ASEAN, an organisation for regional cooperation, will be celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary in 1992. this is a propitious moment to reflect on the direction and pace of ASEAN progress and achievements during the past quarter of a century. Writing from the perspective of one who has been closely connected with ASEAN since its inception in 1976, the writer seeks to examine the history of ASEAN, its reocrd of achievements and its bilateral relations with some countries.

In this article, I focus on the role of law in constituting what I call 'legal charity' as a mode of social action. I begin by reflecting on how law has played a key role historically in defining a charity sector with its own distinctive character. I then turn to recent developments putting pressure on the doctrine by which law has constituted legal charity as a distinctive mode of action. Finally, I explore how law should respond to these recent developments, imagining several possible futures for the charity sector as I go, and considering whether law should continue to constitute legal charity as it has done historically, or now allow legal charity to wither and die in favour of other modes of social action.

Whilst mortgagees do not owe mortgagors any general duty of care, they may come under specific duties of care, such as the duty to take reasonable steps to obtain the market price when they exercise their power of sale. This is trite law in Singapore. However, it has recently been suggested that mortgagees ought to owe mortgagors a general duty of care whenever there is no conflict of interest between them. This would effectively impose upon mortgagees a duty of care in deciding whether and when to sell the mortgaged asset. This article supports the status quo on grounds of precedent, principle and policy. The case for a general duty of care is flawed. This article argues that no general duty of care ought to be imposed on mortgagees; in particular, mortgagees should owe mortgagors no duty of care in deciding whether and when to sell.

This article examines the extent to which it is possible and desirable for a respondent to oppose a divorce petition under the Woman's Charter. It is suggested that the present approach taken by the Singapore courts is very much dependent on the perceived role of the law and the values placed on marriage, divorce and individual autonomy.

The insider trading laws in Singapore have been revamped with the passing of the Securities and Futures Act 2001, a comprehensive legislation dealing with the regulation of securities and futures markets in Singapore. Our new insider trading provisions have been largely modelled after the equivalent provisions in the Australian Corporations Act 2001. This paper seeks to discuss the background for the reforms to insider trading law in Singapore and will argue that these reforms have come about because of an earlier adoption of Australian legislation on securities regulation in the area of initial public offers, entailing a continuity and coherence in the policy rationale for the securities laws in Singapore. This paper will also discuss the Australian origins of the new Singapore provisions and examine comparatively our Singapore provisions with their Australian precedents. I will discuss how the Australian origins may affect the interpretation of these provisions in Singapore. I will also point out a significant difference between our legislation and our Australian precedent, namely, that we have retained a specific provision on connected persons as insiders and have shifted the onus of proof to connected persons to deny that there was insider trading upon the satisfaction of the existence of certain factors.

The Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 caps the recent round of reforms to Singapore's insolvency regime, and represents the immense work that has been done to turn Singapore into an international centre for debt restructuring. Many aspects of the Act are new to Singapore and have elicited widespread discussion, such as the restrictions placed on ipso facto clauses. However, one area that has been overlooked is the drafting of provisions that were in place in one form or another under the old regime. The modification and transposition of these provisions to the omnibus act introduced new drafting oddities, rendering some of the provisions difficult to interpret. This paper aims to highlight some of these drafting issues, clarify the meaning of the relevant provisions, and provide some thoughts on how similar issues can be avoided in the future.

This essay examines Finnis' theory of natural law by addressing Finnis' solution to the problem of justification that besets any theory of law. It assesses the quality of Finnis' theory from its purported justification of self-evidence, and by asking if Finnis' theory adds anything of value to classical natural law discourse, the scholarship of which he purports to develop.

Parties on the losing side in international arbitration have long argued that an error of law is a defence to the enforcement of foreign awards. Citing article V(2)(b) of the New York Convention, such parties have argued that a manifest error of law is a violation of public policy. While national courts have generally paid little heed to this line of argument, this article seeks to raise the possibility that there may yet be the exceedingly rare instance in which a court should preclude enforcing an award marred by a hideous error of law. Limited review of an arbitrator's application of the law in international arbitrations should exist where enforcing the award would be contrary to the forum's most basic notions of justice. By way of case law, natural justice and general principles of arbitral law, this article argues that if indeed such egregious awards arise, they should be denied enforcement under the Convention.

Singapore has embarked on an introspective review of its securities market and the legal regime complements it. The resultant recommendations embrace a disclosure based regulatory philosophy. In a predominantly disclosure based regulatory regime, emphasis is placed on fostering and maintaining a fair and transparent market by the establishment of comprehensive disclosure obligations. The legal and regulatory framework must then provide for effective sanctions and remedies when breaches of such obligations occur, and the regulator's role in enforcing disclosure standards takes on added importance. In this vein, it is proposed that the securities regulator be empowered to take civil action against misfeasors where it is in the public interest to do so. This article discusses the recommended role and potential power of the securities regulator as a new enforcement option.

Taking the lead from the UK's Insolvency Act 1986, the Bankruptcy Act 1995 introduced into our bankruptcy laws novel concepts of transactions at an undervalue and extortionate credit transactions. At the same time, it revamped the law with regard to the giving of preferences. These new features are also made applicable to companies in winding up and judicial management. The following paper analyses the new provisions and the likely problems faced in their application. Particular attention is directed at the special difficulties which arise in their application to companies.