Our
Legal Heritage
Bringing our past into the present
Since Singapore’s founding as a British colony in 1819, our legal system has been constantly evolving to meet the rapidly changing needs of the island nation. This evolution and the people behind our legal history are introduced here for researchers, students and the wider public.
Supreme Court
Oral History
Our oral history project
From 2005, the Singapore Academy of Law began a systematic collection of memories and knowledge of Singapore’s legal history through recorded interviews with members of the legal profession and selected narrators who are familiar with key legal personalities. This project is carried out in partnership with the Oral History Centre (OHC) of the National Archives of Singapore.
Together with earlier work done by the OHC, hundreds of hours of oral history interviews have been recorded with more than 50 personalities across the strata of the legal community and the list continues to grow. These audio recordings, transcripts and synopsis of the interviews preserved for posterity are available to researchers from the NAS portal.
Over the years, we have also evolved from being a collector and depository of oral history recordings. As part of our efforts to create greater awareness and legal history, we have taken excerpts from these rich eye-witness accounts and shared them on our online blog as well as publications under Academy Publishing heritage series.
Our oral history programme focuses on two major themes:
Our oral history programme focuses on two major themes:
Heritage Articles
10 OLY Moments To Remember
The Opening of Legal Year (OLY) is a ceremony steeped in tradition. And as this list shows, the speeches made there can have a big impact on the everyday practice of law.
Remembering The Pan-Electric Crisis, Nearly 40 Years On
Why this incident marked a turning point in the evolution of our stock market.
The Toa Payoh Ritual Murders: A Case Of Insanity Or Was It Just A “Wayang”? (Part 2)
The first part of this article took you into the court room where the battle was fought between the defence and prosecution as to whether the murderers were of sound mind. The psychiatric defence failed but could there have been a different outcome?
The Toa Payoh Ritual Murders: A Case Of Insanity Or Was It Just A “Wayang”? (Part 1)
Much has been written about one of Singapore’s most sensational crimes which took place 40 years ago. Delving into unpublished oral history accounts collected under SAL’s legal Heritage Programme and the National Archives of Singapore, we revisit the trial which continues to intrigue long after the case was closed.
The Slips Of Paper That Kept A Profession On Track
Analogue methods of legal research hold a certain nostalgia for Ms Umayal Balakrishnan, who has worked as a librarian at Drew & Napier since 1994.
The Long Road To Lawnet, As Told By Charles Lim
It’s difficult to imagine a law firm operating without a computer today. But up until the 1980s, this ubiquitous technology was not something in every law office let alone on every practitioner’s desk. Mr Charles Lim of the Attorney-General’s Chambers shares how officers like himself helped build the landscape we know today.
A Class Act: From Chalk To Transparencies
In the second of a two-part series on the history of the law faculty as told through oral history interviews, Professor Tan Sook Yee recalls her time at the university as lecturer and administrator.
A Class Act: How Singapore’s First Law Faculty Came To Be
Students across the country have begun the academic year in earnest. SAL marks the occasion with a look at the history of Singapore’s law faculty which took root at the then-University of Malaya. It started in 1959 with barely three academic staff: Dean Professor LA Sheridan, Mr B L Chua and Mr Tan Boon Teik, a magistrate who taught part-time. Mr Tan Boon Teik, who would later become Singapore’s longest serving Attorney-General, continued to teach part-time at the faculty for many years. His wife, Professor Tan Sook Yee, would became the faculty’s 10th Dean in 1980. This two-part series is based on SAL's oral history interviews with former deans Prof Sheridan and Prof Tan Sook Yee. They recount the nascent years of the law faculty and their love of teaching which have nurtured many legal illuminaries who have made their mark in Singapore and overseas.
Hold My Hand Till the End: An Interview with Sister Gerard Fernandez
After the trials have ended and the death sentence passed, what happens to prisoners on death row? In an oral history interview, Sister Gerard Fernandez sheds light on the final days of some of Singapore’s most famous death row inmates.
Publications
Making legal history a living subject
For many years, in university courses all over the world, legal history has, at best been a marginal subject, an oddity to be tolerated rather than encouraged.
Dr Kevin Y L Tan
Editor of Essays in Singapore Legal History
One of our earliest projects in documenting Singapore’s legal history was a publication of 10 essays written by a select group of judges, legal practitioners and law academics. Published in 2004, Essays in Singapore Legal History aimed to not only bring the fascinating world of legal history to a wider audience but also serve as a springboard for future study and research. The Academy’s publishing arm now has a Heritage Series which focuses on titles on various aspects of our legal history.
Sample of our books
Legal Tenor: Voices from Singapore’s Legal History (1930 – 1959)Legal Tenor: Voices from Singapore’s Legal History (1930 – 1959) is the first of its kind in Singapore. It features audio recordings of 15 of Singapore’s earliest lawyers including David Marshall, Wee Chong Jin, J B Jeyeretnam, Joseph Grimberg, Howard Cashin and former judges, Choor Singh, F A Chua and Abdul Wahab Ghows as they recollected their lives and experiences in the practice of law in the decades leading up to self-governance in 1959.
Legal Legacies: The Storeys of Singapore LawLegal Legacies: The Storeys of Singapore Law aims to tell a brief history of these buildings through the use of photos, architectural drawings and stories told by people who remember what it was like to work or be in these places. Come explore the interiors of the “hush-hush” house and dwellings of some of the most prominent practitioners in the early years of Singapore’s history.
Collaborations
Indicted Japanese war criminals entering the dock in the Singapore Supreme Court, 1946.
Courtesy of the National Museum of Singapore, National Heritage Board
The Second World War irrevocably changed the course of history and the lives of survivors. Its lessons continue to be relevant today.
This project aims to further public understanding on the historic war crimes trials implemented after the war in Singapore. In the 131 war crimes trials held in Singapore over 400 defendants associated with the Japanese military were tried, and hundreds of Asian and Allied witnesses came forward to testify. The Singapore War Crimes Trials Web Portal makes information about these trials accessible to the public. The web portal contains individual case summaries, data on trial participants, and trial background information. It aims to be interactive, user-friendly, and will be updated as research in this area evolves. The portal also points to additional resources for those interested in learning more. Visit the portal here.
The Singapore Academy of Law is proud to support this project coordinated by Dr Cheah Wui Ling and Ms Ng Pei Yi.
Events
Open to students from Singapore’s three law schools, Jus Debate can be a two or three-cornered fight with teams battling for victory using costumes, props, characterisation and whatever they can muster to win over the judges with wit, humour and of course historical authenticity in their arguments.
Our legal heritage exhibitions (there have been three so far) have attracted keen interest from members of the legal fraternity and the public.
Legal Heritage Exhibition, 1995
One of the artefacts displayed was this memorial plaque which pays tribute to members of Singapore’s legal profession who died during World War II.
Found in the vaults of the Supreme Court, the old flare gun is undoubtedly a relic of our colonial past. Believed to be used in moments of emergency to signal distress, the flare gun has presumably seen the Supreme Court through many incidents of civil unrest.
Legal Legacies, 2008
Held as part of the Academy’s 20th anniversary, the exhibition included a tour to the old Supreme Court before it was converted into the National Gallery. View a selection of the Legal Legacies exhibition here and let docents take you on a tour into the old Supreme Court.
#Law & Community, 2013
This one-week exhibition held as part of the Academy’s 25th anniversary focused on two major areas of law that touch the common man: Criminal Justice and Family Law. Besides interesting facts, photos, videos and artefacts, visitors could walk through a prison cell and try their hand on interactive displays.
Wedding photo of Mr Lim Kim San and his wife Pang Gek Kim. Mr Lim was a member of Singapore’s first Cabinet and helmed many key ministries including the Ministry of National Development. The couple’s wedding certificate was one of the rare documents on display at this exhibition. Prior to the Women’s Charter, there was no provision for registration of marriages. Marriages were recognised as valid as long as the necessary customary rites were performed. The use of wedding certificates was a European practice that was adopted by the communities here, in particular by the wealthy Chinese and Peranakan families whose children had been given an English education.
This series of talks and panel discussions on a topic or event from our legal history is one of our most popular outreach programmes.
Our panel speakers include academics, historians, lawyers and judges and they share information on the event from the historical perspective and lessons which we can take from it. These lively sessions which include video presentations are always fully subscribed.
Audience participation is key at our Legal Chronicle events. They are encouraged to share their stories, ask questions, listen to audio recordings from first-person accounts of the incidents and learn more about our legal heritage work over light refreshments.
