Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

12-2020

Abstract

This paper proposes to study constitutional and administrative law in Singapore through the lenses of Atiyah’s and Summers’ concepts of form and substance in order to discern fruitful avenues for the development of Singapore constitutional and administrative law. While the concepts of form and substance in the context of constitutional law are often associated with constitutional interpretation, they can also be fruitfully applied to other areas of constitutional and administrative law to shed light on the potential trajectories of Singapore law. The intent of this paper is to apply Atiyah’s and Summers’ concepts of form and substance to Singapore constitutional and administrative law to illustrate that beyond formalism in Singapore’s constitutional interpretation, formalism is an apt description for several key areas of Singapore constitutional and administrative law doctrine and reasoning, even to the extent of being formalistic. The paper will argue that formalism in legal reasoning obtains in several important constitutional and administrative law doctrines in Singapore – specifically, in the grounds of judicial review, ouster clause doctrine, and standing rules – and will evaluate the implications of these findings for the development of Singapore constitutional and administrative law.

Keywords

Constitutional law, administrative law, Singapore, form and substance

Discipline

Asian Studies | Constitutional Law

Research Areas

Public Interest Law, Community and Social Justice

Publication

Asian Journal of Comparative Law

Volume

15

Issue

2

First Page

363

Last Page

384

ISSN

1932-0205

Identifier

10.1017/asjcl.2021.1

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Embargo Period

8-20-2021

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1017/asjcl.2021.1

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