Singapore legislation
Clause 55
Clause 55
New sections 17B and 17C
The Supreme Court of Judicature Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 17A, the following sections:“Oral hearing not needed generally17B.—
Subject to subsection (2), the General Division may decide any matter in its original civil jurisdiction without hearing oral arguments, other than a matter prescribed by the Rules of Court or the Family Justice Rules.(2) Subsection (1) does not allow any part of a proceeding where oral evidence is given (including any part of a trial of an action) to be conducted without an oral hearing, unless all the parties consent.(3) Subject to subsection (4), the General Division may, in any matter that the General Division may decide without hearing oral arguments, direct that the matter be heard in an asynchronous manner by exchange of written correspondence with the party or parties using such means of communication as directed by the General Division.(4) The General Division must not hear a matter in an asynchronous manner if to do so would be inconsistent with the court’s duty to ensure that the proceedings are conducted fairly to all parties.(5) To avoid doubt, this section does not affect the power of the General Division to hear oral arguments before deciding any matter that may be decided without hearing oral arguments.Summary dismissal of certain matters17C.—
A Judge sitting in the General Division may, on his or her own motion, summarily dismiss any appeal made against a decision of the Registrar relating to civil proceedings, if the Judge is satisfied of any of the following:
every issue in the appeal has already been decided by the General Division, the Appellate Division or the Court of Appeal in an earlier matter in which the appellant was involved, and the appeal therefore has no merit;
such conditions as may be prescribed by the Rules of Court or the Family Justice Rules are met.(2) Before summarily dismissing any appeal under subsection (1), a Judge sitting in the General Division must —
give the appellant a reasonable opportunity to show cause why the appeal should not be summarily dismissed; and
consider any representations of the appellant.(3) In this section, “appeal” includes part of an appeal.”.