Tan Ah Tah Professorship in Environmental Law established to honour Singapore’s first local judge of Supreme Court

NUS Law is pleased to announce the establishment of the Tan Ah Tah Professorship in Environmental Law. Mr Tan Ah Tah was the first local-born person to be appointed Judge of the Supreme Court on 2 May 1955, and served as Acting Chief Justice of Singapore from 1958 to 1968. After a long and distinguished career spanning more than 30 years in the administrative and judicial service, Mr Tan retired on 29 November 1975. 

The Professorship was endowed by Mr Tan’s daughter, the late Eileen Tan Siew Lean, and celebrates his groundbreaking achievement and his many years in the legal service.

The Tan Ah Tah Chair will be awarded to a Professor at the Faculty of Law for an appointment of one to three years, to teach and do research in Environmental Law, preferably with a focus on the Asian region. While the search for a suitable candidate is ongoing, the family has agreed that any available funds from the endowed Professorship may be used to support the research and other activities of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law. 

Professor Simon Chesterman, Dean of National University of Singapore Faculty of Law, said, “NUS Law is deeply privileged to have this opportunity to honour and remember the substantial contributions made by Mr Tan Ah Tah to Singapore’s jurisprudence, through this Professorship. We are especially grateful for the vision of his daughter, Madam Tan, whose decision to establish this Chair will help us recruit and retain the finest academics in this increasingly important area of the law.”

Click here to read more about Madam Eileen Tan’s gift.