By Tan Zhi Feng
Having recently taken a class on the History and Future of Citizenship and the State while on exchange, it was interesting to come across a report in the Straits Times, “HK-born teen trying to give up citizenship” (18 January 2012), which raises several interesting issues that were discussed in our class.
According to the newspaper report, a 16 year-old Singapore citizen, who was born in Hong Kong, is seeking judicial review of the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority’s (ICA) refusal to allow him to renounce his Singapore citizenship before …

By Ee Yen Lin
Smoking was not always greeted with deliberate loud coughing or with a wave of the hand and a wrinkled nose. Before the 1950s, smoking in the United States was especially prevalent among men and women and seen as a way of life. People would seldom ask if you minded them smoking in your presence and restaurants would normally be filled with a hazy fog thick enough to cut through. However, the 50s saw a sudden spate of litigation against the biggest players in the tobacco industry and …

By Priscilla Gan
The school announced earlier this year that it would look into its admission procedures to: first, provide for more diversity in the “backgrounds, abilities and interests” of law school students and secondly, “increase the opportunities for students to read law”. This marks a departure from its usual stringent and grades-focused criteria. Professor Simon Chesterman, also the new Dean, explained that a student population with a variety of backgrounds would allow students to be “good lawyers” by “learning how to understand different people”. This is premised on the fact …

By Desmond Chng

When news broke about enacting a lemon law in Singapore with amendments to the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act (CPFTA) and the Hire Purchase Act (HPA), the first thing that came to mind was the seminal Volkswagen “Lemon” advertisement of the 1960s. Followers of Mad Men would be familiar with this advertising classic, where Volkswagen reassured its customers that the lemons are weeded out in its vigorous quality control. “We pluck the lemons, you get the plums,” it reads. More about that here.
Lemons traditionally refer to automobiles …

The following is an extract from a speech delivered to a focused audience including government representatives, law officers, sports governing bodies and athletes looking at the future role that Singapore may have in developing sports law as the sports industry evolves in the region.

What is sport?
Sport is a competition with an unpredictable result.  The competition may be against oneself or others. Its tribal nature is often most evident with competitions involving teams, clubs or nations.  It is capable of defining a country, region or city.  Indeed there is no …