Restitution, Foreign Illegality and Foreign Moneylenders

• Main Author: YEO, Tiong Min
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 1996
• Subjects: Asian Studies; Dispute Resolution and Arbitration
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/590
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Brooks Exmin Pte Ltd v Bhagwandas is an important decision for Singapore law by any account. The Court of Appeal held that a claim will not be enforced if the object of the transaction underlying the claim was to commit a foreign illegality. It also modified its earlier position on the scope of the Moneylenders Act: non-resident moneylenders are now seen as subject to the Act and must be licensed to operate in Singapore. However, both the High Court and Court of Appeal decisions failed to explain the basis of the cause of action in question, and left several important questions in the conflict of laws unresolved, leaving in doubt the scope of foreign illegality and of the Moneylenders Act.