Description

In August 2016, Parliament passed the Administration of Justice (Protection) Act to state and consolidate the law of contempt of court in Singapore. Under the law, three types of conduct are classified as contempt of court and these are the disobeying of court orders, the publishing of material interfering with on-going proceedings (known in common law as sub-judice contempt) and the making of allegations of bias against judges (i.e. scandalizing the court). Besides clarifying the legal threshold for the different types of contempt, the law also stipulates the range of punishments to be attached to the offence of contempt of court. Whereas the power to punish for contempt was unlimited under the common law, the statute prescribes maximum fines and terms of imprisonment. Despite the attempt to consolidate the law, common law jurisprudence will continue to be relevant since the Act states that the common law rules on contempt of court continue in force except insofar as they are inconsistent with the provisions of the Act. This seminar examines the new Act in light of existing case law and asks whether it strikes the right balance as against the constitutional right to freedom of speech.

About the Speakers
Dr. Jaclyn L. Neo is an Assistant Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore (NUS). She specializes in constitutional and administrative law, with a focus on minorities and religion. She is a recipient of two graduate scholarships from NUS under which she completed her Masters of Law (LL.M.) and Doctor of the Science of Law (J.S.D.) at Yale Law School. Jaclyn has published in the International Journal of Constitutional Law (I-CON), Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, Human Rights Quarterly, and the Singapore Journal of Legal Studies. Her article on domestic incorporation of international human rights law in a dualist state won the Asian Yearbook of International Law’s DILA International Law Prize. Jaclyn is an Executive Committee member of the NUS Centre for Asian Legal Studies and was also recently appointed to the editorial boards of the Asian Journal of Comparative Law and the Asian Yearbook of International Law. Associate Professor David Tan is Vice Dean (Academic Affairs) at NUS Law and is the first holder of the Dean’s Chair there. He holds PhD, LLB (Hons) and BCom degrees from the University of Melbourne and an LLM from Harvard. David pioneered the courses Entertainment Law and Freedom of Speech at NUS Law. He has been a visiting professor at Hong Kong and Melbourne law schools. His areas of research cover personality rights, copyright, trademarks, freedom of expression and tort law. His law publications have appeared in a wide range of journals that include Yale Journal of International Law, Harvard Journal of Sports & Entertainment Law, Sydney Law Review, Singapore Academy of Law Journal, Media & Arts Law Review and Law Quarterly Review. His article on scandalising contempt was cited by the Singapore High Court with approval in Attorney-General v Au Wai Pang [2015] SGHC 16.