Singapore is my second hometown. I am Korean, but I spent most of my teenage life in Singapore for six years. After hearing the lecture, I was curious about what ROL the county I was grown up has achieved and how its culture is affected in the law. Singapore is a highly developed country with “ninth highest GNP per capita in the world”. (Malik, 2007) Unlike its praised economy, there are some criticisms towards their law system. Singapore’s rule of law has achieved some parts of level 1, 2, 3 and 4. However, it is hard to tell that Singapore’s achievement of rule of law is complete and absolute.
A small island state, the Republic of Singapore has population of 3.9 million people with 17.9% of them being expatriate residents. It is made up with multi ethnic group, mainly with “77% of Chinese, 14% Malays and 7.6% Indians”. With these diverse ethnicities, Singapore use English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil as “four official languages”. Multi ethnic people brought several religions to this island, such as Buddhists, Taoists and Muslims, making Singapore a secular state. (Malik, 2007) This cosmopolitan country was founded in 1819 by a British man, Sir Stamford Raffles and became a British colony in 1946. It affected Singapore law, which is rooted in English law. In 1965, Singapore declared independence and after then put effort to evolve their law into distinct jurisprudence in the globalizing world. In addition, Singapore government tried hard to gain economical wealth by providing “open and corruption-free business environment”. Government’s effort established Singapore being the world’s busiest port and one of the most popular tourist destinations. As a result, Singapore attained successful free-market economy. (Malik, 2007)
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...mpose on ….such restictions as it considers necessary …. in the interest of the security of Singapore” (Aung, 2007) Currently, Singapore’s dominant broadcasting media, MediaCorp is 100 percent owned by the “government’s wholly owned investment arm,” (Article 19, 2005) which produce pro-government stance only. Even Newspaper and Printing Presses Act requires people to apply for a permit to publish a periodical in Singapore. (Article 19, 2005) International view toward Singapore’s repression is not good as well. Yale University hesitate its partnership with NUS because they doubt the level of freedom of speech for students in Singapore, saying that Singapore even accuses author for saying criticism towards the government.
Singapore developed its legal culture and law as globalized; however, it has not yet completely achieved all levels of rule of law absolutely.
[4] A Sanders and L Bridges “Access to legal advice and police Malpractise” [1990] Crim lr 494, Choongh (1997) ch6
"Justice is your job, not mercy" This is a very strong statement coming from The Brothel Boy and Other Parables of the Law by Norval Morris. This sentence portrays a prominent theme in the decisions made in this book. Sent to Moulmein, Burma to act as a policeman, prosecutor, and judge, Eric Blair discovers that the law is not as clear-cut as it may seem. Constantly plagued by his moral and legal values, Eric Blair finds himself seeking the advice from the local doctor, Dr. Veraswami. Blair has a total of eight separate encounters in which he battles for the right answer. He soon finds out that there is not one right answer, but many different answers that could be right or wrong depending on the situation. Many sociological and socio-legal issues are seen throughout the book. My primary focus will be on social stratification and the role it plays with the legal issues and decisions. .
Law and Society, Ninth Edition, by Steven Vago. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc
Today, China is ranked as the nation with the largest population in the world. It is also a fact that China is amongst one of the countries whose economy is growing at a very rapid rate. It is quite imperative to note that capitalism has been the dominant in this nation, which enables it to not only strengthen, but also capture great regional as well as global influence. Even though China has been rediscovering its ancient tradition elements whilst repackaging them to be in line with modernity, it is evident that the visions embraced are very different from the ones in the West. The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee is a perfect publication that sheds light to the reader on the various social, political and moral issues that existed in China decades ago and the ways of resolving them. Comparing the legal issues in China decades ago, a thin line can be drawn. This is inherently because nothing much has changed in terms social, political and moral perspectives. The celebrated cases of Judge Dee borrow a lot from the Chinese culture, which defines the standard morals and values for its people. Consequently, the legal system in this nation appears to rely wholly on the defined moral standards in reprimanding wrongdoers.
In every society around the world, the law is affecting everyone since it shapes the behavior and sense of right and wrong for every citizen in society. Laws are meant to control a society’s behavior by outlining the accepted forms of conduct. The law is designed as a neutral aspect existent to solve society’s problems, a system specially designed to provide people with peace and order. The legal system runs more efficiently when people understand the laws they are intended to follow along with their legal rights and responsibilities.
Thirdly, level of centralization of legal functions; centralized versus decentralized is critical to comprehend the divergence. In the international sphere, there are no supreme governments and/or anarchic system prevails and hence horizontal structure exists. Thus, it is challenging to enforce the law. Either by collective actions or individual actions such a...
In his book on ?The Behavior of Law? Donald Black attempts to describe and explain the conduct of law as a social phenomenon. His theory of law does not consider the purpose, value, impact of law, neither proposes any kind of solutions, guidance or judgment; it plainly ponders on the behavior of law. The author grounds his theory purely on sociology and excludes the psychology of the individual from his assumptions on the behavior of law (Black 7). The theory of law comes to the same outcome as other theories scrutinizing the legal environment, such as deprivation theory or criminal theory; however, the former concentrates on the patterns of behavior of law, not involving the motivation of an individual as such. In this respect, Black?s theory is blind for social life, which is beyond the behavior of law.
In this essay, I will be discussing how the formal theory of the rule of law is an erroneous means of establishing laws within a state. A central theme to addressing this essay is the distinction between formal and substantive theories of the rule of law. In order to reach the conclusion of the formal theory being proven to be insufficient, one must first appreciate the significant advantages which the substantive theory obtains. However, before doing so, I will briefly mention the importance of the rule of law in society and the requirements it needs to fulfil. Most people would dispute that the significance of law in society is to obtain justice, however justice is simply a term which is determined subjectively, it relates to an individuals moral viewpoint.
Comparative advantage means that an industry, firm, country or individual are able to produce goods and services at a lower opportunity cost than others which are also producing the same goods and services. Also, in order to be profitable, the number in exports must be higher than the number in import. From the diagram we seen above, Singapore is seen to have a comparative advantage in some services. The services are Transport, Financial, business management, maintenance & Repair and Advertising & Market Research, etc. These export services to other countries improve the balance of payment. On the other side, Singapore is seen to have a comparative disadvantage in some services. The services are Travel, Telecommunications, Computer & Information,
Legal Pluralism is the presence of various legal systems within a single country or a geographical area. Legal Pluralism is omnipresent although it is generally assumed to exist in countries only with a colonial past. This is because in most countries with a colonial past, colonial laws co-exist alongside indigenous laws. However, if we look at the expansive definition of legal pluralism, it can be said that every society or country if legally plural. The modern definition of legal pluralism also deals with the issues of relation between state and non-state legal orders. It shows the dichotomy that exists between customary legal norms and state law. The judiciary of India has upheld this principle of pluralism in many cases by showing that
The Employment Act in Singapore is an act that covers every employee who is under the contract of service to their employer except employees engaged under managerial and executive levels or domestic workers. If either party intends to end the contract, they may do so with a notice of their motive of termination. Employees may need to serve a notice period before leaving, which ranges from 1 day to 1 month.
Wee, L. (2010). ‘Burdens’ and ‘handicaps’ in Singapore’s language policy: on the limits of language management, Language Policy (9), 97-114
Singapore culture is a racist culture. You can find evidence for this in the arts and the media. Do Singapore cultural institutions and media reflect the multicultural nature of contemporary society? Discuss.
Besides, English law can be found in the English common law or rule of equity. Under civil law Act 1956, section 3, In Peninsular Malaysia, the courts shall apply the common law of England and the rules of equity as administered in England on the 7th day of April 1956 where English law are applicable (Kozuka, n.d.). In Sabah and Sarawak, the courts only will apply the common law of England with statutes of general application as administered or enforced in England on the 1st December 1951 and 12th days of December 1949 respectively (Kozuka, n.d.). However, English commercial law also applies in Malaysia under section 5(1) of the Civil Law Act 1956 that the principles of English commercial law as they stood on 7th April 1956 shall be applicable in Peninsular Malaysia except for Penang, Malacca, Sabah and Sarawak in the absence of the local laws (Kozuka,
Singapore's officials argue that its strict laws and swift, severe punishment are what sets it aside from a crime-ridden place like New York City. (Father's Manifesto)Of course, opponents to CP (corporal punishment) argue that this is also a cruel and unusual way to deter crime. However, those that argue this only need to compare the crime rates of Singapore to those of the United States. Whipping or caning is indeed stressful and painful but it is Singapore's alternative to costly long-term confinement. This way criminals are quickly reformed and released back into society as law abiding citizen. Another factor to be considered in Singapore's low crime rate is its geography and its size. The country is located northeast of Indonesia just south of Malaysia. It is roughly 3.5 times the size of Washington D.C. It is arguable to say that the reason Singapore's crime rates are low compared to the U.S. is because of its small, controllable area.