Judicial system of Singapore

Under the Constitution of Singapore, the judicial system of Singapore is divided into the Supreme Court which comprises the Court of Appeal and the High Court, and the subordinate courts, namely the State Courts and Family Justice Courts.

Singapore practices the common law legal system, where the decisions of higher courts constitute binding precedent upon courts of equal or lower status within their jurisdiction, as opposed to the civil law legal system in continental Europe.

The current criminal code was preceded by the Indian Penal Code which was adopted when Singapore was a Crown colony of the British Empire.

History

Jury trials were abolished in 1969 and the Criminal Procedure Code was amended in 1992 to allow for trials of capital offences to be heard before a single judge.^[1] The Court of Appeal is Singapore's final court of appeal after the right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London was abolished in April 1994. The president has the power to grant pardons on the advice of the cabinet.^[2]

In 2006, the subordinate courts initiated a pilot scheme to appoint specialist judges to the Bench. Such judges came from the legal profession and academia, with the scheme's purpose being to draw expertise to the subordinate courts, giving practitioners and academics judicial experience in the process.^[3] The specialist judge scheme has not been continued.

Organisation

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court consists of the Court of Appeal and the High Court. The Court of Appeal exercises appellate criminal and civil jurisdiction, while the High Court exercises both original and appellate criminal and civil jurisdiction.^[4] The Chief Justice, Judges of Appeal, Judicial Commissioners and High Court Judges are appointed by the President from candidates recommended by the Prime Minister. The prime minister must consult with the Chief Justice before recommending the judges.^{[citation needed]}

State Courts

The State Courts comprise the District and Magistrate Courts—both of which oversee civil and criminal matters—as well as specialised courts such as the coroner's courts and the Small Claims Tribunals. In 2023, there were 178,080 cases filed in the State Courts.^[5]

Family Justice Courts

The Family Justice Courts was established in 2014 to bring together the courts from the Supreme Court and State Courts that hear cases relating to youth and family issues.^{[citation needed]}

Perception

Ranking

In September 2008, a Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) survey reported Hong Kong and Singapore have the best judicial systems in Asia, with Indonesia and Vietnam the worst: Hong Kong's judicial system scored 1.45 on the scale (zero representing the best performance and 10 the worst); Singapore with a grade of 1.92, followed by Japan (3.50), South Korea (4.62), Taiwan (4.93), the Philippines (6.10), Malaysia (6.47), India (6.50), Thailand (7.00), China (7.25), Vietnam (8.10) and Indonesia (8.26).^[6]^[7] In 2010, the Rule of Law Index by the World Justice Project ranked Singapore number one for access to civil justice in the high-income countries group.^[8] In 2021, the Rule of Law Index ranked Singapore 17th out of 139 countries on rule of law.^[9]

Judicial independence

Singapore has a reputation for fairness and impartiality in commercial law, and is a popular jurisdiction for arbitration and trial in Southeast Asia. The Canadian case of Oakwell Engineering v. Enernorth Industries called into question this impartiality and raised the issue of whether the judgments of Singaporean courts are enforceable outside Singapore, but claims of links between the judiciary, business and the executive arm in Singapore which were alleged to suggest a real risk of judicial bias were dismissed in appeals to the Court of Appeal for Ontario and Canadian Supreme Court.^[10]

In 2004, the United States Department of State claimed that the President of Singapore and the Minister for Home Affairs have substantial de facto judicial power, leading "to a perception that the judiciary reflected the views of the ruling party in politically sensitive cases." In addition, Singapore's "judicial officials, especially the Supreme Court, have close ties to the ruling party and its leaders".^[11] It also claimed that government leaders historically have used court proceedings, in particular defamation suits, against political opponents and critics, leading to a perception that the judiciary reflected the views of the ruling party in politically sensitive cases.^[11] Notable cases include those against opposition leaders J. B. Jeyaretnam and Chee Soon Juan. In 1997, Australian Q.C. Stuart Littlemore observed the proceedings of a high-profile defamation suit filed by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong against Jeyaretnam on behalf of the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).^[12] This was followed by his ICJ report stating that the Singapore judiciary was compliant to the ruling People's Action Party (PAP),^[13] observations which the Ministry of Law denied,^[14] and the ICJ subsequently defended.^[15] Littlemore's application to represent Chee Soon Juan in 2002 for another defamation suit was rejected by the High Court for his previous remarks about the judiciary that were seen as contemptuous and disrespectful.^[16]

On the other hand, Transparency International noted in its 2006 country study report on Singapore that truth was a defence to the "accusations and insinuations of nepotism and favouritism in government appointments" against government leaders that led to the defamation suits, and "[a]s such, if a serious accusation is made, the public hearing of these suits would give the defendant a prime opportunity to put forward the facts they allege. However, none of the defendants have proved the truth of their allegations."^[17]

References

^ "Supreme Court Singapore - History". Supreme Court of Singapore. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
^ "Constitution of the Republic of Singapore - Part V (The Government)". Attorney-General of Singapore. Archived from the original on 18 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
^ "Dean Tan Cheng Han S.C. '87 appointed Specialist Judge" (PDF). National University of Singapore. 3 August 2006. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
^ "Supreme Court of Judicature Act". Attorney-General of Singapore. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
^ "Caseload statistics 2023". Default. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
^ "Hong Kong has best judicial system in Asia: business survey". Archived from the original on 21 May 2011.
^ "Hong Kong has best judicial system in Asia: business survey". ABS-CBN News. Agence France-Presse. Archived from the original on 14 June 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
^ "S'pore justice system top in global survey". Archived from the original on 10 January 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2011.
^ "Singapore ranked 17 out of 139 countries on rule of law, dropping three positions" (PDF). World Justice Project. 14 October 2021.
^ K.C. Vijayan, "Payout Fight Over 'Biased Judiciary' Rejected: Firm's Final Bid to Canada's Highest Court Fails, so S'pore Court Judgment Stands", The Straits Times (27 January 2007).
^ ^a ^b Singapore, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, United States Department of State, 28 February 2005.
^ Richard Lloyd Parry (4 October 1997), "Political storm over a teacup", The Independent, London, archived from the original on 21 August 2017.
^ [Stuart Littlemore] (11 September 1998), ICJ condemns parody of justice in Singapore, International Commission of Jurists, archived from the original on 9 July 2016.
^ Warren Fernandez (3 October 1997), "QC's report made false statements, says Govt", The Straits Times (reproduced on Singapore Window), archived from the original on 16 June 2010.
^ "ICJ defends observer Littlemore's report", The Straits Times (reproduced on Singapore Window), 23 October 1997, archived from the original on 21 June 2013.
^ Re Littlemore Stuart QC, [2002] SGHC 16, [2002] 1 S.L.R.(R.) 198, High Court (Singapore), archived from the original on 21 August 2017; Mark Baker (20 April 2002), "Chee loses bid for help in case", The Age, Melbourne, archived from the original on 21 August 2017.
^ Simon S.C. Tay (2006), National Integrity Systems: Transparency International Country Study Report: Singapore 2006 (PDF), Berlin: Transparency International, pp. 23–24, archived (PDF) from the original on 17 October 2011, retrieved 22 August 2017. See also Karen Blöchlinger (2000), "Primus Inter Pares: Is the Singapore Judiciary First among Equals?", Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal, 9 (3): 591–618.