This article examines the claim of securities markets efficiency based on the efficient markets hypothesis (EMH), which Fama proclaimed to be a well substantiated truth in 1978. Behavioural theory shows that individuals do not act to maximise their utility as asserted by neoclassical economists, while entrepreneurial theory explains share price movements to be the product of error prone guesswork by market participants. Alongside this, the emergence of the shareholder value concept in the late 1980s advocated by both corporate managers and outsider market makers has undermined the very foundations of share price efficiency. This undermining seems to have been caused by forces exogenous to the firm. Nonetheless, securities markets are highly competitive. This article explains the need for a new theory to explain the inherent paradox.

This article explores whether restrictions on alienations of native title land, such as the inability to grant a mortgage to secure finance, will adversely affect the owners of native title land. The objections to inalienability are explored and some of the premises that such objections rest upon are also questioned. Arguments in favour of inalienability are also explored and reasons why restrictions on alienation will not be detrimental are canvassed. Finally, some practical considerations are overviewed, leading to a conclusion that the restrictions in themselves will not be detrimental.

The object of this article is to attempt a descriptive analysis and comprehensive case study of the post-Independence constitutional evolution of the Singapore legislature. Particular reference is made to the 1991 General Elections and the implications for the Singapore political scene. It will evaluate the extent to which there has been a successful reconciliation of elite rule with accountability to the citizen body in the local context and the prospects for the Singapore version of parliamentary democracy.

This article follows-up from past articles on the enforceability of mediation clauses. It comments on two cases; one English and the other Australian, and explores their different approaches to the enforceability of dispute resolution clauses. The author goes on to suggest some requirements for enforceability that the Singapore courts may chose to adopt.

The aim of this article is to explore the re-emergence of the theory of deferred indefeasibility in the state of Victoria in Australia and then determine which the two theories makes more sense economically.

While it remains controversial whether Article 12(1) of Singapore’s Constitution should involve a test of formal or substantive equality, the precise content of the test of formal equality itself – the “reasonable classification test” – remains unclear. This article seeks to construct a meaningful account of the reasonable classification test, that reconciles the case-law with canonical understandings of the court’s constitutional role. Three arguments are made. First, courts must identify legislative purposes only from extrinsic materials when applying the test, to avoid circularity in its application. Second, when assessing the relation between differentiation and purpose, courts must require proof of the existence, and sometimes the sufficiency, of practical reasons that excuse imperfect differentiation. Third, applicants should only bear the burden of showing that laws or decisions imperfectly differentiate, before the burden shifts to the Government to justify them. The article concludes by explaining how the reasonable classification test so understood can apply to both legislative and executive acts, even if its application may differ in certain circumstances.