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An Entity Sui Generis In The Wto: Taiwan's Wto Membership And Its Trade Law Regime, Han-Wei Liu Dec 2009

An Entity Sui Generis In The Wto: Taiwan's Wto Membership And Its Trade Law Regime, Han-Wei Liu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

As one of the founding members of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), Taiwan (the Republic of China or ROC) - the 17th largest economy, was granted accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in November 2001 after its observer status of eleven years. Taiwan, classified by most commentators as an "unrecognized state" or an "entity sui generis", has been excluded from most of the major international organizations. Taiwan's accession to the WTO, therefore, is considered to be an important breakthrough in diplomacy for the past decades. Notwithstanding its WTO membership, the Taiwanese Government has employed numerous trade …


China’S Strategy For Free Trade Agreements: Political Battle In The Name Of Trade, Shuchao Henry Gao Dec 2009

China’S Strategy For Free Trade Agreements: Political Battle In The Name Of Trade, Shuchao Henry Gao

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Compared with Europe and America, East Asia is a latecomer in the new gold-rush of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). In this process, China has played a significant role. This is not only due to the growing economic clout of China, but also because China has taken a conscious strategy to push for economic integration in the region. Thus, for the benefits of the countries in the region, it is very important to understand China’s FTA strategy. This article starts with the evolving picture of China’s FTA web, then discusses the key components of China’s FTA strategy, and concludes by noting …


Tea Leaves Of The Economy: General Elections In 2010?, Tan K. B. Eugene Dec 2009

Tea Leaves Of The Economy: General Elections In 2010?, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Incumbent governments with good economic track records would typically capitalise on economic downturns to seize a political advantage by calling for early elections. Will the ruling People's Action Party do so nect year in view of the strong economic perormances in recent months?


Freedom Of Speech And Contempt By Scandalizing The Court In Singapore, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee Nov 2009

Freedom Of Speech And Contempt By Scandalizing The Court In Singapore, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The offence of scandalizing the court, a form of contempt of court, is regarded as obsolete in the United Kingdom. However, it continues to be imposed in other Commonwealth nations and remains very much alive in Singapore, having been applied in a crop of cases between 2006 and 2009. This short commentary examines one of these cases, Attorney-General v Hertzberg and others [2009] 1 Singapore Law Reports 1103, which has generated worldwide interest as it arose out of articles published in the Wall Street Journal Asia. In Hertzberg, the High Court of Singapore held that utterances by an alleged contemnor …


The Networked Electorate: The Internet And The Quiet Democratic Revolution In Malaysia And Singapore, Hang Wu Tang Sep 2009

The Networked Electorate: The Internet And The Quiet Democratic Revolution In Malaysia And Singapore, Hang Wu Tang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This paper is intended to be a contribution to the literature on claims of the democratising effect of the Internet. The paper begins by setting out the arguments and also critiques of claims of the democratising power of the Internet. In order to test the validity of these arguments, the author will undertake a comparative study of the impact of the Internet on recent general elections in Malaysia and Singapore. The study will demonstrate that in the case of Singapore, the Internet has merely exerted some pressure on the pre-existing laws and state-imposed norms governing free speech; in contrast, in …


The Company And Its Directors As Co-Conspirators, Pey Woan Lee Sep 2009

The Company And Its Directors As Co-Conspirators, Pey Woan Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In Nagase Singapore Pte Ltd v Ching Kai Huat and Lim Leong Huat v Chip Hup Hup Kee Construction Pte Ltd, the High Court of Singapore affirmed the proposition that a company may, like a natural person, conspire with its director to inflict harm on a third person even if the latter is its “directing mind and will”. In both cases, the courts’ focus was directed at a conceptual enquiry, ie, whether a company, whose “mind” is the same as that of its director, could properly be said to have “combined” or “agreed” to conspire. This article argues, however, that …


China-United States Trade Negotiations And Disputes: The Wto And Beyond, Pasha L. Hsieh Sep 2009

China-United States Trade Negotiations And Disputes: The Wto And Beyond, Pasha L. Hsieh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article examines trade negotiations and disputes between China and the United States. It begins by ascertaining the unique political aspects of China-U.S. bilateral economic ties and explains the historical background underlying the relations. The article then argues that trade frictions between China and the United States are unlikely to repeat the Depression-era trade wars. The article observes that both the Chinese and U.S. governments are aware that the adoption of WTO-inconsistent measures may result in retaliatory actions from the other side. Hence, the two governments have attempted to resolve potential disputes through high-level official talks. Even when certain issues …


Void Contracts And The Applicability Of Choice Of Law Clauses To Consequential Restitutionary Claims: Cimb Bank Bhd V Dresdner Kleinwort Ltd [2008] 4 Slr 543, Adeline Swee Ling Chong Sep 2009

Void Contracts And The Applicability Of Choice Of Law Clauses To Consequential Restitutionary Claims: Cimb Bank Bhd V Dresdner Kleinwort Ltd [2008] 4 Slr 543, Adeline Swee Ling Chong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This note examines the Singapore Court of Appeal’s judgment in CIMB Bank Bhd v Dresdner Kleinwort Ltd, focusing specifically on what role, if any, should be played by a choice of law clause contained in a void contract in relation to the restitutionary aftermath of voidness.


Fault Lines In Our “Garden Of Eden State”, Tan K. B. Eugene Aug 2009

Fault Lines In Our “Garden Of Eden State”, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.


From Clampdown To Limited Empowerment: Hard And Soft Law In The Calibration And Regulation Of Religious Conduct In Singapore, Eugene K. B. Tan Jul 2009

From Clampdown To Limited Empowerment: Hard And Soft Law In The Calibration And Regulation Of Religious Conduct In Singapore, Eugene K. B. Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The focus of Singapore's response to terrorism post 9/11 has been to reach out to the “moderate, mainstream” Muslims as a bulwark against societal implosion. This article examines the broad-based endeavor toward “religious moderation.” While coercive draconian legislation remain the mainstay against extremists and radicals, the mobilization of soft law, aspirational norms, and values are consciously woven into the state's endeavors to enhance society's resilience and cohesion. They also seek to regulate religious conduct at a time when the state wishes to entrench secularism as a cornerstone of the governance of a multi-racial, multireligious society. Rights and regulation are not …


A Missing Part In International Investment Law: The Effectiveness Of Investment Protection Of Taiwan's Bits Vis-À-Vis Asean States, Han-Wei Liu Jul 2009

A Missing Part In International Investment Law: The Effectiveness Of Investment Protection Of Taiwan's Bits Vis-À-Vis Asean States, Han-Wei Liu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Taiwan, classified as an “unrecognized state” or an “entity sui generis” by most international law scholars, has been excluded from most major international organizations and agreements for decades. This diplomatic isolation has had a negative influence on the protection of Taiwan’s overseas investments. This Article explores the six bilateral investment treaties (“BITs”) that the Taiwanese government has reached with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (“ASEAN”) States and compares the weaknesses of the Taiwanese agreements with the investment frameworks established within ASEAN States. This Article concludes that Taiwan’s BITs with six ASEAN Member States fail to serve the very aim …


Our Shared Stake, Tan K. B. Eugene Jul 2009

Our Shared Stake, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

It's the time of the active citizen. Recent spurts of collective campaigning have mobilised surprising ground support. Eugene Tan analyses the coming age of civil society here through the passionate and visible advocacy of certain groups in recent events.


Competition Law And The International Transport Sectors, Sock Yong Phang Jul 2009

Competition Law And The International Transport Sectors, Sock Yong Phang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This article charts the evolving regulation of cooperation and coordination between international transport firms, in particular those operating within the liner shipping and international air transport sectors. There has been a long history of exemption of these sectors from the rules and regulations of antitrust or competition law. In the past three decades, regulatory reforms and privatization have, however, subjected these sectors to competitive forces that have transformed these industries. With the introduction of competition law in many jurisdictions, the justifications for their continued exemption have come under intense scrutiny. In the late 19705, the US initiated deregulation of its …


Imbree V Mcneilly: A View From Singapore, Yihan Goh Jul 2009

Imbree V Mcneilly: A View From Singapore, Yihan Goh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In Imbree v. McNeilly, the High Court of Australia ruled that a learner driver is no longer to be held to the standard of a reasonable but unqualified (and inexperienced) driver in negligence claims. It is the modest aim of this case note to show that Imbree, while a decision on a narrow point, in fact hints at a larger difficulty in the ascertainment of the standard of care in individual cases. It is in this context that it will be suggested that, when the time comes for Singapore courts to consider the applicability of Imbree, this difficulty should be …


Report Of The Law Reform Committee On Ancillary Orders After Foreign Divorce Or Annulment, Aqbal Singh, Debbie Ong, Yock Lin Tan, Tiong Min Yeo Jul 2009

Report Of The Law Reform Committee On Ancillary Orders After Foreign Divorce Or Annulment, Aqbal Singh, Debbie Ong, Yock Lin Tan, Tiong Min Yeo

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

A matrimonial order of divorce, nullity or legal separation is often followed by ancillary orders relating to division of matrimonial property, custody of children and maintenance. Under Singapore law, many of the court’s powers in respect of these types of orders depend on the court having jurisdiction to pronounce on the status of the marriage. If an order made by a foreign court is recognised to have annulled or dissolved the marriage, then it is not possible for the Singapore court to assume jurisdiction in respect of the marriage; there is no marriage to speak of anymore. The legal consequence …


Case Comment: Robertson Quay Investment Pte Ltd V Steen Consultants Pte Ltd, Yihan Goh Jun 2009

Case Comment: Robertson Quay Investment Pte Ltd V Steen Consultants Pte Ltd, Yihan Goh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In recent times, the venerable principles relating to remoteness of damage in contract have undergone a period of sustained re-evaluation. Key amongst this exercise is the House of Lords’ decision in Transfield Shipping Inc v Mercator Shipping Inc—referred to as ‘The Achilleas’, which represents a fundamental shift in the understanding of remoteness principles. Caught in the winds of The Achilleas is the considered judgment of the Singapore Court of Appeal in Robertson Quay Investment Pte Ltd v Steen Consultants Pte Ltd.In direct contrast with some of the speeches in The Achilleas, the judgment delivered by Andrew Phang JA in Robertson …


Schisms In Humanitarianism: The Khmer Rouge Tribunal's First Hearing, Mahdev Mohan May 2009

Schisms In Humanitarianism: The Khmer Rouge Tribunal's First Hearing, Mahdev Mohan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Mass atrocity invokes humanitarian impulses in all of us. But when a genocidaire casts himself as a victim, the right response is less straightforward. This article analyzes a recent hearing of one of Cambodia's most feared Khmer Rouge cadres who stands trial before a newly established hybrid tribunal and suggests the consequences of responding to war crime trials with polemics rather than principle.


The Efficiency Of Friendliness: Japanese Corporate Governance Succeeds Again Without Hostile Takeovers, Dan W. Puchniak Mar 2009

The Efficiency Of Friendliness: Japanese Corporate Governance Succeeds Again Without Hostile Takeovers, Dan W. Puchniak

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

It is widely assumed that hostile takeovers are a prerequisite for an efficient system of corporate governance. This assumption is false. Since the new millennium, Japan has transformed itself from being on the brink of one of the largest economic meltdowns in modern economic history to currently being in the midst of its longest period of postwar economic expansion (2002-2007). This astounding recovery was achieved without a single successful hostile takeover of a major Japanese company. True to its postwar tradition, corporate Japan has successfully restructured through government intervention, bank-driven reallocation of capital, and orchestrated and friendly mergers — the …


Compromising On Consideration In Singapore: Gay Choon Ing V Loh Sze Ti Terence Peter, Yihan Goh Mar 2009

Compromising On Consideration In Singapore: Gay Choon Ing V Loh Sze Ti Terence Peter, Yihan Goh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

It is not often that a judgment contains a reference to Aristotle’s work or a coda at its conclusion. The recent Singapore Court of Appeal judgment of Gay Choon Ing v Loh Sze Ti Terence Peter (delivered by Andrew Phang JA) contained both, the latter of which an extensive judicial exposition on the difficulties (and tentative solutions) relating to the contractual doctrine of consideration. This re-evaluation of consideration at the slightest opportunity is unsurprising, given the conceptual problems that have afflicted the doctrine.There have been various judicial solutions, generally capable of classification into two distinct types: first, through an internal …


Make The Implicit Explicit: Affirming Right To Vote In The Constitution Would Pre-Empt The Possibility Of Abuse By Future Govts, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee Feb 2009

Make The Implicit Explicit: Affirming Right To Vote In The Constitution Would Pre-Empt The Possibility Of Abuse By Future Govts, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

There are sound reasons to set out explicitly and entrench in the Singapore Constitution the right to vote and key elements of the way elections are held. While a future government might not remove them entirely, it might derogate from them to the extent that they become unrecognizable.


The Taiwan Question And The One-China Policy: Legal Challenges With Renewed Momentum, Pasha L. Hsieh Jan 2009

The Taiwan Question And The One-China Policy: Legal Challenges With Renewed Momentum, Pasha L. Hsieh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The question of Taiwan’s status has faced legal challenges from the one- China policy under both domestic law and international law. The article argues that the state status of the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has never ceased to exist as a result of either the loss of diplomatic recognition or the United Nations Resolution 2758, which transferred the UN seat from the ROC to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In the past decades, the ROC and the PRC possess separate statehoods and have co-existed under the “de jure roof of China.” The evolvement of state practice of …


The Paradox Of Victim-Centrism: Victim Participation At The Khmer Rouge Tribunal, Mahdev Mohan Jan 2009

The Paradox Of Victim-Centrism: Victim Participation At The Khmer Rouge Tribunal, Mahdev Mohan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

It has been claimed - though not proved - that victims will be benefited by participation in international criminal tribunals. This article interrogates this claim in the context of victim participation at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), commonly referred to as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. Based on interviews with Cambodian victims and Tribunal affiliates, it examines why and how the Tribunal permits victims to intervene as les parties civile, pulling together the normative and legal basis for this mode of victim participation. This article does not purport to generalize with confidence about Cambodian victims in general, …


Law School And The Making Of The Student Into A Lawyer: Transformation Of First Year Law Students In The National University Of Singapore, Seow Hon Tan Jan 2009

Law School And The Making Of The Student Into A Lawyer: Transformation Of First Year Law Students In The National University Of Singapore, Seow Hon Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This paper examines the impact of legal education and law school on the student's moral development and conception of professional identity, through an empirical study of first year law students of the Class of 2010 at the National University of Singapore. The project aims to increase consciousness of how law school remakes students and develops the moral and professional identity of future lawyers, and to facilitate a dialogue that reshapes legal education to achieve its aims. Given that legal education in Singapore is similar to that in other law schools in common law jurisdictions, the analysis is, with allowances for …