Comparing family property disputes in English and Singapore law: "Context" is everything

This paper examines why Singapore law has not followed English law in the area of beneficial ownership of family property. It points out that the landmark cases in the two jurisdictions are underpinned by different family paradigms.The English landmark cases are based on the unmarried cohabitants pa...

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Main Author: YIP, Man
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
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Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3909
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/5867/viewcontent/comparing_family_property_disputes_in_english_and_singapore_law_context_is_everything__1_.pdf
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spelling sg-smu-ink.sol_research-58672022-04-18T01:33:32Z Comparing family property disputes in English and Singapore law: "Context" is everything YIP, Man This paper examines why Singapore law has not followed English law in the area of beneficial ownership of family property. It points out that the landmark cases in the two jurisdictions are underpinned by different family paradigms.The English landmark cases are based on the unmarried cohabitants paradigm and the legal rules that have emerged from these cases are aimed at, whether successfully or not, ensuring a fair division of the family home upon the breakdown of these relationships. In contrast, the Singapore seminal judgments are underlaid by contests between children over their parents’ property which raised questions as to the parties’ true intentions and the legal techniques to determine that. In the main, this paper argues that the legal rules that emerge in a society are shaped by the conditions of that society: these rules are purpose-built to resolve the specific types of disputes that come through the judicial system, which are in turn moulded by the distinctive conditions of that society. The discussion also shows that whilst the courts in the two jurisdictions differ in the legal techniques which they apply to determine these disputes, they do not appear to differ greatly in their understanding of human interactions and complex family relationships. 2021-06-01T07:00:00Z text application/pdf https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3909 info:doi/10.1017/lst.2021.10 https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/5867/viewcontent/comparing_family_property_disputes_in_english_and_singapore_law_context_is_everything__1_.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 family property trust equity Estates and Trusts Family Law
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic family property
trust
equity
Estates and Trusts
Family Law
spellingShingle family property
trust
equity
Estates and Trusts
Family Law
YIP, Man
Comparing family property disputes in English and Singapore law: "Context" is everything
description This paper examines why Singapore law has not followed English law in the area of beneficial ownership of family property. It points out that the landmark cases in the two jurisdictions are underpinned by different family paradigms.The English landmark cases are based on the unmarried cohabitants paradigm and the legal rules that have emerged from these cases are aimed at, whether successfully or not, ensuring a fair division of the family home upon the breakdown of these relationships. In contrast, the Singapore seminal judgments are underlaid by contests between children over their parents’ property which raised questions as to the parties’ true intentions and the legal techniques to determine that. In the main, this paper argues that the legal rules that emerge in a society are shaped by the conditions of that society: these rules are purpose-built to resolve the specific types of disputes that come through the judicial system, which are in turn moulded by the distinctive conditions of that society. The discussion also shows that whilst the courts in the two jurisdictions differ in the legal techniques which they apply to determine these disputes, they do not appear to differ greatly in their understanding of human interactions and complex family relationships.
format text
author YIP, Man
author_facet YIP, Man
author_sort YIP, Man
title Comparing family property disputes in English and Singapore law: "Context" is everything
title_short Comparing family property disputes in English and Singapore law: "Context" is everything
title_full Comparing family property disputes in English and Singapore law: "Context" is everything
title_fullStr Comparing family property disputes in English and Singapore law: "Context" is everything
title_full_unstemmed Comparing family property disputes in English and Singapore law: "Context" is everything
title_sort comparing family property disputes in english and singapore law: "context" is everything
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2021
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3909
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/5867/viewcontent/comparing_family_property_disputes_in_english_and_singapore_law_context_is_everything__1_.pdf
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