Legacies Beyond Tenor

Legal Tenor brings the voices of Singapore’s legal pioneers to life.
Through hundreds of hours of interviews from the Singapore Academy of Law and the National Archives of Singapore, the project captures decades of lived experiences, insights and memories.

About Legal Tenor

This digital audiobook is a product of the Singapore Academy of Law’s Oral History project, an ongoing effort to capture personal accounts by legal personalities of their lives in the law. It also draws on accounts separately gathered by Singapore’s Oral History Centre, a part of National Archives of Singapore (“NAS”), that has, of course, had a much longer track record of preserving national memories.

Oral interviews are still being conducted till this day; more than 40 remarkable individuals have been interviewed and the list continues to grow. The tapes run to hundreds of hours, the transcripts to thousands of pages. The interviewees hardly form a complete list of everyone whom the Committee would have liked to record for posterity; but they are a rich representation.

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Chapters

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Chapter 10

Judges-to-Be

On 15th February 1942, Singapore fell to the Japanese.

Three young men lived through these times.
Frederick Arthur Chua, Choor Singh and Abdul Wahab Ghows would later rise to become judges in independent Singapore.

Abdul Wahab Ghows

Born in Ipoh on 30 January 1921, Abdul Wahab Ghows attended Raffles College. He was called to the Bar at Middle Temple in 1952. Upon his return to Singapore, he commenced his legal career as a traffic Magistrate. In 1954, he was appointed Assistant Official Assignee. Four years later, he was Deputy Public Prosecutor and Crown Counsel, and then appointed Solicitor-General in 1971, aged 50.

In 1980, he was elevated to the High Court Bench where he served for five years. Ghows retired in October 1986, aged 65, after 34 years in legal service and the Judiciary. He passed away on 27 January 1997, aged 76.

Frederick Arthur Chua

Born in Singapore on 15 May 1913, Frederick Arthur Chua attended St Joseph’s Institution and Raffles Institution. He read law at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and graduated in 1936. He was called to the Bar at Middle Temple in 1937. Upon his return to Singapore, he joined the Straits Settlements Civil Service and was appointed, in 1938, Assistant Official Assignee and Assistant Public Trustee in Singapore. He was transferred to Penang in 1940, and held various positions in Penang and Malacca before returning to Singapore in 1953 as District Judge and Magistrate.

In February 1957, he was elevated to Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court, and served on the High Court Bench until 1992. Chua passed away on 24 January 1994, aged 81.

Choor Singh

Born in Korte, India, on 19th January 1911, Choor Singh completed his education, in 1929, at Raffles Institution. Thereafter, he worked as a solicitor’s clerk in Mallal & Namazie. He was the founding member of the Singapore Khalsa Association, which was established in 1931. In 1934, he joined the Official Assignee’s chambers as a clerk. With the ending of the war, he registered for admission to London University in 1946; thereupon he joined Gray’s Inn. In 1949, he was the first Indian to be appointed Magistrate. Six years later, in 1955, he was called to the English Bar.

In 1963, he was appointed Supreme Court Judge, where he served for 17 years. Singh retired in November 1980.

With the end of the war, the taste for self-rule in the region had been whetted.

Abdul Wahab GhowsChoor SinghFrederick Arthur Chua

Chapter 10

Expats and Residents

The legal community in Singapore had been depleted, and it still looked to England for replenishment.

Among the young English lawyers who came to practice at the Singapore Bar during that time, most, like Kenneth Hilborne, would live and work for a spell before returning.
Others, like Howard Cashin, would in fact be coming home.

Kenneth Hilborne

Born on 29th April 1919, Kenneth Hilborne was a Londoner and qualified solicitor in England who was admitted to the Singapore Bar on 5th July 1948. He was chiefly a conveyancer, and practised in Hilborne & Murphy until it was closed in 1955. He then formed Hilborne & Co and was later joined by Chung Kok Soon.

Shortly after this, he retired and left Singapore. Hilborne passed away in September 2008.

Howard Cashin

Born in Singapore on 29th November 1920, Howard Cashin read law at University College Oxford in 1939. He was called to the Bar at Inner Temple, and then to the Singapore Bar on 14th September 1951. He practised at Rodyk & Davidson but left in 1960 to join Murphy & Dunbar. He took over as senior partner upon Murphy’s departure in 1973. This marked the beginning of his career as the Bar’s leading criminal lawyer.

He retired from Murphy & Dunbar in 1988, remaining as consultant. He was a keen sportsman. Cashin passed away on 5th September 2009, aged 89.

Chapter 10

The Last Colonials

In government service as in private practice, the war had shaken up the colonial status quo.

And change would come rapidly to the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Bench.

However, like Kenneth Hilborne and Howard Cashin, young Englishmen would still travel to Asia in the early 1950s to make their careers in the colonial legal service.

Among the last of them was Graham Starforth Hill.

Graham Starforth Hill

Born in Oxford on 22nd June 1927, Graham Starforth Hill read law at St John’s College, Oxford. Working for the Colonial Legal Service, he came to Singapore in 1953, where he was Crown Counsel until 1956. The following year, he joined Rodyk & Davidson where he rose to senior partner. He remained at the firm until 1976.

He was the President of the Law Society of Singapore for four terms from 1969 to 1972. He left Singapore in 1976 and has worked in the UK and Italy.

Hill retired in May 1994 and now resides in Hampshire, UK.

With the end of the war, the taste for self-rule in the region had been whetted.

Chapter 10

Domestic Service

The Rendel Constitution also mandated that locals would share executive power, triggering a rapid process of Malayanisation throughout the civil service in the late 1950s.

And change would come rapidly to the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Bench.

Future lawyer Tharumaratnam Chelliah would witness this process first-hand. As for the legal service, no further expatriates would be brought in after Hill. Instead, in 1951, a Public Service Commission was set up in Singapore to recruit local entrants for the colony’s legal service posts.

The first two legal officers brought in this way were Abdul Wahab Ghows and Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam.

For Singapore, the decolonisation of the colonial legal service had begun.

Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam

Born in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, on 5th January 1926, Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam attended the Government English School in Muar, Johor Bahru, before the war and subsequently continued his education in Singapore at St Andrew’s School from 1945 to 1946. He read law at University College London from 1948 to 1951. His legal career began as Magistrate, then Judge of the District Courts from 1952 to 1957. He served as Registrar of the Supreme Court from 1961 to 1963, when he left for private practice.

He made his entry into the political arena in 1971 and was elected Member of Parliament of Anson Constituency in 1981 and 1984. Jeyaretnam passed away on 30th September 2008, aged 82.

Tharumaratnam Chelliah

Born in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, on 12th October 1921, Tharumaratnam Chelliah attended Raffles College, followed by the University of Malaya in Singapore where he earned his Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in 1956. Subsequently, he received his Bachelor of Laws from the University of Singapore in 1967. He joined the Administrative Service upon his graduation from Raffles College. In 1959, he was Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Law, a position he served until 1962.

In 1967, he was Deputy Secretary, Law Division of the Ministry of Law and National Development, a position he held until his retirement in 1976. Chelliah passed away on 17th January 2009, aged 88.

Chapter 0

Inns and Outs

For the Singapore legal service, one significant barrier stood in the way of faster localisation.

Until the establishment of Singapore’s own law school in 1956, there was effectively only one path to legal qualifications — England. For many, the financial cost was prohibitive.

For three future members of the judiciary, Tan Wee Kian, Choor Singh and Tan Lian Ker, these challenges would be surmounted in different ways.

Tan Wee Kian

Born in Singapore on 21st March 1932, Tan Wee Kian attended Raffles Institution up to 1952. In September that year, he enrolled as a student at Gray’s Inn and was called to the English Bar in February 1957. Upon his return to Singapore, he joined the Legal Service in 1958 and served in various capacities as Deputy Public Prosecutor, Crown Counsel, Assistant Official Assignee and Public Trustee, Magistrate, District Judge, Deputy Registrar of the High Court, Sheriff, Acting Registrar of the High Court and Registrar of Titles and Deeds.

Tan was appointed Registrar of the Supreme Court in 1969 and held that post until 1977.

Tan Lian Ker

Born in Segamat, Johor, Malaysia, on 28th May 1929, Tan Lian Ker started his foray into the legal service as a court interpreter in 1951. In 1953, he was certified interpreter of the Criminal District & Magistrates’ Courts. Whilst working, he also read law part-time at the University of Singapore and graduated in 1964. Thereupon he entered government service. In 1967, he was appointed State Counsel, Attorney-General’s Chambers. He was appointed District Judge in the Civil District Courts in 1970.

He was District Judge of the Subordinate Courts for ten years from 1974 until 1984. Tan was awarded the Public Service Star award in 2010.

Chapter 0

Malacca Street

In the closing years of Singapore’s last decade as a colony, the private legal sector was still bifurcated into a handful of big European firms and many smaller local firms.

However, even in the Singapore bastions of English practice, like Drew & Napier, change was visible.

In 1956, Phyllis Tan would join Eber & Tan as a legal assistant. In 1957, Joseph Grimberg would be the first “local hire” in Drew & Napier. And in 1958, Alec Fergusson would be the last “expatriate hire” in Drew & Napier.

The parallel paths of their early careers illuminate the changing face of Singapore private practice.

Phyllis Tan

Born in Singapore on 15th June 1933, Phyllis Tan attended Raffles Girls’ School. She was called to the Bar at Middle Temple in 1955 and was admitted to the Singapore Bar in May 1956. She began her career as a legal assistant in Eber & Tan. Upon Mr Eber’s death, the firm was called Tan & Tan, where she practised with her father. She was a part-time lecturer at the University of Singapore from 1973 to 1977.

She was the first female President of the Law Society of Singapore in 1979. Tan retired in 1998.

Joseph Grimberg SC

Born in Singapore on 8th April 1933, Joseph Grimberg read law at Cambridge and was admitted to the Bar in October 1957. He joined Drew & Napier as a legal assistant and was the first local senior partner of Drew & Napier at the tender age of 33. After 20 years as a senior partner, he was appointed a Judicial Commissioner in November 1987, aged 54. He served in that capacity until January 1990, after which he was made Senior Counsel.

He was a keen hockey and cricket player. Grimberg passed away on 17 August 2017 at the age of 84.

Alec Fergusson

Born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, on 14th March 1934, Alec Fergusson read law at Leeds University. His father was a solicitor who had influenced him into becoming a solicitor. He did national service in England between 1956 and 1958. He was interviewed in London for a position in Drew & Napier Singapore which he accepted. He arrived in Singapore in 1958 and started out as a legal assistant. He became partner in 1964 and was there until the end of 1983. The following year, he set up his own firm in Singapore.

Fergusson passed away on 26th March 2000, aged 66.

Chapter 0

Two Chiefs

History is not made, it is embodied.

In these cascading histories of Singapore’s journey to self-governance, perhaps no two members of the legal community more fully embodied the legal tenor of the times than our first two chiefs: David Marshall, our first Chief Minister, and Wee Chong Jin, the first Chief Justice of independent Singapore.

David Marshall

Born in Singapore on 12th March 1908, David Marshall attended St Joseph’s Institution and Raffles Institution. He was called to the English Bar at Middle Temple in 1937. In 1938, he was called to the Singapore Bar. He worked at Aitken & Ong Siang, rapidly building a reputation for himself in criminal litigation. In 1940, he joined Allen & Gledhill and, after the war, was made its first Asian partner in 1949, aged 41. He resigned soon after, and joined Battenberg & Talma in January 1950.

He entered the political arena and became Chief Minister in 1955 for 14 months. He served as ambassador for nearly 12 years to France, then Portugal, Spain and Switzerland from 1978. Marshall passed away on 12th December 1995, aged 87.

Wee Chong Jin

Born in Georgetown, Penang, on 28th September 1917, Wee Chong Jin read law at St John’s College, Cambridge, and graduated in June 1938. He was awarded a McMahon Law Studentship and was called to the Bar at Middle Temple in November 1938. He returned to Penang and was admitted as an advocate & solicitor in 1940. He joined Allen & Gledhill and later moved on to Walters & Co.

In August 1957, he was appointed Puisne Judge, and later Chief Justice of Singapore in 1963 until his retirement. Wee retired on 27th September 1990, aged 72. He passed away on 5th June 2005, aged 88.

An Ongoing Exhibition

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