Reading Time: 5 minutesIntroduction This article explains how the Personal Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2020[1] (the “Amendment”) benefits the user in three areas: customer experience, safeguards, and transparency. Firstly, the Amendment improves the customer experience in two ways: (1) deemed consent by contractual necessity eliminates the hassle of clicking multiple checkboxes to express the user’s consent to the […]
Enforcement of Verbal Contracts and Evidential Issues
Reading Time: 6 minutes Introduction Suppose Adam agrees verbally to purchase oranges from a supplier, Ben, for Adam’s business. Adam finds out the very next day that another supplier, Cindy, can provide those oranges at a lower cost. Being a shrewd businessman, Adam no longer wishes to purchase them from Ben. He calls up Ben to inform him of […]
SMU Lexicon: Contractors’ Liability For Defects Caused By Supplier’s Negligence
Reading Time: 7 minutesIntroduction Picture this. You are a contractor, and the developer of your long-completed construction project is suddenly threatening to sue you over some tiles that have fallen out. You find out that the reason behind the tiles falling out is that they required a specific glue, which the supplier failed to tell you to use. […]
SMU Lexicon: Surviving Flow-down Liability for Liquidated Damages: A Guide for Subcontractors
Reading Time: 7 minutesIntroduction The construction sector in Singapore was valued at S$33.4 billion in 2019.[1] This booming industry is expected to remain strong in 2020, due to the increasing complexity in the design of buildings, such as the rising emphasis on prefabrication technology.[2] Construction projects are complex, and require many different skills and expertise. Any one contractor […]
SMU Lexicon: The Basics of Bankruptcy in Singapore
Reading Time: 7 minutesMoney, money, money, must be funny, in the rich man’s world.[1] Introduction For a potential bankrupt, the notion of “money” is far from funny. Indeed, it is his very lifeblood – the source of both his worry and glee. To bring some assurance and clarity to persons who may have concerns about imminent bankruptcy, this […]
SMU Lexicon: Product Liability In Singapore — Knowing Your Rights As A Consumer
Reading Time: 6 minutesIntroduction Imagine that it is haze season, and you buy an air-purifier to help you and your family through the days of smoke ahead. However, only a few days after its purchase, the air-purifier stops working. To make things worse, the seller refuses to provide a refund. As a consumer, what legal recourse do you […]
SMU Lexicon: Winning but not Winning — Sharing Lottery Winnings In The Event of a Divorce (BOI v BOJ [2019] 2 SLR 114)
Reading Time: 6 minutesIntroduction Striking the lottery usually calls for celebration. However, for lottery winners who have not had quite the same fortune in their marriage and are contemplating a divorce, perhaps the celebrations should not start just yet. In the recent decision of BOI v BOJ (“BOI”),[1] the apex court clarified that lottery winnings received during a […]
SMU Lexicon: Doxxing in Singapore – Laws and Remedies
Reading Time: 7 minutesIntroduction In an Internet-empowered age, it is increasingly common for public disputes and ungracious behaviour to be dealt with by a ferocious online mob. Often, social justice is exacted through online vigilantism and doxxing. Doxxing occurs when a person publishes the personal or identifying information of others online.[1] Doxxing results in grave consequences. Information posted […]
SMU Lexicon: Damages For Defamation — How Are They Assessed?
Reading Time: 6 minutesIntroduction Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it sure burned in one. No wonder then, that defamation is treated seriously – a person’s reputation takes ages to build, yet a single incident, a statement in a newspaper, a remark in a magazine, or even a seemingly innocuous comment online is enough to ruin it. […]
SMU Lexicon: An Overview of Defamation
Reading Time: 9 minutesThis article was co-authored by Samantha Ee and Sonia Elizabeth Rajendra, students from Singapore Management University, School of Law (Class of 2021). Introduction Of all the weapons man could invent, the most terrible – and the most powerful – was the word.[1] In today’s digital era, statements made on social media can be easily shared, […]
SMU Lexicon: Protection from the Peeping Tom – Interpreting the New Offence of Voyeurism
Reading Time: 18 minutesIntroduction A series of voyeurism incidents on university campuses in 2019,[1] as well as recent news of Telegram chat groups set up to share obscene images,[2] have highlighted the prevalence of these offences[3] and the need for the law to catch up. Following the passing of the Criminal Law Reform Act 2019,[4] such situations will […]
SMU Lexicon: Airplane Accidents – Understanding your rights under Article 17(1) and 21(1) of the Montreal Convention
Reading Time: 8 minutes“People who board planes are not afraid of flying. They are afraid of not flying.” – Winne Micah. Introduction October 29, 2018. Flight 610, Lion Air smashes into the Java Sea off Indonesia, killing all 189 souls aboard.[1] This is swiftly followed by Flight 302, Ethiopian Airlines, which crashes in Bishoftu, Ethiopia.[2] Again, no survivors […]