Thread: Singapore gets top marks in global law survey

Singapore gets top marks in global law survey
K. C. Vijayan
Jan 8, 2011

Singapore was rated No.1 in the civil justice systems in the Rule of Law Index 2010 of the World Justice Project.
PHOTO: SUPREME COURT

SINGAPORE was rated No.1 in the civil justice systems in the Rule of Law Index 2010 of the World Justice Project.

It is a project to rank the quality of legal systems in the context of the rule of law.

The accolade drew the notice of Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong who raised the point in his address at the official opening of the Legal Year ceremony, to underline the star quality of the legal system here. Law Minister K. Shanmugam weighed in on the issue explaining how this had been achieved and said the system here protects the independence of the judiciary, and extremely high-quality judges are appointed from the legal service as well as from the profession.

Asked about some people still mocking the justice system, he said the 'more they mock, the better we do, so let them keep mocking, we will become better and better as a financial centre, as a city state and as a legal services centre.'

Separately , Singapore's fight against financial crimes has been beefed up and taken to the next level. Attorney-General Sundaresh Menon in his speech, said a new Economic Crimes and Governance Division has been created, in addition to the current Criminal Justice Division and the State Prosecution Division.

' Its officers will focus on and specialise in the prosecution of even the most sophisticated financial crimes, and regulatory offences.' More than 500 guests and members of the legal fraternity were present including Senior Minister S. Jayakumar, High Court judges and law officials from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Brunei.

straitstimes.com