside …


The Responsibilities Of Lawyers For Their Clients Misstatements And Omissions To The Securities Market In Singapore, Wai Yee Wan Mar 2014

The Responsibilities Of Lawyers For Their Clients Misstatements And Omissions To The Securities Market In Singapore, Wai Yee Wan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article examines the extent to which lawyers advising on the disclosure documents of their clients issued to the securities markets should be responsible for their clients’ disclosure failures. It identifies the following problems with the current framework. First, there is a lack of objective due diligence standards which lawyers are expected to meet when they are advising on public disclosure documents. Second, except for takeovers, lawyers are not subject to public enforcement actions even if they have not acted with due care and diligence in ensuring that their clients comply with their disclosure obligations. Third, private enforcement actions against …


The Singapore Do Not Call Register And The Text And Fax Exemption Order, Warren B. Chik Mar 2014

The Singapore Do Not Call Register And The Text And Fax Exemption Order, Warren B. Chik

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The introduction of a text and fax exemption to the general “opt out” effect of the Do Not Call Registry have led to a debate over the effectiveness of the Registry in filtering out unwanted communication to telephone users. This article provides the background for the Registry and the reasons for the backlash as well as for the exemption. It will explain why the exemption is consistent with the existing policy towards, and legal treatment of text-based messages, but nevertheless question whether the distinction between voice and text-based messages is justified given the overall objective of the Personal Data Protection …


Counterblast: Escaping The Gallows Singapore Style, Mark Findlay Feb 2014

Counterblast: Escaping The Gallows Singapore Style, Mark Findlay

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The four‐year long struggle by Yong Vui Kong to challenge his mandatory death sentence reveals how life and death decisions can turn on legal niceties. For instance, on 20 November 2009, the President of the Republic of Singapore turned down Yong's plea for clemency and this news was conveyed to the prisoner's brother by his then lawyer three days later. Along with this sad information, he was told that his brother would be hung on 4 December 2009. Yong's brother then engaged the respected human rights advocate, M. Ravi, who was granted an interview with the prisoner two days prior …


Streamlining Procedures For Judicial Review: Legislative Amendments To The Singapore Rules Of Court To Enhance Access To Justice, Denise Huiwen Wong Feb 2014

Streamlining Procedures For Judicial Review: Legislative Amendments To The Singapore Rules Of Court To Enhance Access To Justice, Denise Huiwen Wong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Judicial review cannot serve as an effective check on administrative action unless aggrieved applicants have a real way to access the courts to obtain relief. In an admirable, albeit belated move, significant amendments were made to the Singapore Rules of Court to remove the procedural strictures inherited from the pre-1977 UK system. The amendments allow an applicant to seek a declaration in addition to the traditional prerogative orders and recover damages within the same proceedings if the applicant can prove that he/she would have had a valid claim in a private law action. This article examines the mischief that the …


Judicial Inactivitism In Protecting Financial Consumer Against Predatory Sale Of Retail Structured Products: A Reflection From Retail Structured Notes Lawsuits In Taiwan, Chao-Hung Chen Feb 2014

Judicial Inactivitism In Protecting Financial Consumer Against Predatory Sale Of Retail Structured Products: A Reflection From Retail Structured Notes Lawsuits In Taiwan, Chao-Hung Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article analyzes 310 structured note lawsuits in Taiwan between 2000 and 2013 to examine courts’ attitude in dealing with claims of misselling retail structured notes. We find that courts were generally not favorable to retail investors. This provides a contrast with the financial regulator’s efforts to improve financial consumer protection since 2008. By examining plaintiffs’ key arguments and courts’ rulings, we find that it was difficult for investors to fulfill their burden of proof and courts were reluctant to award remedies when investors did sign on a contractual document confirming his knowledge on a few matters. While regulators are …


Deutsche Bank V Chang: A Dramatic Reversal By The Court Of Appeal, Kee Yang Low Feb 2014

Deutsche Bank V Chang: A Dramatic Reversal By The Court Of Appeal, Kee Yang Low

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The 2012 High Court decision awarding scientist Chang Tse Wen US$49m for losses from investing in accumulators through Deutsche Bank has been overturned by the Court of Appeal. This article seeks to aid readers in understanding the CA decision and in appreciating the legal implications.


Freedom Of Conscience As Religious And Moral Freedom, Michael J. Perry Jan 2014

Freedom Of Conscience As Religious And Moral Freedom, Michael J. Perry

Faculty Articles

In another essay being published contemporaneously with this one, I have explained that as the concept "human right" is understood both in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in all the various international human rights treaties that have followed in the Universal Declaration's wake, a right is a human right if the rationale for establishing and protecting the right-for example, as a treaty-based right-is, in part, that conduct that violates the right violates the imperative, articulated in Article i of the Universal Declaration, to "act towards all human beings in a spirit of brotherhood." Each of the human rights …


Agency And Partnership Law [2013], Pearlie M. C. Koh, Stephen Noel Henry Bull Jan 2014

Agency And Partnership Law [2013], Pearlie M. C. Koh, Stephen Noel Henry Bull

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The laws relating to the creation of an agency, implied authority, holding out and apparent authority, duties of the agent in relation to Agency law are discussed. The laws relating to partnership law and issues such as relationship of partners to third parties, relationships of partners between themselves and capacity to be a partner are highlighted.


A Wrong Turn In History: Re-Understanding The Exclusionary Rule Against Prior Negotiations In Contractual Interpretation, Yihan Goh Jan 2014

A Wrong Turn In History: Re-Understanding The Exclusionary Rule Against Prior Negotiations In Contractual Interpretation, Yihan Goh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

A reason justifying the exclusionary rule against prior negotiations in the interpretation of contracts is its longevity. Yet, the authorities commonly cited in support of the exclusionary rule are mostly traceable to Lord Wilberforce’s speech in the relatively recent case of Prenn v Simmonds. This article suggests that the law took a wrong turn in that case and caused later courts to support the exclusionary rule by recourse to policy-oriented justifications, instead of principle-based ones. The emphasis on policy-oriented justifications, and the recantation of Prenn v Simmonds as reason enough for the exclusionary rule, support an independent rule against prior …


Law Firm Internships And The Making Of Future Lawyers: An Empirical Study In Singapore, Seow Hon Tan Jan 2014

Law Firm Internships And The Making Of Future Lawyers: An Empirical Study In Singapore, Seow Hon Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article examines the findings of an empirical study of law students from the Singapore Management University on their internship experiences at private law firms. As internships are frequently undertaken by law students, it is necessary for stakeholders to understand their impact on the values and ideals of law students in relation to the law and legal practice. This article seeks to increase the consciousness of law school educators, lawyers, and the professional bar about how law firm internships are contributing to the making of future lawyers, so as to facilitate the reflection by these parties as to their roles …


An Institutional Alchemy: India’S Two Parliaments In Comparative Perspective, Shubhankar Dam Jan 2014

An Institutional Alchemy: India’S Two Parliaments In Comparative Perspective, Shubhankar Dam

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

India has a parliamentary system. But articled in India’s Constitution is a provision that authorizes the President to occasionally enact legislation without involving Parliament. Such presidential legislation are called ordinances, not Acts; and rather than enact, the President promulgates them. Textually, ordinances are bounded by several ‘controls’. They are limited to circumstances when at least one House of Parliament is not in session, and the President is satisfied that the circumstances are such that immediate action is necessary. And without such formal parliamentary approval after a specified duration, they cease to exist. But after sixty years of constitutional practice these …


Redressing The Patent Imbalance In Genetic Testing, Cheng Lim Saw Jan 2014

Redressing The Patent Imbalance In Genetic Testing, Cheng Lim Saw

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In one of the most highly anticipated decisions emanating from the apex Court in the US in recent times, the US Supreme Court in Association for Molecular Pathology v Myriad Genetics Inc was asked to consider, in the main, the patentability of a naturally occurring gene sequence which had been specifically isolated from the human genome. Although the patent was eventually denied, this seminal case will certainly not be the last word on what is clearly a very controversial subject, at least outside of the US.


Sign Up Or Sign Off: Asia’S Reluctant Engagement With The International Criminal Court, Mark Findlay Jan 2014

Sign Up Or Sign Off: Asia’S Reluctant Engagement With The International Criminal Court, Mark Findlay

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The International Criminal Court argues that there is a need to achieve universal ratification so that the majority of mankind will no longer remain outside the protection of the ICC. In the Asia/Pacific region there is a relatively low accession rate of nation states to the Rome Statute. This paper proposes a taxonomy of resistance to ratification in the region, recognising that in speculating on the reasons for resistance to the ratification of international criminal justice, local to the global across Asia and the Pacific, there is a risk in both over emphasising cultural and political difference while at the …


Civil Case Management In Singapore: Of Models, Measures And Justice, Chee Hock Foo, Eunice Chua, Louis Ng Jan 2014

Civil Case Management In Singapore: Of Models, Measures And Justice, Chee Hock Foo, Eunice Chua, Louis Ng

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The goals of all ASEAN member states are to “accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development” and “promote peace and stability” in the region. To achieve these goals, the public will need to trust and respect the Judiciary. Such trust and respect can be lost if there are inefficient practices that result in delay in the courts. The Singapore Judiciary is presently lauded for “its efficiency, its technological sophistication, its accessibility and the confidence of Singapore’s citizens and businesses in the system.” The World Economic Forum has also ranked Singapore first (out of 142 countries) in recognition of Singapore’s …


Milestones For Animal Welfare: Public Prosecutor V. Ling Chung Yee Roy, Alvin W. L. See Jan 2014

Milestones For Animal Welfare: Public Prosecutor V. Ling Chung Yee Roy, Alvin W. L. See

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Animal law is a little-known subject in Singapore. However, the increase in public awareness and concern about animal welfare issues demand that more attention is directed at the legal aspects of such issues. An opportunity to examine this area of the law arose in the case of Ling Chung Yee Roy. The District Court, presided by District Judge Ng Peng Hong, had to decide whether the accused was guilty of an animal cruelty offence under s. 42(1)(e) of the Animals and Birds Act. The majority of animal cruelty complaints were against pet owners, of which a significant number concerned the …


Further Clarification From The High Court On The Limits To The Constitutional Right To Counsel: James Raj S/O Arokiasamy V Pp [2014] Sghc 10, Siyuan Chen, Kenneth Tan Jan 2014

Further Clarification From The High Court On The Limits To The Constitutional Right To Counsel: James Raj S/O Arokiasamy V Pp [2014] Sghc 10, Siyuan Chen, Kenneth Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Article 9(3) of the Constitution1 states that “Where a person is arrested, he … shall be allowed to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice.” However, art 9(3) does not stipulate the point in time at which an arrested person is entitled to consult counsel. The local jurisprudence over the past few decades have affirmed the interpretation that an arrested person is not entitled to access counsel immediately upon arrest, but only after a reasonable amount of time has elapsed. The High Court in James Raj s/o Arokiasamy v Public Prosecutor (“James Raj”) has now shed …


Measuring The Transplantation Of English Commercial Law In A Small Jurisdiction: An Empirical Study Of Singapore’S Insurance Judgments Between 1965 And 2012, Christopher Chen Jan 2014

Measuring The Transplantation Of English Commercial Law In A Small Jurisdiction: An Empirical Study Of Singapore’S Insurance Judgments Between 1965 And 2012, Christopher Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article seeks to measure the development of law after transplanting common law and statutes from another country by conducting an empirical study of the citation of precedents and demography of disputes of insurance cases in Singapore. This article recognizes that there are justifications for Singapore to transplant English insurance law. However, this research shows that the transplantation of English commercial law into a small jurisdiction, even within the common law family, may cause the law to be in a static state if courts do not have enough cases to maintain the development of law or to consider new development …


Strategies For Surviving In China's Intellectual Property Minefield, David Llewelyn, Peter J. Williamson Jan 2014

Strategies For Surviving In China's Intellectual Property Minefield, David Llewelyn, Peter J. Williamson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Despite a slowdown in China’s GDP growth from the double-digit heights of the last decade, it is still expanding at over 7% per annum – a growth rate that looks more sustainable. Growth in the other major emerging economies including India, Brazil and Russia, by contrast, has all but collapsed, at least for the present. Growth in the developed economies, meanwhile, remains fragile in the wake of their post-2008 financial crisis recessions. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Boards of many foreign companies are counting on winning share in the China market to support their top-line growth in coming …


Redefining Relevancy And Exclusionary Discretion In Sir James Fitzjames Stephen’S Indian Evidence Act Of 1872: The Singapore Experiment And Lessons For Other Indian Evidence Act Jurisdictions, Siyuan Chen Jan 2014

Redefining Relevancy And Exclusionary Discretion In Sir James Fitzjames Stephen’S Indian Evidence Act Of 1872: The Singapore Experiment And Lessons For Other Indian Evidence Act Jurisdictions, Siyuan Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In many jurisdictions, the rules of evidence can often be instrumental in determining the outcome of a dispute. But to what extent can evidence law be controlled by codification, or is it better to leave its regulation and development to the judges via common law? In an attempt to bridge the gap between the rules of an antiquated evidence statute and the modern realities of practice, Singapore’s Evidence Act was amended in 2012. Certain relevancy provisions were amended to allow greater admissibility of evidence, while new provisions were introduced to act as a check against abuse. However, it will be …


No Alternative: Resolving Disputes Japanese Style, Eric Feldman Jan 2014

No Alternative: Resolving Disputes Japanese Style, Eric Feldman

All Faculty Scholarship

This article critiques the simple black/white categorisation of mainstream versus alternative dispute resolution, and argues that what is needed is a cartography of dispute resolution institutions that maps the full range of approaches and traces their interaction. It sketches the first lines of such a map by describing two examples of conflict resolution in Japan. Neither can justly be called “alternative”, yet neither fits the mould of what might be called mainstream or classical dispute resolution. One, judicial settlement, focuses on process; the other, compensating victims of the Fukushima disaster, engages a specific event. Together, they help to illustrate why …


Crimea And The International Legal Order, William W. Burke-White Jan 2014

Crimea And The International Legal Order, William W. Burke-White

All Faculty Scholarship

A key balance between two of the most fundamental principles of the post-World War II international legal and political order is at stake today in Ukraine. Particularly in its annexation of Crimea, Russia has exploited the tension between a fundamental principle that prohibits the acquisition of territory through the use of force and an equally fundamental right of self-determination. Russia’s reinterpretation of these two principles could well destabilize the tenuous balance between the protection of individual rights and the preservation of states’ territorial integrity that undergirds the post World War II order. In determining the precedent that will be remembered …


Remittances From Puerto Rico: Unsuspected Transnational Locality In Times Of Crisis, Sheila I. Velez Martinez Jan 2014

Remittances From Puerto Rico: Unsuspected Transnational Locality In Times Of Crisis, Sheila I. Velez Martinez

Articles

This paper looks at immigrant remittances from Puerto Rico as a tool to understand how immigrant communities have faced and engaged the economic crisis. For example, from the data reviewed, it stems that immigrant remittances sent from Puerto Rico do not follow the same patterns as remittances sent from the United States and Europe inasmuch as they seem less affected by the global financial crisis and local unemployment rates. The research conducted also tends to indicate that money transfers from Puerto Rico might allow us to grasp the growing economic transnational relationships that are being maintained by varied immigrant communities …


Function And Dysfunction In Post-Conflict Justice Networks And Communities, Elena Baylis Jan 2014

Function And Dysfunction In Post-Conflict Justice Networks And Communities, Elena Baylis

Articles

The field of post-conflict justice includes many well-known international criminal law and rule of law initiatives, from the International Criminal Court to legal reform programs in Afghanistan and Iraq. Less visible, but nonetheless vital to the field, are the international staff (known as internationals) who carry out these transitional justice enterprises, and the networks and communities of practice that connect them to each other. By sharing information, collaborating on joint action, and debating proposed legal rules within their networks and communities, internationals help to develop and implement the core norms and practices of post-conflict justice. These modes of collaboration are …