Description

In recent years, proportionality analysis has spread from its German origins across Europe and into the Commonwealth systems. Recent developments show that there is anincreasing acceptance of its relevance and utility in adjudicating cases that have no connection to European law. In the United Kingdom, there is now increasing recognition that proportionality analysis could be adopted as long as fundamental rights are involved. Furthermore, Australia has increasingly adopted proportionality analysis in adjudicating constitutional law cases, specifically in determining the scope of the implied freedom of political communication. In contrast, the Singapore courts have thus far eschewed the proportionality analysis in both constitutional and administrative law. In Chng Suan Tze, the Court of Appeal did however raise the possibility that proportionality could be subsumed under rationality review under GCHQ grounds. The possibility of recognising proportionality was echoed again by the former Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, writing extra-judicially (‘Judicial Review – From Angst to Empathy’, (2010) 22 SAcLJ 469, 478). This seminar examines these recent developments recognizing and explicating upon proportionality analysis in constitutional and administrative law in the Commonwealth. It will further consider its utility and appropriateness for courts in Singapore and, possible ways in which it or aspects of it could be recognized in an incremental and gradual manner.

About the Speakers
Dr. Jaclyn L. Neo is an Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore’s Faculty of Law. She specializes in constitutional and administrative law, with a focus on minority protection and religion. She graduated with honours from the NUS Faculty of Law and was recruited to join Wong Partnership as a legal associate. She was later awarded the NUS Overseas Graduate Scholarship to pursue her Masters of Law (LL.M.) at Yale Law School, and another scholarship by the NUS Law Faculty to pursue her Doctor of the Science of Law (J.S.D.) at Yale Law School. Jaclyn has published extensively in the area of constitutional law and human rights law, including 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. She was recently invited (with Swati Jhaveri of NUS Law) to make oral submissions before the constitutional commission on proposed reforms to the presidency in Singapore. Swati Jhaveri joined NUS Law in August 2012 having previously taught at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law. Her areas of research include public law and the law of torts. She has published in these areas in Public Law, the Tort Law Review and the International Journal of Constitutional Law. She is the co-author of the leading text on administrative law in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Administrative Law, LexisNexis 2013 (3rd Ed, forthcoming in 2017) and will co-author a text on Administrative Law in Singapore (with Jaclyn Neo of NUS Law and Lim Wei Lee of Wong Partnership). While at CUHK, she was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Exemplary Teaching Award. At NUS she was awarded the Faculty and University’s Annual Teaching Excellence Awards for the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 Academic Year. Swati obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Jurisprudence (First Class Honours) and Bachelor of Civil Law (Distinction) from the University of Oxford. She previously practiced law at Allen & Overy, specialising in international commercial arbitration. She is a Solicitor of the Hong Kong SAR and England & Wales and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.