Welcome to C J Koh Law Library

5th August 2014

Conducted by Carol & Bissy

Library Tutorial for GCIP students

Introduction to C J Koh Law LibraryLibrary catalogue- LINC & myLINCSources of Law Singapore -Legislation & Case Law UK – Legislation & Case Law

Secondary resourcesLegal abbreviations and citationsElectronic resourcesUseful websites

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Central Library

C J Koh Law Library

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Medical Library

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History

The library was originally established in September 1957, catering primarily to the Faculty of Law at the Bukit Timah Campus.

In April 1980, the Law Library moved to new premises at Kent Ridge, occupying two floors of the Faculty of Law building.

On 1st January 2001, the Law Library was renamed the C J Koh Law Library, in appreciation of Mr Koh Choon Joo’s generous donations to the library. After extensive renovations which began in July 2000, the library celebrated its official opening by the Honourable Chief Justice Yong Pung How on 27 February 2002.

Following the Government's announcement to reallocate Bukit Timah Campus to NUS on 28 May 2005, the Law Library made its historic return to its first home in August 2006.

The C J Koh Law Library has a rich collection of local, foreign and international legal resources.

The library’s traditional strength is in the common law. Apart from a comprehensive collection of Singapore legal materials, the library also has extensive collections of legal resources from Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

The library has developed collections on comparative and international law, international trade law as well as the laws of the European Community.

The library’s print collection is bolstered by subscriptions to online legal resources which are available via the NUS Libraries Portal http://libportal.nus.edu.sg/. Major databases include LexisNexis and HeinOnline.

Library entrance

Access from NUS homepage http://www.nus.edu.sg. Select LIBRARY from the top menu bar

Access to: FindMoreLibrary catalogue (LINC+/LINC)

Resources

Law DatabasesAccess the law databases listed under Resources on the Faculty of Law website: http://www.law.nus.edu.sg/

CaseTrackLawNetWestLaw

Login to:• Access your library record (myLINC)• Request for services

Check your library Account

Brief library record

• View your loans• Renew items (2 times)• Check if requested item/s are ready for pick-up• Check fines, if any

FindMore / LINC

LINC (Library INtegrated Catalogue) is the original/classic search platform for NUS Libraries.

Search by title “Intellectual property law of Singapore”

Search by specific fields: Title Author Keyword Subject ISBN/ISSN

LINC does not cover journal articles, newspaper articles and online theses.

FindMoreSearch for books, law reports, law journals, etc. in the library

collection. keyword Title Author

For example : Patent law in Singapore

Search for a book by key wordsE.g. Patent law in Singapore

Select relevant title

Please take note of the call number, location and status of the item

Place reservation if the book is out on loan

Your request for Intellectual property law of Singapore/ by Susanna H S Leong was successful.

Your request for Intellectual property law of Singapore/ by Susanna H S Leong was successful.

Saw, Cheng Lim, “Is There a Defence of Public Interest in the Law of Copyright in Singapore?”. (2003) Singapore Journal of Legal Studies pp 519-556.

Honda Motor Co. Ltd V David Silver Spares Ltd [2010]F.S.R. 40

Find out the Law Reports using Cardiff Index to Legal Citations

Search for the Law reports in the catalogue by title

Find the Fleet Street Reports, volume 2010 from the LW Legislation/ Reports collection by the call number

The 3 sources of law in Singapore: Legislature

Parliament enacts statutes Executive

Executes & administers the law; e.g. subsidiary legislation Judiciary

Judges make decisions in cases

Primary legal materials1. Legislation

Statutes Subsidiary legislation; e.g. regulations

2. Case Law Judge-made law Reported in Law Reports

The Legislature, the law-making body in Singapore, is made up of the President the Parliament of Singapore. A Bill becomes law when it is passed by Parliament and assented to by the President. But an Act only comes into force on a date determined by the Minister and notified in the Government

Gazette.

Singapore Legislation – legislative process

The 2 main sources of legislation in Singapore today are:

I. Statutes of the Republic of Singapore (primary legislation) Print: K7399 1985

II. Subsidiary Legislation of the Republic of Singapore (secondary legislation) Print: K7449 1990

I. Statutes

Version Location

Rev. Ed. (1985-)(print)

*K7399 1985(current eds. at Law Library Loans Desk)

Rev. Ed. (1985-)(online)

LawNet:Law students access via Faculty of Law Resources

Consolidated version(online)

Singapore Statutes Online: http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/

Where to find it?

II. Subsidiary Legislation

Version Location

Rev. Ed. (1990-)(print)

*K7449 1990(updated set in Singapore-Malaysia Collection)

Rev. Ed. (1990-)(online)

LawNet:Law students access via Faculty of Law Resources

Where to find it?

The 2 main sources of UK legislation are:I. Acts of Parliament (primary legislation) a. Public General Acts b. Local and Personal Acts

II. Statutory Instruments (secondary legislation).

I. Acts of Parliament

Version Notes Location

Public General Acts … Annual bound volumes.• 1952-• 1866-1951

•*K2011 PG •*K2011 P

Revised legislation The official revised edition of the primary legislation of the United Kingdom

legislation.gov.uk: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/

*Refer to LINC for exact location in library

UK Statutes and Statutory Instruments

Where to find it?

Decisions of Singapore Courts. Law reports are the published judgments of court cases.

Cases are only selected for reporting if they raise or expand upon significant points of law.

Therefore, only a small proportion of cases are reported, and these are mainly from the Supreme Court (i.e. High Court, Court of Appeal and Constitutional Tribunal).

A. Singapore Law reportsThe principle law report series in

Singapore is the Singapore Law Reports. It covers cases from 1965.

Law Reports of Singapore

Ref: K7599 SLR

Ref: K7599 SLR

B. Singapore Law Reports Reissue

The Academy of Law has re-issued the Singapore Law Reports from 1965 through 2009 with re-written head notes for the reports from 1965 to 2002 and re-edited judgment texts that conform to the SAL house-style. This set of reports is called the Singapore Law Reports (Reissue).

Unreported judgmentsThese are full text transcripts of all written judgments as handed down in

the Subordinate Courts, the High CourtCourt and Court of Appeal. They are available on LawNet.

“Case Law & Decisions” of the Subordinate Courts and Supreme Court are available for free for the last 3 months in LawNet under its links to Free Resources.

Earlier judgments are also available in print in the law library.Ref: K7599 CA (Court of Appeal, Civil Appeals) K7599 CRA (Court of Appeal, Criminal Appeals) K7599 DC (District Court) K7599 J (High Court) K7599 MC (Magistrates’ Court)

Other sources of law

Decisions of Boards/TribunalsDecisions of various tribunals and boards are available on LawNet. Most of them are not readily available in print.

Decisions include those of the Copyright Tribunal Income Tax Board of Review Military Court of Appeal Syariah Appeal Board Strata Titles Boards.

LawNet access: via NUS Faculty of Law Resources

Other sources of law

A case citation is a reference to a legal case in the law reports. It generally includes the

names of the parties to the caseyear the decision of the court was delivered or publishedvolume number of the law reportabbreviation of the law report seriesfirst page at which the case is reported.

ExampleAnwar Siraj and Another v Ting Kang Chung John [2010] 1 SLR 1026

What is it?

1. The Law Reports (1865- ) The official set of law reports published by the Incorporated Council of

Law Reporting for England and Wales Text of each report is reviewed by judges before publication So, it takes between 10 and 14 months to report cases The only set of reports that has a summary of the

arguments of counsel The High Court and the Court of Appeal require that where a case has

been reported in the Law Reports, it must be cited from that source. Other series may only be used when a case is not reported in the Law Reports. See Practice Direction (Judgments: Form Citation) (Supreme Court) [2001] 1 WLR 194.

A. Modern Reports

1. The Law Reports (1865- ) (contd.) The 4 current series of the Law Reports are:

Title Reports Decisions of Ref

Appeal Cases(AC)

House of Lords, Privy Council &Court of Justice of the EuropeanCommunities

K2022 4C

Queen’s Bench(QB)

Queen’s Bench & Court of Appeal & ECJ on appeal from QB

K2022 2E

Family(Fam)

Family Division & Court of Appeal on appeal from Fam D

K2022 1C

Chancery(Ch)

Chancery Division & Court of Appeal on appeal from Ch D

K2022 3B

2. The Weekly Law Reports (WLR) (1953- ) Timely, full text reports. Ref: K2020 WNR 3. All England Law Reports (All ER) (1936- ) Timely, full text reports; contains editorial notes. Ref: K2020 AELR

4. Specialist series Contain a selection of cases in a discrete practice area. e.g. Lloyds Law Reports (maritime and commercial law)

Ref: K2020 LLLR

5. Newspapers Brief, edited reports. e.g. The Times Law Reports

Ref: K2020 TR/ K2020 TLR

Secondary sources are publications which refer and relateto the law, but are not themselves sources of law. These include: Textbooks, casebooks, etc. Legal encyclopaedias Legal periodicals Research literature. E.g. Theses Reference works. E.g. Dictionaries, directories,

bibliographies, digests, citators, indexes, etc.

Secondary sources assist in locating relevant primary sources of law assist in the interpretation of relevant primary sources.

Secondary sources are important: In legal research, referring to a secondary source is often the

first step in the learning the basics of a particular area of law;

Thorough legal research requires the use of the various categories of secondary sources;

Secondary sources may be cited in court in support of a particular proposition in law - a court may not be bound by secondary authorities, but books or articles written by eminent authors of reputable standing may have significant persuasive value in selecting between conflicting authorities (see guidelines in Citation of Secondary Authorities in Court, Supreme Court Registrar’s Circular, No.3 of 2004, s.2(b), online: Registrar’s Circulars http://app.supremecourt.gov.sg/data/doc/ManagePage/99/2004-3.pdf).

What do Abbreviations Mean?1. Print Index:Donald Raistrick, Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations, 3rd ed. (London: Bowker-Saur, 2008).Location: KB280 Rai 2008 (LW RBR; LW Reference Office; LW Reference1)

2. Online: Law Reference Desk http://libportal.nus.edu.sg/frontend/ms/c-j-koh-law-library/research/legal-resources-on-the-web/law-reference-desk

Librarian’s pick - Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations http://www.legalabbrevs.cardiff.ac.uk/

3. Journal ArticlesDora Neo, “The Sale of Goods (Amendment) Act 1996: Satisfactory Quality, an Undivided Share in a Bulk and other Amendments” (1997) 9 SAcLJ 362.

David Feldman, “The Nature of Legal Scholarship” (1989) 52 Mod.L.Rev. 498.

• Find out what journal the abbreviation stands for• Search for the journal title in LINC/LINC+

4. CasesSiang Hoa Goldsmith Pte Ltd v The Wing On Fire & Marine Insurance Co Ltd [1998] 2 SLR 777

David Wilson Homes Ltd v Survey Services Ltd (In Liquidation) [2001] EWCA Civ 34; [2001] 1 All E.R. (Comm) 449, CA; [2001] Build LR 267, 80 ConLR 8

Singapore Law Reports

Neutral citation.Format: Jurisdiction, Court

Citations from law reporters

[Year] reported in this reporter(Year) case was decidedIf the year is in (), then placethe comma after the year

Volume

Reporter

Page

Court

Lawton v. BOC Transhield Ltd., [1987] 2 All E.R. 608 Q.B.

Parties: Names in italics

Preferred manual for Faculty of Law: Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation, 7th ed. (Toronto: Thomson Carswell, 2010).Location: KB280.2 Can 2010 (LW Holdshelf, LW RBR, LW Reference Office, LW Reference 1)

See also:Citation & Legal Writinghttp://libguides.nus.edu.sg/aecontent.php?pid=108391&sid=844103

How to Cite References

Legal database by Singapore Academy of Law. The following materials are available via Lawnet

Singapore & Malaysia cases Journal articles Legislation, subsidiary legislation, Acts supplements etc. Parliamentary reports

http://www.law.nus.edu.sg/

For example :Doctor's Associates Inc v Lim Eng Wah (trading as SUBWAY NICHE)

Zimmerman’s Research Guide: http://www.lexisnexis.com/infopro/zimmerman/default.aspx#Lettert

Lexis IP Research Guide: http://www.lexisnexis.com/associates/usinglexisnexis/pubs/IP_guide.pdf

Online Research Beyond Lexis & Westlaw: http://www.law.ucla.edu/docs/guideg7.pdf#search=%22westlaw%20IP%20research%20guide%22

Westlaw Guides to IP Research: http://west.thomson.com/westlaw/guides/practice/ip.aspx

Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (www.ipos.gov.sg) European Patent Office (www.epo.org) US Patent & Trade Mark Office (www.uspto.gov) World Intellectual Property Organization (www.wipo.org) WTO TRIPS

(http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/trips_e.htm) Surf IP (www.surfip.gov.sg) IP Australia (www.ipaustralia.gov.au) UK IP Office (http://www.ipo.gov.uk/home.htm)

Contact usAddress: 469D Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 259773Tel: 6516 2043Email: cjkohlib@nus.edu.sgURL: http://libportal.nus.edu.sg/frontend/ms/c-j-koh-law-library/about-c-j-koh-law-library