Discuss about the Legal Writing and Research Communication Law.
The Supreme Court is the main head of the judicial system in the Republic of Singapore. All cases related to civil and criminal laws are dealt with by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is made up of primarily two courts one of them is the High Court and the other is the Court of Appeal. All the appeals relating to both civil and criminal cases arising out of the High Court are made to the Court of Appeal. The power to review appeals and decide a case on the basis of law which is exclusives to that of the High Court as well as courts subordinate to the High Court, is also vested in the Court of Appeal (Our Legal System ,2016).
If the valuation of a civil suit is more than S$250,000 it is eligible to be tried in the High Court. Matters relating to probate are also eligible to be trialed in the High Court if the subject matter of the case is more than S$3 million and also if the case is in relation to foreign grant resealing. Suits relating to ancillary issue in family, which have a value of more than S $1.5 million, are also dealt with by the High Court (Gill, 2013).
The High Court also has the power to try criminal proceedings, which involve capital punishment, and punishments, which exceeds 10 years of imprisonment. Offences in relation to which bail cannot be granted are also tried by the High Court. All matters, which arise in the territories of Singapore, are eligible to be tried by the High Court as a rule of thumb (Baum, 2015).
The judicial powers in relation to Singapore are given to the Supreme Court and its chief justice is appointed as the chief of the judicial system. There are no restrictions made upon the Supreme Court for trying any proceedings be it criminal or civil.
The Supreme Court consists of two tiers of courts the upper tier of the Supreme Court is the Court of Appeal and the lower tier is the High Court (Chan & Lee, 2015). The judicial commissioners, judges of appeal and the chief judge make up the judges panel for the Supreme Court. The president of the republic of Singapore makes all appointments with respect to the judge’s panel of the Supreme Court with prior consultation with the prime minister who also consults the prevailing chief justice to make such decisions. If a person has been eligible under the Legal Profession Act and or has been a member of the legal services of Singapore for not less than 10 years he is eligible to be appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court. The Court of Appeal in the Supreme Court consists of the chief justice as well as the judges of appeal. The judges of the High Court can be asked by the chief justice to preside over selected proceedings in the Court of Appeal.
Registry of the Supreme Court of Singapore has the responsibility to manage the administrative works of the court. Administrative works such as acknowledging the receipt of documents and making sure that they are sent to the judges for reference at the time of hearings are done by the registry. The registrar heads the registry of the Supreme Court of Singapore with assistance from then assistant registrar. The appointment criteria of these officers are similar to that of the judges.
The judicial system of Singapore is divided into two levels and the state courts belong to the lower level of the judicial system. The state courts in Singapore are made up of mainly the district courts and the magistrate courts. A few specialized courts and tribunals for small claims are also a part of the state courts of the republic of Singapore.
All cases which are not eligible to be tried by the Supreme Court are entitled to be tried by the state or subordinate courts of the republic of Singapore. More than 95% of the legal proceedings in Singapore are tried in the subordinate courts. The subordinate’s courts of Singapore annually handle 350,000 legal proceedings on an average. The judges and the registrar of the state courts operate under the authority of the Legal Services Commission of Singapore. Similar to that of the Supreme Courts the president also makes the appointment of the state court judges after the recommendation from the chief justice.
The state courts of Singapore consist of six operation units, which are:
The responsibility of administration with respect to the subordinate courts in Singapore vests in a position occupied by a judge of the Supreme Court, a judicial commissioner or the presiding judge of the subordinate courts (Koman & Whalen-Bridge, 2015).
The legal proceeding which are tried by the state courts are adjudged with the help of a team of judges the leader of which is the presiding judge of the state courts.
The district courts are eligible to conduct only those legal proceedings where 10 years punishment is maximum. It can give punishment, which is less than 10 years, it can sanction fine not more than $30,000 and a maximum of twelve cane strokes. This limitation has an exception with respect to legislations like the Misuse of Drug Act, Companies Act, and Prevention of Corruption Act.
Whereas the magistrate courts are eligible to conduct those legal proceedings where five years punishment is the limit, where the maximum fine applicable is $10,000 and punishment, which allow for maximum of six cane strokes (Tan & Teh, 2013).
The main sources of law in the republic of Singapore are the constitution, legislative sources, subsidiary legislations like rules and regulations, case laws previously made by the courts and lastly customs which prevail in the country (Keltner & Lillie, 2013).
The most prominent source of law in the republic of Singapore is its constitution. The fundamental structure of the three pillars of the country, which are the legislative department, the judicial department and the executive department, are laid down by the constitution. The laws stated in the constitution of the country are studied in details and interpreted precisely for proper use. The rights duties and liberty enjoyed by the citizens of Singapore are laid down by the constitution through Article 4. Any law which do not comply with the provisions of the constitution is not valid and void (Barr, 2013).
Another important source of law in Singapore are the laws made by the legislature. These laws are made and processed through the parliament before being enforced. The laws passed b y the parliament are also called statues (TAN, 2015).
These laws are brought into existence through a resolution in the parliament to maintain law and order in the society. Like to stop the citizens of Singapore to be affected by use of dangerous drugs The Misuse of Drug Act has been enacted. The punishment and penalties for the individuals or group who deal in or consume dangerous drugs are enforced through this act. Acts to specify punishment to different categories of crime, laws to protect women and children from exploitation, laws to maintain fair and ethical business practices are also enacted by the parliament.
The citizens of the republic of Singapore chose the members of the parliament through voting other members of the parliament are chosen through a process of nomination. All the bills passed through the parliament must be signed and acknowledged by the president of the republic of Singapore. The bills are passed through a first reading, second reading, the committee reading and the third reading in the parliament before they become a statue. The bill is also reviewed by the president council for minority rights before it becomes a statue. The Penal Code, Sale of Goods Act and the women’s charter are a few examples of statues passed by the parliament.
The rules and regulations, which are made by the executive department such as the health department, local bodies and statutory boards other than the parliament, are also one of the sources of law in Singapore. These laws include rules, regulations, by-laws, notifications, order and a proclamation. Regulation 16 of the Environment Public Health Regulation, the Miscellaneous Offences Rules, public Entertainment and Meetings Order, Rapid Transit System Regulations and The Sale of Food Regulations are a few sub legislations, which form the sources of law in Singapore.
The decisions made by the courts in Singapore are also taken as a source of law in the country (Kozel, 2013). These decisions and adjurations may be the interpretation of the laws, which already exist or can be decisions, which bring a new concept in existence through development of laws of natural justice, equity and common law. Many major legal issues is Singapore like contract issues , issues related to property and even issues related to trust, torts and equity are often addressed through the use of judicial precedents.
With the help of judicial precedents, it is ensured that a proper and just meaning to the existing statues in given. According to the doctrine of Stare Decisis , All the laws which are made by the higher courts has to be considered by the subordinate courts in making any decision about related cases. Thus, in Singapore the High Court is bound to obey the decision of the Court of Appeal and the High Courts decisions are binding on the adjudication process of the subordinate courts
Judicial precedents mostly do not apply to decisions, which are made in the same courts. The judge of the subordinate court is not bound by the decision made by the judge of another subordinate court or any other judge of the same court. Some of the examples of judicial precedents are Chng sSan Tze v. Minister for Home Affairs and Fay Michael Peter v. Public Prosecutor (Lee, 2015)
Customs are generally rules, which have been treated as laws from the very long period of time by the persons related to it. Customs can only be taken as a source of law in the modern society if they have been use and given attention upon in a case, they are not used as a source of law if they are inconsistent with any law, which is existing in the country at a given time. In order to be recognized as customs a rule has to be in regular use for a long period of time (Ovchinnikov, 2015). Customs in Singapore are not a major source of law and only a few customs have been recognized as a legal source. Few customs, which have become a source of law, are making checks in a bank, the modification of Muslim law by Malay Custom (Bin Abbas, 2012).
References:
Barr, M. D. (2013). Review Essay: Law and Order in a Land of Tough Love. Australian Journal of Asian Law, 14(1).
Baum, L. (2015). The Supreme Court. CQ press.
Bin Abbas, A. N. (2012). Islamic Legal System in Singapore, THe. Pac. Rim L. & Pol’y J., 21, 163.
CHAN, G. K. Y. (2015). The Judiciary.
Chan, G. K. Y., & Lee, J. T. T. (2015). The Legal System of Singapore: Institutions, Principles and Practices.
Gill, C. (2013). Open Access to Legal Materials in Singapore.
Keltner, N. L., & Lillie, K. (2013). SOURCES OF LAW. Psychiatric Nursing, 33.
Koman, R. N., & Whalen-Bridge, H. (2015). Clinical Legal Education in Singapore. In Clinical Legal Education in Asia (pp. 137-158). Palgrave Macmillan US.
Kozel, R. J. (2013). The Rule of Law and the Perils of Precedent.
Lee, J. T. T. (2015). Foreign Precedents in Constitutional Adjudication by the Supreme Court of Singapore, 1963-2013. Washington International Law Journal, 24(2), 253-288.
Our Legal System | Ministry of Law. (2016). Mlaw.gov.sg. Retrieved 11 November 2016, from https://www.mlaw.gov.sg/our-legal-system.html
Ovchinnikov, S. N. (2015). Definition of Customs Offences in International Law. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 6(3).
TAN, E. K. (2015). The Legislature.
Tan, B., & Teh, M. K. (2013). Singapore. Handbook of Comparative Higher Education Law (Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group).
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