Singapore Legislation Journal articles Conducted by Carol Wee Content by Lee Su-Lin 17 August 2015 © C J Koh Law Library 2009-2015 No part of this.

Transcript Singapore Legislation Journal articles Conducted by Carol Wee Content by Lee Su-Lin 17 August 2015 © C J Koh Law Library 2009-2015 No part of this.

Singapore Legislation Journal articles

Conducted by Carol Wee Content by Lee Su-Lin 17 August 2015 © C J Koh Law Library 2009-2015

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording, without the written permission of the copyright holder, application for which should be addressed to the system of any nature.

author . Such written permission must also be obtained before any part of this publication is stored in a retrieval No copyright is claimed in the text of statutes, regulations and court decisions quoted within this work.

This tutorial is specifically designed for the Legal Analysis, Research and Communication (LARC) course for first year law students.

• • The purpose of this tutorial is to teach students how to find Singapore legislation & articles in local law journals.

Contents

1. Primary sources of law

p.5

2. Singapore legislation

p.6

3. Secondary sources of law

p.20

4. Law journals and reviews

p.22

5. Articles on Singapore law

p.32

© C J Koh Law Library 2009-2015

Primary Sources of Law

Let’s Re-cap

Primary sources of law are authoritative records of law made by the law-making bodies of Singapore.

The 2 main sources of law are:

1. Legislation

o Statutes o Subsidiary legislation o Quasi-legislation.

2. Case Law

Decisions of the Singapore courts.

Singapore Legislation

Introduction The 2 main sources of legislation in Singapore today: I. Statutes of the Republic of Singapore (primary legislation) Ref: K7399 ….

II. Subsidiary Legislation of the Republic of Singapore (secondary legislation) Ref: K7449 1990 6

Singapore Legislation

Legislative Process The Legislature , the law-making body in Singapore, comprises o o the President the Parliament of Singapore.

Statutes begin life as Bills which are drafted by legal officers in the Attorney-General's Chambers.

A o Bill becomes law (i.e. an Act) when it is passed by Parliament and o assented to by the President.

An Act comes into force on a date determined by the Minister and notified by a Commencement Notification in the Government Gazette .

Singapore Legislation

Legislative Process

Attorney-General’s Chambers

Bill is drafted • • Bill Bill President

Parliament

will be debated or referred to a Select Committee is passed by Parliament and assented to by the becomes law • • Act Act

Government Printer

is published in the Government Gazette comes into force on date determined by the Minister and notified by Commencement Notification in the Gazette For more details, see The Legislative Process (by AGC) 8

Singapore Legislation

Subsidiary Legislation Acts usually confer power on the Minister in charge to make subsidiary legislation. E.g. Central Provident Fund Act (Cap. 36, 2013 Rev. Ed.) Various regulations, rules and orders have been made under the Act 9

Singapore Legislation

Principal Act

Amendments to Acts Amendments Consolidation of amendments

Consolidated Version of Act

(available in Singapore Statutes Online) Substantial amendments to Act Act Supplement E.g. 36 of 2000 Subsidiary Legislation Supplement E.g. S 262/2004

Revised Edition of Act

Note: authoritative version (available in print; a few in SSO) • • Bill Parliamentary debate 10

Singapore Legislation

Amendments to Acts Acts Supplement E.g. No.1 of 2004 and No.3 of 2004 Ref: K7399 SA 11

Singapore Legislation

Amendments to Acts Earlier Revised Editions of the Singapore Statutes 1955 Rev. Ed.

1970 Rev. Ed.

1985 Rev. Ed.

Singapore Legislation

Current Versions of Acts

I. Latest Revised Edition

• heavily amended Acts are revised by the Law Revision Commission, AGC • these are the authoritative versions of Singapore Acts • available at the Law Library RBR.

II. Consolidated Version

• Singapore Acts are updated regularly by the Attorney General’s Chambers • available on Singapore Statutes Online: http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/ 13

Singapore Legislation

Current Versions of Acts

I. Latest Revised Edition

(at Law Library RBR)

e.g. Computer Misuse Act

Title of Act Chapter No.

Original Act Previous Rev. Eds.

Current Rev. Ed.

Date current Rev. Ed. came into effect Previous Rev. Eds.

amended by Acts Supplements 14

Singapore Legislation

Current Versions of Acts

I. Latest Revised Edition

(at Law Library RBR)

e.g. Computer Misuse Act

The legislative history of the Act can also be found towards the back of the Act: Original Act Previous Rev. Eds.

Amendment Acts (Acts Supplements) amending the revised editions 15

Singapore Legislation

Current Versions of Acts

II. Consolidated Version

(http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/)

e.g. Computer Misuse Act

Search for the Act or browse the alphabetical list 16

Singapore Legislation

Current Versions of Acts

II. Consolidated Version

(http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/)

e.g. Computer Misuse Act

If you browse the list of Current Acts: Click on relevant Act Note: Title of the Computer Misuse Act was amended in 2013 17

Singapore Legislation

Current Versions of Acts

II. Consolidated Version

(http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/)

e.g. Computer Misuse Act

Amendments after 2007 Click on slider to see legislative history The name of the Act was amended by Act 3 of 2013 18

Singapore Legislation

Current Versions of Acts

Getting the Statutes

Need latest Rev. Ed. or Consolidated version?

Rev. Ed.

Find out Cap no. of Act using Alphabetical List of Public Acts at Loans Desk. Then ask librarian for print copy of Act by chapter no. (Cap. no.)

Consolidated version

Search or browse

Singapore Statutes Online

http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/ 19

Secondary Sources of Law

Secondary sources are publications which refer and relate to the law, but are not themselves sources of law. These include: 1.

Textbooks, casebooks, etc.

Legal encyclopaedias Law journals & reviews Research literature. E.g. Theses Reference works. E.g. Dictionaries, directories, bibliographies, digests, citators, indexes, etc.

Secondary sources o assist in locating relevant primary sources of law o assist in the interpretation of relevant primary sources. 20

Secondary Sources of Law

The use of LINC to search for last Wednesday.

books in the NUS Libraries was covered in the Orientation Lecture on This tutorial will focus on locating articles journals, particularly those with local content.

in law 21

Law Journals and Reviews

What are they?

Law journals and reviews o provide information on the latest developments in the law as well as comments and criticisms of the law o are published periodically.

E.g. Criminal Law Review

Harvard Law Review Journal of Equity Singapore Journal of Legal Studies

Law Journals and Reviews

Article Citations Citations are references to where you can locate articles.

Examples: 1. Dora Neo, “The Sale of Goods (Amendment) Act 1996: Satisfactory Quality, an Undivided Share in a Bulk and other Amendments” (1997) 9 SAcLJ 362.

2. David Feldman, “The Nature of Legal Scholarship” (1989) 52 Mod.L.Rev. 498.

o Author o Title of article o Year the article was published o Volume number of the journal o o Journal abbreviation 1 st page of article 23

Law Journals and Reviews

How to Find Print Articles

Step 1.

Search an index to legal abbreviations which law journal the abbreviation to find out stands for.

Step 2.

Search LINC for the title of the law journal to determine its location in the library.