Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this convenient volume provides comprehensive analysis of the legislation and rules that determine civil procedure and practice in Singapore. Lawyers who handle transnational matters will appreciate the book's clear explanation of distinct terminology and application of rules.
The structure follows the classical chapters of a handbook on civil procedure: beginning with the judicial organization of the courts, jurisdiction issues, a discussion of the various actions and claims, and then moving to a review of the proceedings as such. These general chapters are followed by a discussion of the incidents during proceedings, the legal aid and legal costs, and the regulation of evidence. There are chapters on seizure for security and enforcement of judgments, and a final section on alternative dispute resolution. Facts are presented in such a way that readers who are unfamiliar with specific terms and concepts in varying contexts will fully grasp their meaning and significance.
Succinct, scholarly, and practical, this book will prove a valuable time-saving tool for business and legal professionals alike. Lawyers representing parties with interests in Singapore will welcome this very useful guide, and academics and researchers will appreciate its comparative value as a contribution to the study of civil procedure in the international context.
Siyuan, Chen: -
Chen Siyuan and Eunice Chua are a husband and wife tag-team, and this work represents their latest collaboration in law. They first met in the law faculty of National University of Singapore (NUS), and along the way attended the University of Toronto together on a yearlong exchange programme in 2006. Their first collaboration in law was to participate in the Philip C. Jessup Moot (Jessup Moot) in their final year, and their team reached the international semi-finals in Washington DC and was also a recipient of the Alona E. Evans Award for best-written submissions.
They both graduated from NUS in 2007 with First Class Honours in Law. Eunice was also awarded the NUS Undergraduate Scholarship, and won various prizes for top first-year student, the Asia Cup Moot championship, and the prize for best Singapore Law Review Law Symposium article, while Siyuan won the Public Law and Jurisprudence prizes and was awarded the Kwa Geok Choo and Allen & Overy-Shook Lin & Bok Scholarships. They completed the local bar examinations in 2007, with Eunice topping the cohort. Between 2007 and 2009, they worked in the Supreme Court of Singapore as Justices' Law Clerks for various Court of Appeal and High Court Judges, and also had stints as Assistant Registrars, hearing matters on civil procedure and personal bankruptcy. During that period, Siyuan also taught the Evidence and International Legal Process courses at NUS and the Legal Research & Writing course (LRW) at Singapore Management University (SMU).
In 2009, they attended Harvard University on fully paid scholarships for their LLM. Thereafter, Siyuan joined SMU on a full-time basis as an Assistant Professor of Law, while Eunice resumed duties as an Assistant Registrar of the Supreme Court of Singapore (with a focus on civil procedure, probate, crime, and building and construction, financial, and complex commercial matters) and was also appointed as a Magistrate of the Subordinate Courts of Singapore (as they were then known) and to the Secretariat of the Disciplinary Tribunal. In 2014, Eunice was seconded to the Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC), where she assumed the role of Deputy Chief Executive Officer and helped build the organization from ground up. She then joined SMU as an Assistant Professor of Law in 2016.
Siyuan's current teaching and research interests lie in Evidence & Procedure, and he has published in journals such as International Journal of Evidence & Proof, Civil Justice Quarterly, and the International Commentary on Evidence, and is the lead author for the most recent Singapore textbooks on evidence law, civil procedure, and family procedure. As for Eunice, she teaches various classes relating to evidence, procedure, and skills in SMU. As an accredited mediator, she also has various publications, ranging from book chapters for the Singapore Academy of Law to journal pieces in the Singapore Academy of Law Journal and Asian Journal of Mediation. Siyuan and Eunice are particularly united in their passion in grooming and coaching mooters, and recent achievements of the international moots programme they had initiated in SMU in 2009 include the Philip C. Jessup team reaching back-to-back championship finals of the international rounds in 2013 and 2014 and the Asia Cup, LawAsia, and Monroe E. Price teams winning dozens of championships between them. In 2015, SMU became the first university to reach the championship final of both the Willem C. Vis and Willem C. Vis East moots in the same year, and won the latter; in 2016, the university would reach both championship finals again. With wins in other major competitions such as the International Criminal Court Moot, SMU international mooters recorded the best ever moot seasons in international mooting history between 2014 and 2017.
This work is dedicated to their families, their two children Timothy and Joy, and God, whose love and patience sustains them. Personal thanks also go to Associate Professor Goh Yihan. Special thanks go to Geraldine Kuah (JD), who provided tremendous assistance in the extensive proofreading, research, and rewriting in our very first update to this monograph, an endeavour which rendered subsequent updates much more manageable. We also thank Nicholas Poon for his help in refreshing the Part on Arbitration for the second update and Chow Zi En for her help with the general research and proofreading with the second update. All errors, however, remain the principal authors'.
