Presented by Carol WeePrepared by Bissy Ithack19th January 2015

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C J Koh Law Library- History, Collection, & Services.NUS Library portal- Library Catalogue

(FindMore/LINC), Searching Books & Journal Articles

Sources of Law- Singapore & UKLawNet DatabaseAbbreviations & CitationsCJ Koh Law Library Home Page- Legal resources on web

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Chinese Library

Central Library

C J Koh Law Library

Hon Sui Sen Memorial Library

Music Library Science Library

Medical Library

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History

The library was originally established in September 1957, catering primarily to the Faculty of Law at the Bukit Timah Campus.

In April 1980, the Law Library moved to new premises at Kent Ridge, occupying two floors of the Faculty of Law building.

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On 1st January 2001, the Law Library was renamed the C J Koh Law Library, in appreciation of Mr Koh Choon Joo’s generous donations to the library. After extensive renovations which began in July 2000, the library celebrated its official opening by the Honourable Chief Justice Yong Pung How on 27 February 2002.

Following the Government's announcement to reallocate Bukit Timah Campus to NUS on 28 May 2005, the Law Library made its historic return to its first home in August 2006.

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C J Koh Law Library has a rich collection of local and international legal resources. 1st Storey-

RBR, Hold Shelf & Theses at Loans Desk Legislation/Law Reports, Singapore Malaysia Collection, Current Periodicals.2nd Storey- Bound Journals.3rd Storey- Books, ASEAN collection, Chinese collection.

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Loans

Photocopy servicesPhotocopiers are available at Library. Use

Cash card/ EZ link card/ NETS Flash Pay(3¢ per page) to pay.

RBR & Holdshelf books – Please request at Loans Desk (level- 1)

RBR (Reserve book readings) can be borrowed for 2 hours

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Loan entitlement : 20 books

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Search by author, title or keywordRefine your search to “items in the library

catalogue”

This new search engine allows discovery of the library’s online and print collections in a single search.

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Select LINC tab and search by specific fields like title, author, keyword, subject or call number.

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Search by specific field-TitleAuthorKeywordSubjectISBN

E.g.: Redfern and Hunter on international arbitration /by Nigel Blackaby…[et al.]. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

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Search by Journal title in FindMore/ LINC

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Primary sources of law are authoritative records of law made by the law-making bodies of Singapore.

The 2 main sources of law are:1.Legislationo Statuteso Subsidiary legislationo Quasi-legislation.

2. Case Lawo Decisions of the Singapore courts.

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Introduction

The 2 main sources of legislation in Singapore today:

I. Statutes of the Republic

of Singapore (primary legislation) Ref: K7399 1985

II. Subsidiary Legislation of the Republic of Singapore (secondary legislation) Ref: K7449 1990

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Legislative Process The Legislature, the law-making body in

Singapore, compriseso the President o the Parliament of Singapore.

Statutes begin life as Bills which are drafted by legal officers in the Attorney-General's Chambers.

A Bill becomes law when it iso passed by Parliament and o assented to by the President.

An Act comes into force on a date determined by the Minister and notified by a Commencement Notification in the Government Gazette.

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IntroductionThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland consists of 4 countries forming 3 distinct jurisdictions, being England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Since 1999, Scotland and Northern Ireland have had legislative bodies capable of producing primary legislation for those regions. In Wales, the powers of the National Assembly are limited to producing only secondary legislation.

© Travelonline.com

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The 2 main sources of UK legislation are:I. Acts of Parliament (primary legislation)

a. Public General Acts

b. Local and Personal Acts

II. Statutory Instruments (secondary legislation).

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There are several sources of full text Acts of Parliament.

However, it is important to distinguish between sources which give the law as it currently stands (sources which incorporate repeals or amendments made since the Act was passed e.g. Halsbury’s Statutes) and

sources which give the text of the statute as it was originally published (e.g. Queen Printer’s copy)

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Where to Find It

UK Statutes and Statutory Instruments (Legislation & Law Reports collection, Level 1)

Law reports are the published judgments of court cases. Cases are only selected for reporting if they raise or expand upon significant points of law.

Therefore, only a small proportion of cases are reported, and these are mainly from the Supreme Court (i.e. High Court, Court of Appeal and Constitutional Tribunal).

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The principle law report series in Singapore is the Singapore Law Reports. It covers cases from 1965.

Ref: K7599 SLR

A. Singapore Law Reports

22Access via LawNet database (Faculty of Law website)

The Academy of Law has re-issued the Singapore Law Reports from 1965 through 2009 with re-written headnotes for the reports from 1965 to 2002, and re-edited judgment texts that conform to the SAL house-style. This set of reports is called the Singapore Law Reports (Reissue).

Both the original SLR volumes from 1965 to 2002, and the Reissue are equally authoritative as each judgment reported in both remains in substance, though not in form, the same.

Ref: K7599 SLR

B. Singapore Law Reports (Reissue)

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C. Malayan Law Journal

The other law report series which is the major source of reported Singapore court decisions from 1932-1991 is the Malayan Law Journal.

Ref: K7599 MLJ

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What is it?A case citation is a reference to a legal case in the law reports.

It generally includes the names of the parties to the case year the decision of the court was delivered

or published volume number of the law report abbreviation of the law report series first page at which the case is reported.

Example

Anwar Siraj and Another v Ting Kang Chung John [2010] 1 SLR 1026 25

Neutral Citation

The neutral citation system is defined in s.63(8) of the Supreme Court Practice Directions as follows:

“A neutral citation is a Court-approved system of citation which is independent of the series of law reports or other publication, and unique to each written judgment. Each written judgment from a particular level of Court is assigned a sequential number, starting from 1 at the beginning of each calendar year.”

A similar definition can be found in s.53(1) of The Subordinate Courts Practice Directions (2006 Ed.) 26

Neutral Citation

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The neutral citation includes the following

•Names of the parties to the case

•Year of the decision

•Jurisdiction/ Level of court

•Sequential number

•Paragraph number (s)

Example: Public Prosecutor v Nguyen Tuong Van [2004] SGHC 54, [1]

1. The Law Reports (1865- )

The official set of law reports published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales

Text of each report is reviewed by judges before publication

So, it takes between 10 and 14 months to report cases

The only set of reports that has a summary of thearguments of counsel

The High Court and the Court of Appeal require that where a case has been reported in the Law Reports, it must be cited from that source. Other series may only be used when a case is not reported in the Law Reports. See Practice Direction (Judgments: Form Citation) (Supreme Court) [2001] 1 WLR 194.

A. Modern Reports

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Modern Reports1. The Law Reports (1865- ) (contd.)

The 4 current series of the Law Reports are:

Title Reports Decisions of Ref

Appeal Cases(AC)

House of Lords, Privy Council &Court of Justice of the EuropeanCommunities

K2022 4C

Queen’s Bench(QB)

Queen’s Bench & Court of Appeal & ECJ on appeal from QB

K2022 2E

Family(Fam)

Family Division & Court of Appeal on appeal from Fam D

K2022 1C

Chancery(Ch)

Chancery Division & Court of Appeal on appeal from Ch D

K2022 3B

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2. The Weekly Law Reports (WLR) (1953- ) Timely, full text reports. Ref: K2020 WNR

3. All England Law Reports (All ER) (1936- ) Timely, full text reports; contains editorial

notes.

Ref: K2020 AELR

Modern Reports

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4. Specialist series Contain a selection of cases in a discrete

practice area. e.g. Lloyds Law Reports (maritime and

commercial law)Ref: K2020 LLLR

5. Newspapers Brief, edited reports. e.g. The Times Law Reports

Ref: K2020 TR/ K2020 TLR

Modern Reports

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Law Databases- Other law databases are listed under Resources on the Faculty of Law website: http://www.law.nus.edu.sg/

•Case Track•LawNet•Westlaw

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Example : Arbitration Act (Cap. 10), International Arbitration Act (Cap.143 A) 34

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Jeffrey Pinsler, “Is Discovery Available Prior to the Commencement of Arbitration Proceedings?” [2005] SJLS. 64 36

Journal articles Dora Neo, “The Sale of Goods (Amendment) Act

1996: Satisfactory Quality, an Undivided Share in a Bulk and other Amendments” (1997) 9 SAcLJ 362.

David Feldman, “The Nature of Legal Scholarship” (1989) 52 Mod.L.Rev. 498.

•Find out what journal the abbreviation stands for•Search for the journal title in LINC/LINC+

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Cases

Siang Hoa Goldsmith Pte Ltd v The Wing On Fire & Marine Insurance Co Ltd [1998] 2 SLR 777

Singapore Law reports

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1. Print Index: Donald Raistrick, Index to Legal Citations and

Abbreviations, 3rd ed. (London: Bowker-Saur, 2008).

Location: KB280 Rai 2008 (LW RBR; LW Reference Office; LW Reference1)

2. Online: Law Reference Desk

http://libportal.nus.edu.sg/frontend/ms/c-j-koh-law-library/research/legal-resources-on-the-web/law-reference-desk

Librarian’s pick - Cardiff Index to Legal

Abbreviations http://www.legalabbrevs.cardiff.ac.uk/

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Legal Resources on the Web

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Thank you If you have any queries, email

cjkohlib@nus.edu.sg or

speak to a librarian at C J Koh Law Library Information Desk: 6516 2043.

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