Streamlining Procedures for Judicial Review: Legislative Amendments to the Singapore Rules of Court to Enhance Access to Justice

Judicial review cannot serve as an effective check on administrative action unless aggrieved applicants have a real way to access the courts to obtain relief. In an admirable, albeit belated move, significant amendments were made to the Singapore Rules of Court to remove the procedural strictures in...

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Main Author: WONG, Denise Huiwen
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2014
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Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/1262
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/3215/viewcontent/Streamlining_Procedures_for_Judicial_Review.pdf
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spelling sg-smu-ink.sol_research-32152018-06-14T03:05:11Z Streamlining Procedures for Judicial Review: Legislative Amendments to the Singapore Rules of Court to Enhance Access to Justice WONG, Denise Huiwen Judicial review cannot serve as an effective check on administrative action unless aggrieved applicants have a real way to access the courts to obtain relief. In an admirable, albeit belated move, significant amendments were made to the Singapore Rules of Court to remove the procedural strictures inherited from the pre-1977 UK system. The amendments allow an applicant to seek a declaration in addition to the traditional prerogative orders and recover damages within the same proceedings if the applicant can prove that he/she would have had a valid claim in a private law action. This article examines the mischief that the amendments sought to cure, which stemmed from overly technical rules that hitherto plagued such applications. It is argued that the changes are underpinned by a desire to allow greater access to justice by facilitating the review process. In a bid to create a litigation-friendly environment, and having learnt from the UK experience, the Singapore rule makers eschewed aspects of the UK reforms. In so doing, the amendments have largely achieved their goals, but there remain areas of uncertainty to be resolved. This article examines possible further refinements to the procedures, bearing in mind the central philosophy of access to justice. 2014-02-01T08:00:00Z text application/pdf https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/1262 info:doi/10.1093/slr/hmt014 https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/3215/viewcontent/Streamlining_Procedures_for_Judicial_Review.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Asian Studies Legislation State and Local Government Law
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic Asian Studies
Legislation
State and Local Government Law
spellingShingle Asian Studies
Legislation
State and Local Government Law
WONG, Denise Huiwen
Streamlining Procedures for Judicial Review: Legislative Amendments to the Singapore Rules of Court to Enhance Access to Justice
description Judicial review cannot serve as an effective check on administrative action unless aggrieved applicants have a real way to access the courts to obtain relief. In an admirable, albeit belated move, significant amendments were made to the Singapore Rules of Court to remove the procedural strictures inherited from the pre-1977 UK system. The amendments allow an applicant to seek a declaration in addition to the traditional prerogative orders and recover damages within the same proceedings if the applicant can prove that he/she would have had a valid claim in a private law action. This article examines the mischief that the amendments sought to cure, which stemmed from overly technical rules that hitherto plagued such applications. It is argued that the changes are underpinned by a desire to allow greater access to justice by facilitating the review process. In a bid to create a litigation-friendly environment, and having learnt from the UK experience, the Singapore rule makers eschewed aspects of the UK reforms. In so doing, the amendments have largely achieved their goals, but there remain areas of uncertainty to be resolved. This article examines possible further refinements to the procedures, bearing in mind the central philosophy of access to justice.
format text
author WONG, Denise Huiwen
author_facet WONG, Denise Huiwen
author_sort WONG, Denise Huiwen
title Streamlining Procedures for Judicial Review: Legislative Amendments to the Singapore Rules of Court to Enhance Access to Justice
title_short Streamlining Procedures for Judicial Review: Legislative Amendments to the Singapore Rules of Court to Enhance Access to Justice
title_full Streamlining Procedures for Judicial Review: Legislative Amendments to the Singapore Rules of Court to Enhance Access to Justice
title_fullStr Streamlining Procedures for Judicial Review: Legislative Amendments to the Singapore Rules of Court to Enhance Access to Justice
title_full_unstemmed Streamlining Procedures for Judicial Review: Legislative Amendments to the Singapore Rules of Court to Enhance Access to Justice
title_sort streamlining procedures for judicial review: legislative amendments to the singapore rules of court to enhance access to justice
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2014
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/1262
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/3215/viewcontent/Streamlining_Procedures_for_Judicial_Review.pdf
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