Singapore legislation
Clause 5
Clause 5
Jurisdiction in personam of courts in collision and other similar cases
(1)
No court shall entertain an action in personam to enforce a claim to which this section applies unless —
the defendant has his habitual residence or a place of business within the State of Singapore; or
the cause of action arose within inland waters of Singapore or within the limits of a port of Singapore; or
an action arising out of the same incident or series of incidents is proceeding in the court or has been heard and determined in the court.In this subsection —
Definition
“inland waters” includes any part of the sea adjacent to the coast of the State of Singapore certified by the Secretary of State to be waters falling by international law to be within the territorial sovereignty of Her Majesty apart from the operation of that law in relation to territorial waters;
Definition
“port” means any port or place declared to be a port under section 6 of the Merchant Shipping Ordinance (Cap. 20), and includes all such navigable rivers and channels leading thereto as are declared to be part thereof under section 7 thereof and “limits of a port” means the limits thereof as defined in such declaration.
(2)
No court shall entertain an action in personam to enforce a claim to which this section applies until any proceedings previously brought by the plaintiff in any court outside Singapore against the same defendant in respect of the same incident or series of incidents have been discontinued or otherwise come to an end.
(3)
The preceding provisions of this section shall apply to counter-claims (not being counter-claims in proceedings arising out of the same incident or series of incidents) as they apply to actions in personam, but as if the references to the plaintiff and the defendant were respectively references to the plaintiff on the counter-claim and the defendant to the counter-claim.
(4)
The preceding provisions of this section shall not apply to any action or counter-claim if the defendant thereto submits or has agreed to submit to the jurisdiction of the court.
(5)
Subject to the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, the High Court shall have jurisdiction to entertain an action in personam to enforce a claim to which this section applies whenever any of the conditions specified in paragraphs (a) to (c) of subsection (1) of this section are satisfied, and the rules of court relating to the service of process outside the jurisdiction shall make such provision as may appear to the rule-making authority to be appropriate having regard to the provisions of this subsection.
(6)
The claims to which this section applies are claims for damage, loss of life or personal injury arising out of a collision between ships or out of the carrying out of or omission to carry out a manoeuvre in the case of one or more of two or more ships or out of non-compliance, on the part of one or more of two or more ships, with the collision regulations.