This article surveys the attitude of Commonwealth courts to extraterritorial jurisdiction. it points out that whereas other Commonwealth courts favour the exercise of extraterritorial jurisdiction, courts in Malaysia and Singapore have adhered to a strict view based on the territoriality principle. In the context of the increase in transnational crime, such views should not be maintained. The article argues that existing provisions of the law could be read as admitting the exercise of extraterritorial jurisdiction. If such a course is not followed by the courts, there is an urgent need in this area for legislative reform.

This article brings into question some aspects of the nature, function and effect of the caveat in the Singapore Torrents system. Two questions are posed and the attempt to answer them has involved essentially an examination of the provisions of the Land Titles Act and gleanings from the experiences of other Torrens jurisdictions.

This paper argues that executive detention must be sanctioned either by Article 149 or 150 of the Constitution. The question of judicial review is considered with a view to showing that:- (i) a court may not inquire into the subjective satisfaction of the Minister or President who has ordered the detention; (ii) but a court may and should inquire whether a detainee has sufficient information with which to raise objections before the Advisory Board.

In Australian Consolidated Press v Uren, a 1970 decision on appeal from Australia, the Privy Council acknowledged that there was scope for divergent development of the common law in different jurisdictions. Statements of the Privy Council in several cases in the 1980s indicate that the Privy Council may have developed a more negative attitude toward divergent development of the common law, at least in those jurisdictions which have retained appeals to the Privy Council. In this article the author discusses the development of the common law in each of the jurisdictions which has given rise to one of the decisions of the Privy Council containing statements on divergent development of common law - Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and New Zealand. He then summarises his conclusions on the most important factors determining the scope for divergent development. Finally, he discusses the implications of the above analysis to the situation in Singapore.

This article surveys the current international movement on the protection of intellectual property rights and its impact on developing countries, in particular Thailand.