Singapore legislation
Section 107
Section 107
Procedure where dispute concerning land, etc., is likely to cause breach of peace
(1)
Whenever a Magistrate’s Court is satisfied from a police report or other information that a dispute likely to cause a breach of the peace exists concerning any land or water or the boundaries thereof it shall make an order in writing stating the grounds of its being so satisfied and requiring the parties concerned in the dispute to attend a District Court in person or by advocate within a time to be fixed by the Magistrate’s Court and to put in written statements of their respective claims regarding the fact of actual possession of the subject of dispute.
(2)
For the purposes of this section and of section 109, “land or water” includes building, markets, fisheries, crops or other produce of land, and the rents or profits of any such property.
(3)
A copy of the order shall be served in the manner provided by this Code for the service of a summons upon such person or persons as the Magistrate’s Court directs and at least one copy shall be published by being affixed to some conspicuous place at or near the subject of dispute.
(4)
The District Court shall then, without reference to the merits of the claims of any of the parties to a right to possess the subject of dispute, peruse the statements so put in, hear the parties, receive the evidence produced by them respectively, consider the effect of such evidence, take such further evidence, if any, as it thinks necessary and, if possible, decide whether any and which of the parties is then in actual possession of the subject of dispute:Provided that —
if it appears to the District Court that any party has within two months next before the date of the order been forcibly and wrongfully dispossessed it may treat the party so dispossessed as if he had been in possession at that date;
if the District Court considers the case one of emergency it may at any time attach the subject of dispute pending its decision under this section.
(5)
Nothing in this section shall preclude any party so required to attend from showing that no such dispute as aforesaid exists or has existed and in that case the District Court shall cancel the order and all further proceedings on it shall be stayed.
(6)
If the District Court decides that one of the parties is then in actual possession of the subject of dispute it shall issue an order declaring that party to be entitled to retain possession of it until evicted from it in due course of law and forbidding all disturbance of such possession until such eviction.[Form 22.]
(7)
Proceedings under this section shall not abate by reason only of the death of any of the parties thereto.[106