SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF LEGAL STUDIES
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Land as a Trustee Investment
Citation: [1986] Sing JLS 9Section 4(1)( c ) of the Singapore Trustees Act gives trustees the power to invest in land, as does the corresponding provision of the Malaysian Trustee Act. However, the power is subject to restrictions and, although it has existed for over fifty years, there are no reported cases on it. This article reviews the restrictions on the trustees' powers to invest in land in the light of the legislative history of the provision and concludes with a recommendation for reform of the law. - Article
Special Feature: Intellectual Property and Technology in the 21st Century: Part 1 – The Surprising Virtues of Heterogeneity: Legal Pluralism and the Governance of Generative AI
Citation: [2026] Sing JLS 11-45First view: [Mar 2026 Online] Sing JLS 1-35This Article argues that the United States’ fragmented approach to generative AI regulation is a strategic strength rather than a flaw. In place of a single federal regime, privacy law, the right of publicity, and copyright offer overlapping tools to address identity-linked harms, each grounded in distinct theories of harm and institutional traditions. This pluralism promotes experimentation, learning, and well-reasoned development rather than confusion. Heterogeneous governance helps courts and lawmakers adapt incrementally to fast-moving technologies, avoid premature lock-in, and coordinate protections across legal silos. To build on these advantages, the Article proposes a narrowly tailored data right focused on high-fidelity, identity-linked uses of data. Functioning as an opt-in, transparency-driven supplement to existing doctrines, this right would close gaps while preserving innovation and doctrinal diversity. The result is a principled, pragmatic approach that safeguards individual agency and leverages the adaptive strengths of US federalism. - Article
The Mareva Injunction: Some Recent Developments
Citation: [1983] Sing JLS 12One of the hazards of litigation which a plaintiff has to accept, is the risk of the defendant surreptitiously disposing of his assets so as to evade any judgment that may be obtained against him. Until recently there was little that the plaintiff could do to minimise the risk, for it was generally accepted that until judgment the assets of the defendant were inviolable. On the 22nd of May 1975, the English Court of Appeal in Nippon Yusen Kaisha v. Karageorgis, departed from the previous practice and granted an ex-parte interlocutory injunction to restrain non-resident defendants from removing out of the jurisdiction, any of their assets located within the jurisdiction. This form of injunction is now commonly referred to as the Mareva injunction and is now a well established feature of English law. In the local context, the existence of a Mareva jurisdiction has been confirmed both in Malaysia and Singapore. In Zainal Abidin v. Century Hotel Sdn. Bhd., the Federal Court of Malaysia confirmed the existence of the jurisdiction, although the High Court in Malaya had earlier denied that it had jurisdiction. In Singapore it would appear that the existence of the Mareva jurisdiction had been recognised for some time by the High Court, although it was only in Art Trend Ltd. v. Blue Dolphin (Pte) Ltd., that a written judgment was delivered by the High Court confirming the existence of the jurisdiction. The purpose of this article will be to examine three aspects of the Mareva injunction. - Article
The High Court’s Inherent Power to Grant Declarations of Marital Status
Citation: [1991] Sing JLS 13This article asks whether the High Court can grant bare declarations of marital status. English courts had been wavering and the UK Parliament recently enacted express powers. The author argues that Singapore courts should not be hesitant. They originally possessed inherent power to grant such declarations and this was never relinquished. - Article
Disclosure of Evidence before Trial: The Development of the Rules of Court and the Transformation of Policy
Citation: [1998] Sing JLS 15This article examines the developments in the process of discovery in civil cases in the course of this decade and accesses changes in policy concerning the disclosure of evidence before trial. Singapore's position in this area of procedure is compared to that operation in other common law legal systems. - Article
International Terrorism: The British Response
Citation: [2002] Sing JLS 16This article examines the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act enacted in the United Kingdom in response to the September 11 attacks in the United States last year. The article first identifies the critical framework of the discussion by analysing the reactive quality of the debate on terrorism and questioning the effectiveness of anti-terrorist legislation. The article then considers the concept of terrorism under UK law, before turning to a more specific discussion of the Act, particularly in three areas: tracking terrorist finance, detention and identification of suspected offenders and security measures. Finally, Part IX of the article also provides a European dimension in its discussion on some European Union anti-terrorist initiatives. - Article
The Family Court : A Sociologist’s Perspective on Enlightened Collaboration between Law and Social Sciences
Citation: [1993] Sing JLS 16This discussion addresses the efforts to design and implement a family court in Singapore. Three main aspects are covered in separate sections. The first concerns the definition and brief history of the family court. The second section succinctly examines the three main factors fostering the collaboration across fields of knowledge in the planning and setting up of family courts. I conclude in the third section with some comments on the potential of this collaboration for the solution or containment of family problems locally, based on Singapore's historical and current situation.
