Professor Ying Khai Liew delivers Kwa Geok Choo Distinguished Visitors Lecture

On 20 January 2026, Professor Ying Khai Liew delivered a lecture titled “Constructive Trusts: From Confusion to Clarity” at the performance hall located on the new Kent Ridge campus of the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law.

Consider this: Constructive trusts occupy a unique position in common law. Arising by operation of law, they represent one of equity’s most powerful tools in resolving property disputes. At the same time, their incremental development in case law has led to significant doctrinal uncertainty. Courts struggle with fundamental questions among which are the following—what precisely are constructive trusts, when should they arise, why do they arise, and what role should judicial discretion play?

Drawing on developments in Singapore, England and Australia, Professor Liew addressed the confusion that has arisen in this area of law, including the roles and rationales of constructive trusts, their relationship with rights and remedies, the relevance of judicial discretion, and the complex choice of law issues they create in cross-border disputes. Rather than accepting constructive trusts as inherently messy, Professor Liew explored how certain analytical frameworks can bring much needed clarity to this field. By approaching the law systematically, we can better understand not just when constructive trusts arise, but why they serve essential functions within modern legal systems—which is critical for the law is to develop in a coherent manner.

The Kwa Geok Choo Distinguished Visitors Programme was launched in 2012 as one of several initiatives to pay tribute to the late Madam Kwa Geok Choo, wife of Singapore’s founding Prime Minister, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew.  

Since its launch, the Programme has enabled NUS Law to regularly bring in leading law academics to teach an intensive course and to share their perspectives on highly topical issues with our students, faculty and the wider legal fraternity. This Programme serves to uphold Madam Kwa’s remarkable legacy, by continuing her commitment to Singapore being an outward-looking country with a thriving legal discourse.

Past Distinguished Visitors include the following professors from esteemed institutions around the world: Gary Born (Partner, and Chair of the International Arbitration Practice Group, at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP), Christine Chinkin (London School of Economics and Political Science), Jane Ginsburg (Columbia Law School), Matthew Harding (Melbourne Law School), Ran Hirschl (University of Toronto), Michael Klausner (Stanford Law School), Peter Mirfield (University of Oxford), Donal Nolan (University of Oxford), Francis Reynolds (University of Oxford), Cheryl Saunders (Melbourne Law School) and Mark Tushnet (Harvard Law School). The lectures given will also be published in the Singapore Journal of Legal Studies.

Most recently, the 22nd & 23rd Kwa Geok Choo Distinguished Visitor Lectures were delivered by Professor Shazia Choudhry (University of Oxford) in 2024 and Professor David Collins (City Law School of City St George’s, University of London) in 2025.

About Professor Ying Khai Liew

Professor Ying Khai Liew is a Professor at Melbourne Law School. He teaches and researches in private law, specialising in the law of equity and trusts, the law of assignment, contracts and remedies. His research has been published in leading peer-reviewed international journals, including the Cambridge Law Journal, Law Quarterly Review, Modern Law Review, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Sydney Law Review, UNSW Law Journal, Melbourne University Law Review, and in several major edited collections. His work has been cited by courts around the world, including the UK Supreme Court, the Supreme Courts of India and Sri Lanka, and various courts in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland and the Cayman Islands. He is the founder and General Editor of the Asia-Pacific Trusts Law book series.

He is Co-Director of the Obligations Group and Associate Director (Private Law) of the Asian Law Centre at Melbourne Law School. He is a General Editor of the Journal of Equity and an Academic Member of the Chancery Bar Association (UK).