Transcript Welcome to C J Koh Law Library Library Tutorial for GCIP students 4th August 2015 Conducted by Carol & Bissy Introduction to the C J.

Welcome to C J Koh
Law Library
Library Tutorial for GCIP students
4th August 2015
Conducted by Carol & Bissy
Introduction to the C J Koh Law Library
 Library catalogue- LINC & myLINC
 Sources of Law
 Singapore -Legislation & Case Law
 UK – Legislation & Case Law
 Secondary resources
 Legal abbreviations and citations
 Electronic resources
 Useful websites

Central Library
Chinese Library
C J Koh Law Library
Medical Library
Hon Sui Sen
Memorial Library
Science Library
Music Library
History
The library was originally
established in September 1957,
catering primarily to the Faculty of
Law at the Bukit Timah Campus.
In April 1980, the Law Library
moved to new premises at Kent
Ridge, occupying two floors of
the Faculty of Law building.
On 1st January 2001, the Law Library
was renamed the C J Koh Law Library, in
appreciation of Mr Koh Choon Joo’s
generous donations to the library. After
extensive renovations which began in
July 2000, the library celebrated its
official opening by the Honourable Chief
Justice Yong Pung How on 27 February
2002.
Following the Government's
announcement to reallocate
Bukit Timah Campus to NUS on
28 May 2005, the Law Library
made its historic return to its
first home in August 2006.
The C J Koh Law Library has a rich collection of local,
foreign and international legal resources.
The library’s traditional strength is in the common law.
Apart from a comprehensive collection of Singapore legal
materials, the library also has extensive collections of legal
resources from Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, New
Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of
America.
The library has developed collections on comparative and
international law, international trade law as well as the
laws of the European Community.
Library entrance
Collections
Loan period
RBR
2 hours
RBR (1 week loan)
7 days (No online renewal)
Books
14 days(2 online renewals)
Collections
Fines
RBR
$1.00 per hour after book is due
RBR (1 Week Loan)
$0.50 per day
Books (including books in
Closed Stacks)
$0.50 per day
Photocopy/Printing
Cost
Printing from network printer
4.5¢ per page
Photocopying
3¢ per page
Access from NUS homepage http://www.nus.edu.sg.
Select LIBRARY from the top menu bar
Resources
Access to:
 FindMore
 Library catalogue (LINC+/LINC)
LINC (Library INtegrated Catalogue) is the
original/classic search platform for NUS Libraries.
Search by title “Intellectual property law of Singapore”
Search by specific fields:





Title
Author
Keyword
Subject
ISBN/ISSN
LINC does not cover journal articles, newspaper articles and
online theses.
FindMore
Search for books, law reports, law journals, etc. in the library
collection.
 keyword
 Title
 Author
For example : Patent law in Singapore
Search for a book by key words
E.g. Patent law in Singapore
Select
relevant
title
Please take note of the call number, location and status of the item
Place reservation if the book is out on loan
Your request for Intellectual property law of Singapore/ by
Susanna H S Leong was successful.
•
•
•
•
View your loans
Renew items (2 times)
Check if requested item/s are ready for pick-up
Check fines, if any
Available via LawNet
Ng, Elizabeth Siew Kuan, Intellectual Property Law in Singapore: A General
Overview. Singapore Academy of Law Journal, Vol. 4, p. 32, 1992
 Find out the Law Reports using Cardiff Index to Legal Citations
 Search for the Law reports in the catalogue by title
Honda Motor Co. Ltd V David Silver Spares Ltd [2010]F.S.R. 40
 Find the Fleet Street Reports, volume 2010 from the LW Legislation/
Reports collection by the call number
The 3 sources of law in Singapore:

Legislature
Parliament enacts statutes

Executive
Executes & administers the law; e.g. subsidiary legislation

Judiciary
Judges make decisions in cases
Primary legal materials
1.
Legislation
Statutes
Subsidiary legislation; e.g. regulations
2.
Case Law
Judge-made law
Reported in Law Reports
Singapore Legislation – legislative process








The Legislature, the law-making body in Singapore, is made up of
the President
the Parliament of Singapore.
A Bill becomes law when it is
passed by Parliament and
assented to by the President.
But an Act only comes into force on
a date determined by the Minister and notified in the Government
Gazette.
The 2 main sources of legislation in Singapore today are:
I. Statutes of the Republic of
Singapore
(primary legislation)
Print: K7399 1985
II. Subsidiary Legislation of the
Republic of Singapore
(secondary legislation)
Print: K7449 1990
Where to find it?
I. Statutes
Version
Location
Rev. Ed. (1985-)
(print)
*K7399 1985
Rev. Ed. (1985-)
(online)
LawNet:
Consolidated
version
(online)
Singapore Statutes Online:
(current eds. at Law Library Loans Desk)
Law students access via Faculty of Law
Resources
http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/
Where to find it?
II. Subsidiary Legislation
Version
Location
Rev. Ed. (1990-)
(print)
*K7449 1990
Rev. Ed. (1990-)
(online)
LawNet:
(updated set in Singapore-Malaysia
Collection)
Law students access via Faculty of Law
Resources
The 2 main sources of UK legislation are:
I.
Acts of Parliament (primary legislation)
a. Public General Acts
b. Local and Personal Acts
II.
Statutory Instruments (secondary legislation).
I. Acts of Parliament
Version
Notes
Location
Public General Acts …
Annual bound volumes.
• 1952• 1866-1951
•*K2011 PG
•*K2011 P
Revised legislation
The official revised edition
of the primary legislation of
the United Kingdom
legislation.gov.uk:
*Refer to LINC for exact location in library
http://www.legislation.
gov.uk/
Where to find it?
UK Statutes and Statutory Instruments
Decisions of Singapore Courts.

Law reports are the published judgments of court cases.
Cases are only selected for reporting if they raise or
expand upon significant points of law.

Therefore, only a small proportion of cases are reported,
and these are mainly from the Supreme Court (i.e. High
Court, Court of Appeal and Constitutional Tribunal).
Law Reports of Singapore
A.
Singapore Law reports
The principle law report
series in Singapore is the
Singapore Law Reports. It
covers cases from 1965.
Ref: K7599 SLR
B. Singapore Law Reports Reissue
The Academy of Law has re-issued
the Singapore Law Reports from
1965 through 2009 with re-written
head notes for the reports from 1965
to 2002 and re-edited judgment texts
that conform to the SAL house-style.
This set of reports is called the
Singapore Law Reports (Reissue).
Ref: K7599 SLR
Other sources of law

Unreported judgments
These are full text transcripts of all written judgments as handed down
in the Subordinate Courts, the High Court and Court of Appeal. They
are available on LawNet.
“Case Law & Decisions” of the Subordinate Courts and Supreme Court
are available for free for the last 3 months in LawNet under its links to
Free Resources.
Earlier judgments are also available in print in the law library.
Ref: K7599 CA (Court of Appeal, Civil Appeals)
K7599 CRA (Court of Appeal, Criminal Appeals)
K7599 DC (District Court)
K7599 J (High Court)
K7599 MC (Magistrates’ Court)
Other sources of law
Decisions of Boards/Tribunals
Decisions of various tribunals and boards are available on
LawNet. Most of them are not readily available in print.

Decisions include those of the
 Copyright Tribunal
 Income Tax Board of Review
 Military Court of Appeal
 Syariah Appeal Board
 Strata Titles Boards.
LawNet access: via NUS Faculty of Law Resources
What is it?
A case citation is a reference to a legal case in the law reports.
It generally includes the
names of the parties to the case
year the decision of the court was delivered or published
volume number of the law report
abbreviation of the law report series
first page at which the case is reported.
Example
Anwar Siraj and Another v Ting Kang Chung John [2010] 1 SLR 1026
A. Modern Reports
1.
The Law Reports (1865- )

The official set of law reports published by the Incorporated Council of
Law Reporting for England and Wales

Text of each report is reviewed by judges before publication

So, it takes between 10 and 14 months to report cases

The only set of reports that has a summary of the
arguments of counsel

The High Court and the Court of Appeal require that where a case has
been reported in the Law Reports, it must be cited from that source.
Other series may only be used when a case is not reported in the Law
Reports. See Practice Direction (Judgments: Form Citation) (Supreme
Court) [2001] 1 WLR 194.
1. The Law Reports (1865- ) (contd.)
The 4 current series of the Law Reports are:
Title
Reports Decisions of
Ref
Appeal Cases
(AC)
House of Lords, Privy Council &
Court of Justice of the European
Communities
K2022
4C
Queen’s Bench
(QB)
Queen’s Bench & Court of Appeal &
ECJ on appeal from QB
K2022
2E
Family
(Fam)
Family Division & Court of Appeal on
appeal from Fam D
K2022
1C
Chancery
(Ch)
Chancery Division & Court of Appeal
on appeal from Ch D
K2022
3B
2. The
Weekly Law Reports (WLR) (1953- )
Timely, full text reports.
Ref: K2020 WNR
3. All England Law Reports (All ER) (1936- )
Timely, full text reports; contains editorial notes.
Ref: K2020 AELR
4. Specialist series
Contain a selection of cases in a discrete practice area.
e.g. Lloyds Law Reports (maritime and commercial law)
Ref: K2020 LLLR
5. Newspapers
Brief, edited reports.
e.g. The Times Law Reports
Ref: K2020 TR/ K2020 TLR
Secondary sources are publications which refer and relate
to the law, but are not themselves sources of law.
These include:

Textbooks, casebooks, etc.

Legal encyclopaedias

Legal periodicals

Research literature. E.g. Theses

Reference works. E.g. Dictionaries, directories,
bibliographies, digests, citators, indexes, etc.
Secondary sources
assist in locating relevant primary sources of law
assist in the interpretation of relevant primary sources.
Secondary sources are important:

In legal research, referring to a secondary source is often the
first step in the learning the basics of a particular area of law;

Thorough legal research requires the use of the various
categories of secondary sources;

Secondary sources may be cited in court in support of a
particular proposition in law - a court may not be bound by
secondary authorities, but books or articles written by eminent
authors of reputable standing may have significant persuasive
value in selecting between conflicting authorities (see
guidelines in Citation of Secondary Authorities in Court,
Supreme Court Registrar’s Circular, No.3 of 2004, s.2(b), online:
Registrar’s
Circulars
http://app.supremecourt.gov.sg/data/doc/ManagePage/99/20
04-3.pdf).
What do Abbreviations Mean?
1. Print Index:
Donald Raistrick, Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations,
3rd ed. (London: Bowker-Saur, 2008).
Location: KB280 Rai 2008 (LW RBR; LW Reference Office; LW Reference1)
2. Online:
Law Reference Desk
http://libportal.nus.edu.sg/frontend/ms/c-j-koh-lawlibrary/research/legal-resources-on-the-web/law-reference-desk
Librarian’s pick - Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations
http://www.legalabbrevs.cardiff.ac.uk/
3. Journal Articles
Dora Neo, “The Sale of Goods (Amendment) Act 1996:
Satisfactory Quality, an Undivided Share in a Bulk and other
Amendments” (1997) 9 SAcLJ 362.
David Feldman, “The Nature of Legal Scholarship” (1989) 52
Mod.L.Rev. 498.
• Find out what journal the abbreviation stands for
• Search for the journal title in LINC/LINC+
4. Cases
Siang Hoa Goldsmith Pte Ltd v The Wing On Fire & Marine
Insurance Co Ltd [1998] 2 SLR 777
Singapore Law Reports
David Wilson Homes Ltd v Survey Services Ltd (In
Liquidation) [2001] EWCA Civ 34; [2001] 1 All E.R. (Comm)
449, CA; [2001] Build LR 267, 80 ConLR 8
Neutral citation.
Format: Jurisdiction, Court
Citations from law reporters
Lawton v. BOC Transhield Ltd.,
[1987] 2 All E.R. 608 Q.B.
Volume
Parties: Names in italics
Reporter
Page
[Year] reported in this reporter
(Year) case was decided
If the year is in (), then place
the comma after the year
Court
Legal database by Singapore Academy of Law. The following
materials are available via Lawnet
Singapore & Malaysia cases
Journal articles
Legislation, subsidiary legislation, Acts supplements etc.
Parliamentary reports
Law Databases
Access the law databases listed under Resources on the Faculty
of Law website: http://www.law.nus.edu.sg/
For example :Doctor's Associates Inc v Lim Eng Wah (trading as SUBWAY NICHE)

Zimmerman’s Research Guide:
http://www.lexisnexis.com/infopro/zimmerman/default.aspx#Lettert

Lexis IP Research Guide:
http://www.lexisnexis.com/associates/usinglexisnexis/pubs/IP_guide.pdf

Online Research Beyond Lexis & Westlaw:
http://www.law.ucla.edu/docs/guideg7.pdf#search=%22westlaw%20IP%2
0research%20guide%22

Westlaw Guides to IP Research:
http://west.thomson.com/westlaw/guides/practice/ip.aspx

Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (www.ipos.gov.sg)

European Patent Office (www.epo.org)
US Patent & Trade Mark Office (www.uspto.gov)
World Intellectual Property Organization (www.wipo.org)



WTO TRIPS
(http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/trips_e.htm)
Surf IP (www.surfip.gov.sg)
IP Australia (www.ipaustralia.gov.au)

UK IP Office (http://www.ipo.gov.uk/home.htm)


Contact us
Address: 469D Bukit Timah Road,
Singapore 259773
Tel: 6516 2043
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://libportal.nus.edu.sg/frontend/ms/c-j-koh-law-library/about-c-j-koh-law-library