1StopConsultants
Your One Stop Solutions business partner in the SE Asia region!
| Home |  | SG-Disputes |
Disputes
Dispute resolution
Courts
The courts in Singapore hear a full range of civil and
criminal matters, and are empowered to make orders in respect of damages,
specific performance and injunctions. The courts are divided into the
Subordinate Courts and the Supreme Court, and cases are filed before these
courts according to the monetary amounts involved.
The Subordinate Courts comprise of the District and
Magistrate Courts, both of which oversee civil and criminal matters, as well as
specialized family, juvenile, coroner’s courts and the Small Claims Tribunal,
which handles civil claims for amounts below S$10,000. The Supreme Court is
made up of the High Court and the Court of Appeal and hears both civil and
criminal matters. The Court of Appeal hears appeals against decisions of the
High Court in both civil and criminal matters and has been Singapore’s final
court of appeal since 8 April 1994, when appeals to the Judicial Committee of
the Privy Council were abolished.
Singapore’s court system is transparent and efficient. In
recent years, far-reaching changes have been made within the Supreme Court and the
Subordinate Courts to rationalize and standardize court rules into a single
uniform set of rules to ensure uniformity of practice and consistency. The
courts have also been increasingly vigilant in ensuring that orders of court
are complied with and parties do not prolong the process of litigation
unnecessarily. These measures have been relatively far-reaching and have
resulted in a drastic reduction in case backlog.
Arbitration
Singapore as a nation is committed to promoting
international arbitration as a means of resolving commercial disputes within
the region. Recently, changes to the Legal Profession Act (Cap 161) were
introduced to allow foreign lawyers to represent parties in arbitration in
Singapore. This is in addition to the Qualifying Foreign Law Firm scheme, which
grants foreign law firms a license to practice Singapore law in designated
practice areas through Singapore-qualified lawyers employed by the firms.
Singapore has world-class facilities for arbitration and a
full range of qualified arbitrators registered with the Singapore International
Arbitration Centre, which has fairly comprehensive arbitration rules which can
be adopted by parties involved in a dispute. Singapore is now home to the
world’s first integrated dispute resolution center for international
arbitration cases, namely the Maxwell Chambers.
Arbitration generally affords more privacy to the parties in
dispute as compared to litigation. The other key feature of international
arbitration is that there are better prospects of enforcing an international
arbitration award in other countries within the region than enforcing a foreign
court judgement. This is often perceived as a useful risk-management tool for
parties doing business in Asia.
As a result of recent amendments to the International
Arbitration Act (Cap 143A), the Singapore High Court is now empowered to
provide interim relief in aid of arbitrations seated in countries other than
Singapore. Before this amendment, the High Court had interpreted the power to
provide interim relief conferred by the International Arbitration Act as
excluding foreign arbitrations. Parties considering making an application to
the Singapore High Court for interim relief will have now greater flexibility
to do so.