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The Singapore Court System (The State Court (Jurisdiction of District…
The Singapore Court System
The Court of Appeal
Highest court in Singapore judicial system.
consists of Chief Justice and 3 permanent Judges of Appeal.
An appeal before the CA is heard either by two or three judges.
Jurisdiction of Court Appeal:
only appellate jurisdiction. ie. it does not have original jurisdiction.
The CA has jurisdiction to hear both civil as well as criminal appeals.
these appeals must only come from High court. Cases from State courts cannot go on appeal directly to the CA.
Civil case must be of sufficient size of $250,000 before it can go to CA.
The High Court
made up of Chief Justice and Judges of High Court.
JCs judges employed on contractual terms of between 6 months and 2 years, contract is renewable for further periods of service.
JCs have the same rights and privileges as Supreme Court Judges except that their tenure of service is limited contractually.
The Singapore International Commercial Court is a division of the High court and part of the Supreme Court of Singapore.
Jurisdiction of High Court:
HC has jurisdiction to hear both civil and criminal cases and both original and appellate jurisidiction.
Although, civil original jurisdiction of HC is unlimited, there's no limit as to the size of subject matter. In practices cases that are over the jurisdiction of State Courts are heard at the HC for the first time. This normally means civil cases above $250,000 as that is the upper monetary limit of claims that the State Courts have jurisdiction over.
No limit as to the type of criminal cases that can be brought before HC. But in practice it is usually the criminal cases that carry the death sentence that are first tried before the High Court.
The State Court
Major courts are District Courts and Magistrates' Courts.
Jurisdiction of District Court:
The DC has only original jurisdiction to hear both civil as well as criminal cases.
For civil cases, DC has only power only to hear cases where the subject matter is worth no more than $250,000.
For criminal cases, DC has only power only to hear offences for which the maximum term of imprisonment does not exceed 10 years or which are punishable with fine only.
Jurisidiction of Magistrate's Court:
The MC has only original jurisdiction to hear both civil as well as criminal cases.
For civil cases, the MC has power only to hear cases where the subject matter is worth no more than $60,000.
For criminal cases, the MC has power only to hear offences for which the maximum term of imprisonment is of up to 5 years (instead of 3 years) or punishable with fine. However, sentencing jurisdiction is 3 years.
Jurisdiction of Coroners' Court:
to ascertain cause and and circumstances of death where there is a reason to suspect that the death was in an unnatural manner ie. violently, suddenly or in an unknown way.
Jurisdiction of Community Court:
offenders who are above 16 years but who are below the age of 18 years.
Allow greater options in sentencing of offenders, including use of probation and long term counselling.
Jurisdiction of Small Claims Tribunals:
The SCT has power only to hear disputes involving "contracts for the sale of goods or the provision of service" and for damage to property (except traffic accident cases)" where the value of the subject matter does not exceed $10,000.
The jurisdiction of the SCT may be increased to $20,000 if both parties to the dispute agree to do so.
Alternative Dispute Resolution:
Mediation
- process in which a neutral third party, ie a mediator, facilitates and guides the parties in negotiating a mutually acceptable settlement to their dispute.
Neutral Evaluation
- conducted by third party, ie an evaluator, who will review the case and provide an early assessment of the merits of the case.
Arbitration
- process where parties agree to resolve the dispute by bringing the matter before a neutral third party, ie an arbitrator, for decision.