Loose ends in Singapore Equal Protection doctrine

• Main Author: CHNG, Wei Yao, Kenny
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2024
• Subjects: Asian Studies; Jurisprudence; Law and Society
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/4511; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/6469/viewcontent/LooseEnds_pvoa.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

A trilogy of landmark Singapore Court of Appeal decisions has defined the landscape of constitutional equal protection doctrine in Singapore: Lim Meng Suang, Syed Suhail and Tan Seng Kee. While this trio of cases has laid the doctrinal foundation for the constitutional right to equality in Singapore, three loose ends remain for clarification. First, what is the relationship between the legal tests articulated in Syed Suhail and Lim Meng Suang? Second, what is the relationship between both steps in the Syed Suhail test? Third, what is the distinction between the Syed Suhail test and the common law judicial review ground of irrationality? This paper will seek to study how these loose ends may be best tied up through a close analysis of the decisions which the Singapore courts have handed down since the landmark trilogy was decided.