1.2.3 Early 19th century: Singapore was under the rule of the Sultan of Johor, based in the Riau-Lingga archipelago. A mixture of Malay customary laws and Adat (traditional laws and customs localized in Indonesia and Malaysia) formed the basis of a rudimentary legal system. 1.3.11 Under the Singapore Civil Law Act (Cap 43, 1999 Rev Ed), the courts of Singapore have the power to administer common law and equity simultaneously. The practical effect is that in the same proceedings before the same court, a plaintiff can seek both common law remedies (damages) and equitable remedies (including injunctions and specific benefits). Despite the abolition of the common law division of equity, equity has played a crucial role in the development of specific doctrines in contract law, including the doctrine of undue influence and debt cancellation. While most consider Singapore a country bound to the rules and call it a “beautiful city” (with hefty fines for garbage, chewing gum, smoking in public, jaywalking, and not flushing toilets after use, etc.), it is also considered by many to be a very safe nation to live in and do business. Singapore has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. As a former British colony, Singapore`s legal system is based on English common law. All Singaporean citizens are equal in the eyes of the law, regardless of race, religion and belief. Singaporean law is based on four pillars: the constitution, legislation, subsidiary legislation and the legal decisions of judges. According to the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC), Singapore was the 2nd least risky country in Asia in 2010. Singapore`s efficient, transparent and extremely strong legal system has been a key factor in the country`s enormous growth in recent years.
The legislature, known as parliament, enacts the Singapore Act. The Executive, headed by the President and his Cabinet, implements laws promulgated by Parliament. As part of its implementation, the executive drafts detailed rules. Ordinances are subsidiary statutes that specify the laws drafted by the legislature to ensure that the legislature`s law achieves its objectives. Many of the laws that regulate business in Singapore come from the legislative and executive branches, such as the Singapore Companies Act or the Limited Liability Companies Act and the regulations used to implement these laws. Finally, when two parties bring a dispute before one of their courts, the judiciary interprets the law and resolves the dispute. The interpretations of the judiciary become the jurisprudence embedded in Singapore`s legal system. 1.3.8 First, civil law systems attach relatively less importance to earlier court decisions and, unlike the common law system described in sections 1.3.2 and 1.3.3, do not adhere to the doctrine of stare decisis.
Singapore`s common law courts generally take a contradictory approach to disputes between the parties to the dispute, while civil judges tend to play a more active role in seeking evidence to decide the outcome of the case. Third, although many principles of law have been developed by common law judges, civil judges are more dependent on general and comprehensive codes that govern broad areas. 1.2.9 November 27, 1826: The Second Charter of Justice is granted by the British Parliament on petition from the East India Company. It provided for the establishment of the Court of Justice of Prince of Wales Island (Penang), Singapore and Malacca, with civil and criminal courts on an equal footing with similar courts in England. Singapore, along with Malacca and Penang, the other two British colonies on the Malay Peninsula, together became the straits settlements under the control of British India in 1826. The Charter did not explicitly stipulate that English law was to be applied in Singapore, but it was supposed to provide the legal basis for the general reception of English law in Singapore. Local jurisprudence since the nineteenth century, after the founding case R v Willans (1858) in Penang, had taken the legal position that English law (both common law and equity as they existed in 1826, as well as English law before 1826) had been introduced to Singapore through the Second Charter of Justice. 1.2.35 The application of the English law law stipulates that English common law (including the principles and rules of equity) applies to the extent that it is applied before the 12th.
In November 1993, it became part of the Singapore Act and remained a part of the Singapore Act. Section 3 of the Act provides that the common law shall remain in force in Singapore for as long as it is applicable to the situation in Singapore and subject to such changes as those circumstances may require. Section 4, read with the first schedule, specifies the English decrees (in toto or in part) with the necessary amendments that apply or continue to apply to Singapore. .