Singapore
Answer ... The Supreme Court, state courts and family justice courts together form the Singapore court system.
The Supreme Court comprises the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC).
The following cases are all heard by the High Court:
- civil cases with a claim exceeding S$250,000 in the first instance;
- probate matters with an estate exceeding S$5 million (or if the case involves the resealing of a foreign grant); and
- ancillary matters in family proceedings where assets equal S$5 million or more.
Criminal cases where the offences are punishable by death or with imprisonment terms exceeding 10 years are also tried by the High Court.
The High Court exercises original and appellate jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases.
The state courts comprise the district courts, the magistrates’ courts, the coroner’s court and the small claims tribunal.
Magistrates’ courts deal with civil claims of up to S$60,000 and district vourts deal with claims of up to S$250,000. The small claims tribunal has a claims limit of S$10,000. However, the latter can be raised to S$20,000 with written consent.
The family justice courts, comprising the family courts and youth courts, hear family-related cases, as well as probate and succession matters.
Singapore
Answer ... Some international and commercial disputes that are not heard in the SICC are managed in the High Court by specialist judges.
The specialised lists in the High Court are established for:
- Building and Construction, Shipbuilding, Complex and Technical Cases;
- Finance, Securities, Banking, Complex Commercial Cases;
- Company, Insolvency, Trusts;
- Arbitration;
- Shipping and Insurance;
- Defamation, Professional Negligence, Statutory Tort;
- Medical Negligence;
- Intellectual Property/Information Technology;
- Revenue Law; and
- Public Law and Judicial Review.