---
title: '03 Intro to SG Legal System'
disqus: hackmd
---

:::info
ST2502 Computer Law & Investigation
:::

CLI Lecture 03 Intro to SG Legal System
===

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## Table of Contents

[TOC]

Classification of Law
---
- 2 broad & separate entities of law
- criminal law
- civil law

### Criminal Law
- collection of rules concerned with establishing & maintaining acceptable norms of behaviour so there's stability in society
- deals with crimes & legal punishment of criminal offences
- objective to punish the wrongdoer
- state (SG) will prosecute the wrongdoer who committed "wrong against the state"
- accused is convicted if guilty, acquitted if not
- punishment can be custodial (imprisonment) or non-custodial (fines or comm service)
- Eg. Woman jailed for assaulting policeman

#### Who's who
- attorney general in his capacity as __public prosecutor (PP)__
- represents state in prosecuting wrongdoer
- __accused__ - wrongdoer
- ingredients that PP has to prove to court
- criminal act
- intention to commit crime

### Civil Law
- collection of rules that govern r/s among indivs
- deals with disputes between indivs whr compensation awarded to victim
- civil case is filed by indiv
- defendant can be found liabe or not
- to give compensation (usually financial) to indiv who has been injured by another
- examples of branches in civil law
- tort
- property
- family

#### Who's who
- plaintiff (AKA claimant/complainant)
- party who sues in civil action
- defendant - party sued

### Civil & criminal wrong
- its possible that wrong can be both civil wrong and crime capable of prosecuion by state
- example
- drunk driver knock & injure pedestrian
- driver commited crime
- can be charged for drink driving under road traffic act
- driver also commited civil wrong
- cause personal injury to pedestrian resulting in him suffering financial loss
- Eg. incurring medical expenses & loss of earnings

### Sources of SG law
- singapore constitution
- states & subsidiary legislation
- case law
- decision made by judges
- some aspects of english law
- english legislation
- sales of goods act
- partnership act
- english case law

Constitution of SG
---
- supreme law of land
- any law inconsistent is void
- safeguards fundamentals liberties
- lays down system of gov
- 3 arms of gov
- legislature
- executive
- judiciary

### Legislature
- president & parliament
- main law-making body in sg
- critical/inquisitorial func
- financial control of gov spending

### Executive
- president, prime minister & his cabinet
- implement acts of parliament & executes decision of gov

### Judiciary
- responsible for administration of justice
- judicial power vested in supreme court & state courts

Statutes
---
- laws made/written by gov in parliament through act called __legislation__
- examples
- copyright act
- computer misuse act
- cybersecurity act
- personal data protection act
- subsidiary legislation
- road traffic rules made pursuant to road traffic act

### Purposes of legislation
- to introduuce new law
- eg. protecion from online falsehoods & manipulation act 2019
- to repeal existing law no longer relevant
- eg. current changes being proposed to penal code to repeal archaic laws
- to consolidate existing laws
- eg. women's charter
- to implement gov policy
- eg. current changes to CPF drawings

### Legislative process
- 3 readings - how bill introduced & considered in parliament
- 1st reading
- bill formally introduced in parliament by any member of parliament whereas gov bill introduced by minister concerned
- 2nd reading
- minister responsible outlines purpose/reason for law then general debate arise covering general merits & principles of bill
- 3rd reading
- amendments, if any will be proposed
- debate at 3rd reading confined to contents of bill
- bill then put to vote
- president assents & "bill" becomes law

Case Law
---
- case law is important source of unwritten law in sg
- unwritten means law not embodied in code or statue
- derived from recorded judgements of judges in cases which come before courts
- judge-made laws
- example
- through Donoghue v. Stevenson, modern concept of negligence created & set out general principles whereby 1 person would owe another person a duty of care

### Doctrine of Binding Precedents
- case law subject to doctrine of binding precedents/previoous decisions
- under this doctrine
- judge has to follow prior decision of courts above in hierarchy if case he's deciding is similar to prior case
- AKA theory of __stare decisis__ (let the decision stand) whr decison of higher courts binds lower courts


#### How it work?
- application of precedent "stare decisis" (whr facts of case are similar)
- decision of higher court binds all lower courts in same hirarchy
- court not bound by own prior decision
- may be persuasive authority
- not bound by decision of court from another hierarchy
- may be persuasive authority


### How did SG law originate


#### English law

Hierarchy of SG Courts
---

### Jurisdiction of Courts
- power to hear cases
- for civil cases
- court of appeal
- hears appeal cases from high court
- high court
- more than $250,000
- district court
- more than $60,000 but less than or equal to $250,000
- magistrate court
- less than or equal to $60,000
- for criminal cases
- begin at criminal mentions court
- located in state courts
- regardless of offences

### Magistrates Court
- court of 1st instance presided over by magistrate
- has both civil & criminal jurisdiction
- criminal jurisdiction limited to trying cases whr max jail sentence don't exceed 5 years
- civil jurisdiction limited to $60,000 claim
- parties have right of appeal to high court
- unless agreed by parties

### High court
- powerful court with unlimited jurisdiction in both civil & criminal matters
- both court of 1st instance and appellate court hearing appeal from state courts in both civil & criminal cases
- presided over by supreme court judge or judicial commissioner
- capital offences (death penalty cases) all heard before this court
- cannot hear matters relating to muslim shariah laws whr shariah court has exclusive jurisdiction

### Court of appeal
- presided over by chief justice & 2 justices of appeal
- hears appeal from high court in both civil & criminal matters whether sitting 1st instance or on appeal from state courts
- in criminal matters, both prosecution and defence can appeal against conviction/sentence

Alternative Dispute Resolution
---
- alternative to litigation & takes 2 major forms
- mediation
- arbitration
- unlike litigation whr winner takes all thrs room for compromise
- advantages over litigation
- faster & cheaper
- informal & non-confidential
- preserving confidentiality
- selection of mediator/arbitrator by disputing parties themselves

### Criminal procedure
- rules primarily found in criminal procedure code (CPC) & has 3 phases
- pre-trial procedure
- comprise police powers of investigation, searches & arrest
- trial procedure
- comprising summary trials, high court trials & recording of evidence
- post-trial procedure
- comprising sentencing upon conviction & matters of appeal``

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