Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

3-2016

Abstract

The jurisdictional framework of the Singapore courts has become more nuanced with the establishment of the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) on 5 January 2015 and the signing of the Hague Convention on the Choice of Court Agreements 2005 (Hague Convention) on 25 March 2015. Although the Hague Convention has yet to be incorporated in domestic law, it is expected this will happen in the near future. The SICC project, on the other hand, is part of Singapore's strategy to promote the jurisdiction as an international dispute resolution hub. In essence, the SICC is a domestic specialist court established to deal with international commercial litigation. Adapted from the arbitral model but underpinned by judicial control, central to the SICC framework are party autonomy and flexible procedural rules. The Hague Convention complements the SICC project by increasing the number of jurisdictions in which Singapore judgments will be recognized and enforced. These 2015 developments—key to establishing Singapore as the regional hub for dispute resolution—requires careful working out and an evaluation is needed of the jurisdictional regime that applies to the SICC and the internal allocation of jurisdiction as between the SICC and the Singapore High Court sans the SICC, as well as the impact of the Hague Convention. This article focuses on explaining the in personam jurisdictional rules of the Singapore High Court that now includes the SICC division. Its chief objective is to offer the international community an overview of the working framework of Singapore's version of an ‘international’ commercial court.

Keywords

dispute resolution, Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements, international commercial disputes, jurisdiction, Singapore International Commercial Court

Discipline

Asian Studies | Comparative and Foreign Law | Dispute Resolution and Arbitration | Jurisdiction

Research Areas

Dispute Resolution

Publication

International and Comparative Law Quarterly

Volume

65

Issue

2

First Page

439

Last Page

473

ISSN

0020-5893

Identifier

10.1017/S0020589316000051

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0020589316000051

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