In criminal cases, it has been emphasised repeatedly that our Court of Appeal is a creature of statute and is hence only seised of the jurisdiction that has been conferred upon it by the relevant provisions in the legislation creating it. This has resulted in the Court of Appeal steadfastly refusing to reopen criminal cases already disposed of finally by way of appeal. However, in the arena of civil cases, the Court of Appeal possesses an inherent jurisdiction, which it uses to achieve a variety of results. Given that the inherent jurisdiction of the Court flows (arguably) not from the nature of cases it is hearing but the status of the Court itself, this article poses the question as to whether the distinction of the Court's inherent jurisdiction across criminal and civil cases is necessarily a sound one, and seeks to provide a possible answer.

Discovery is a fundamental feature of the civil suit because of its impact on the course and outcome of the litigation. This article examines the development of the discovery process from the time of the first statutory code governing civil procedure, the Civil Procedure Ordinance, 1878, to the Rules of the Supreme Court, 1970. The article also measures the effectiveness of the process during this period, and considers the viability of the traditional policies which had governed it for so long.

To add life to the years that have been added to life._x000D_ _x000D_ By 2030, Singapore's elderly will make up a staggering 19% of the population. With such a large proportion of people becoming old, it is timely to pay some attention to the broad spectrum of legal issues surrounding elders. Several sociological and statistical studies have been done on the elderly Singapore, yet relatively little has been written on the law relating to them. Much of the present legislation which directly or indirectly addresses the problems of the elderly in Singapore relate to their financial arrangements. Examples of these are provisions relating to withdrawal of Central Provident Fund ("CPF") monies and the age of retirement_x000D_ _x000D_ This article explores selected issues relating to financial support of Singapore's elderly, and highlights some areas in which the law does and can further play an effective role to safeguard their interest. Other equally important issues on housing, succession, divorce, capacity, elder abuse and crimes that impact the elderly are left for discussion elsewhere.

The core context of duress considered here is where one party (the 'duressor') threatens to do something, to avoid which the party threatened (the 'duressee') accedes to the duressor's demands and contracts with him on his terms. If what the duressor threatens to do is unlawful, the contract can be set aside, and restitution can be had of any benefits transferred. Unlawful act duress includes duress to the person, duress of goods, and threatened breach of contract. Do the same consequences follow if what the duressor threatens to do is lawful in itself? This is lawful act duress.

Singapore has seen a proliferation of contemporary art exhibitions and auctions in recent years. Installation art, like the infamous shark suspended in a tank of formaldehyde, can be worth millions of dollars in the world of contemporary art. This article examines whether installation artworks can satisfy the requirements for the subsistence of copyright in Singapore. The intrinsic characteristics of installation art, including the transient nature of particular works and its frequent use of ready made and natural objects, seem to be in conflict with the statutory definition of an 'artistic work' and with the copyright subsistence requirements of fixation and originality. The authors argue that there should not be a per se rule either against the recognition of installation works as sculptures—a specific category of artistic works—or more generally as artistic works. It will examine three of the most famous—and controversial—Turner Prize-nominated and winning works as illustrative case_x000D_ studies. The article also suggests that 'artistic purpose' is likely to have a more prominent role in the_x000D_ evaluative criteria used by courts for the classification of 'artistic works', particularly in the courts'_x000D_ approach to non-propositional installation works.

The profit element features as a central component in the definition of a partnership. Indeed, profit sharing between the parties has been singled out for statutory prima facie presumption of a partnership. As to how important this factor of profit sharing serves as an indicium of partnership - whether such a presumption can actually stand on its own or whether it has to be placed in its proper perspective as it interacts with other indicia in the totality of the circumstances before one can conclusively infer the existence of a partnership (with all the ancillary advantages and liabilities) - is an issue that will be discussed at length in this present paper.

Using case studies of Muslim minorities in Canada and Singapore, this paper examines the complex relationship between multiculturalism and national security. The first part of the paper examines the different characteristics of Muslim minorities in Canada and Singapore with an emphasis on how Canada's Muslim minority is smaller, more diverse and less well established than Singapore's. The next section examines some of the dangers of hurried or heavy-handed attempts to merge concerns about multiculturalism with security that do not build on pre-existing institutions and inter-group relations. The next part outlines Canada's and Singapore's main responses to 9/11 with special attention to how these responses may affect the Muslim minorities in both countries and the way each society has managed the arrest and detention of suspected terrorists. The next section explores the role of transparent and independent review of national security activities in the maintenance of public confidence in the fairness of the state's security strategies in multicultural societies. The final section critically examines the emerging trend of prosecuting speech associated with terrorism and the consequent blurring of anti-terrorism and anti-hate rationales for the prohibition of extreme political or religious speech. The article concludes with a discussion of how Canada and Singapore will deal with the challenges of crafting national security policies for their multicultural societies in their own distinct manner.

Constitutional texts are products of conscious deliberation, although Westminster-based Constitutions are not exhaustive. This article examines whether there are implied rights in the Singapore Constitution, given express ministerial statements affirming the constitutional status of an implied right to vote. It evaluates the debates concerning the legal status of voting rights and explores the possible theoretical bases which may ground an interpretive method supporting the 'declaration' of implied fundamental rights, the legitimacy and nature of constitutional implications. Attention is paid to Australian experience in the judicial derivation of an implied right to freedom of political communication in considering methods of constitutional implications. It considers whether it is beneficial and desirable to have an express constitutional right to vote, what its content might be and reflects on the Singapore model of representative democracy and citizenship.

The process of globalisation has rapidly made crime borderless. This poses challenges to existing rules on jurisdiction, particularly of countries like Singapore which, as a result of the common law tradition, have shown reluctance to deviate from the territoriality principle. This article argues that such states should move away from this position and respond to the new phenomenon of global integration of criminal syndicates by adopting more innovative theories of jurisdiction. It uses money-laundering to explore the alternative strategies that may be adopted.