Focus on Singapore investment immigration and Singapore law:
In addition to English law, Singapore's legal system also adopts laws from other countries. For instance, Singapore's Penal Code, Evidence Act, and Criminal Procedure Code are primarily derived from India; Singapore's land registration system is modeled after Australia's land registration system; and Singapore's Companies Act is also learned from Australia. Since Singapore became an independent nation, its courts have established a considerable body of case law, meaning that judges create law.
Singapore also has specific legislation governing the affairs of minority ethnic groups, such as Islamic law governing the religious, marriage, and inheritance matters of Muslims, which is enforced by specially designated Islamic courts.
The principle of case law having legal binding force
Essentially, Singapore implements the English legal system it has adopted. This includes adhering to the legal principles of case law, meaning that judges, when making decisions in cases they are hearing, must consider not only the case law but also the principles applied in judgments made by other judges in previously decided cases on similar or closely related issues. Under certain conditions, they are bound by similar case law and must accept and follow the principles established by case law, regardless of their personal agreement with those principles.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
From the colonial era until April 8, 1994, the final court of appeal in Singapore's legal system was the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, during which its case law held the highest authority and legal binding force over Singapore's courts.
The legal profession is a unified profession
Singapore's legal profession is a unified profession, meaning that qualified lawyers serve as both litigators and transactional lawyers, which differs from the legal profession in the United Kingdom. In the UK, lawyers are either litigators or transactional lawyers, and the professional conduct of various types of lawyers is regulated by different professional bodies. Thus, Singapore combines the two categories of litigators and transactional lawyers into one. Lawyers in Singapore are members of the Singapore Law Society and the Singapore Bar Association, and their professional conduct is regulated by the Law Society. The legal profession in Singapore operates as an independent and self-regulating profession.
The courts and professional organizations have high professional and disciplinary requirements for lawyers. Those with criminal records or unprofessional conduct must be reported to the Law Society, and the High Court may revoke or suspend the licenses of offending lawyers and impose penalties such as warnings.
