---
# System prepended metadata

title: 03 Intro to SG Legal System
tags: [School, Notes, DISM, CLI]

---

---
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

![](https://i.imgur.com/EBe73nj.png)

#### 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

![](https://i.imgur.com/u9Pw8vR.png)

### How did SG law originate

![](https://i.imgur.com/8R1Rv10.png)

#### English law
![](https://i.imgur.com/0uWZAye.png)


Hierarchy of SG Courts
---
![](https://i.imgur.com/LT1Z8RP.png)

### 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``



###### tags: `CLI` `DISM` `School` `Notes`