Description

In the common law of Singapore, the existence and incidents of interests in property are governed by the ‘lex situs’ – or, in English, the ‘law of the place’. For immovable property, the application of this rule is straightforward: the lex situs is simply the law of the jurisdiction in which the property is situated. Determining the lex situs becomes more complex for movable property that frequently changes location (such as a car that drives cross-border). The complexity further increases when property traverses areas that are not subject to territorial sovereignty – namely, the high seas, international airspace, and outer space. And the advent of digital assets, such as Bitcoin, means that the lex situs of cyberspace is an increasingly pressing concern.

The result is that commercial transactions involving ships, aircraft, satellites and digital assets often present novel legal issues. This seminar will address these issues in the Singaporean context. Specific attention will be given to case law from across the common law world in which lex situs issues have had a determinative impact. This will include a discussion of the validity of a Dutch aircraft mortgage in England, the beneficial ownership of a Filipino ship in Singapore waters, and the legal location of a Bitcoin.

The seminar will close with a discussion of how international instruments – in particular, the Cape Town Convention – attempt to navigate conflict of laws issues and remedy the uncertainty that adversely impacts cross-border commercial transactions.