ABSTRACT
The Singapore courts have had occasion to reference foreign law in several cases, and this has in turn generated a fair amount of scholarly literature. This chapter explains the practice of trans-judicial influence. Vicki Jackson argued that the way judges have used foreign law can broadly be characterised as conforming to one of three models: convergence, resistance, or engagement. Judges such as Justice Antonin Scalia of the US Supreme Court argue that considerations of enhancing the democratic legitimacy of judicial decisions and limiting judicial discretion require that comparative law be rejected decisively. David Tan's suggests that more recent decisions of the Singapore courts in the area of free speech rights, all of which were delivered during the tenure of Chan CJ, show a willingness to move 'beyond four walls' and engage with decisions from common law jurisdictions. Eugene Tan's chapter makes a more complex claim about current trends of trans-judicial influence in Singapore.
