Under section 73 of the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act, the insured can easily create a trust of the life policy taken out by him. Unfortunately, however, problems often occur. Such a statutory trust has in many a case been unwittingly created by the life assured without his ever realising the full consequences of what he had done. The present article discusses how this unwarranted situation can arise (including the different kinds of interests thereby constituted) as well as how the resulting trust may drastically restrict the insured's rights and options under the policy.

The tort of breach of statutory duty is currently in a somewhat precarious state. In England, the courts in recent years have shown a tendency to refuse claims for breach of statutory duty in almost all cases other than those involving issues of industrial safety. In Singapore, decisions have been reached in which it is doubtful whether the tort has been considered or applied at all. This article discusses the traditional approaches to the tort of breach of statutory duty, considers its present (and arguably unsatisfactory) position in the law, and examines the prospects for its future as a tort of diminished status and limited application.

A special legal process for dealing with small claims was established in 1984. Under this process, a Small Claims Tribunal is conferred jurisdiction to hear and determine some disputes. The dispute settlement process adopted is simple and efficient. The tribunal is not bound by the rules of evidence. It is also not bound by the strict technicalities of the law. This article examines the important issue of what cases the tribunal should be allowed to determine.

The negative pledge clause has been in use for many years and is to be found in virtually all loan documents. The negative pledge clause usually seeks to protect the unsecured creditor by providing contractually that the debtor shall not, so long as any part of the indebtedness remains outstanding, create any security in favour of another creditor. It is also used to protect floating chargees by restricting the freedom which the chargor has to deal with the assets comprised in the floating charge. The efficacy of the negative pledge clause depends on a number of factors. In some instances, the negative pledge clause will improve the position of the unsecured creditor and the floating chargee. This "security" aspect of the negative pledge clause is discussed in this article.

Exception 4 to Section 300 of the Penal Code has had an interesting history. For many years, it remained shrouded in mystery, at least in the local context, in that there were not many illustrations as to how the Singapore courts would apply the Exception to a give fact situation. Even after the pronouncements of the Privy Council in Mohamed Kunjo v PP [ 1978] 1 MLJ 51, there were not many cases where the Singapore courts had the opportunity to follow up on the lead of the Privy Council. However, after the case of PP v Seow Khoon Kwee [1989] 2 MLJ 100, there has been a deluge of cases in which the courts have had the opportunity to apply sudden fight. This article attempts to scrutinise the local cases in order to determine the corpus juris with regard to sudden fight in Singapore.

A unifying principle underlying the economic torts - interference with contract, conspiracy, intimidation and unlawful interference with trade or business - has yet to be authoritatively recognised by the courts. For this reason, the development of the underlying legal and policy bases of liability and non-liability with respect to these torts has been hindered to a considerable extent. The current boundaries of their operation are consequently also unduly restricted, and they co-exist somewhat uncomfortably with analogous and overlapping principles of liability in other areas of the law, principally equity. This article offers some suggestions as to the rationalisation and resolution of some of these issues and attempts to map what, in the writer's view, is the best way forward. In particular, it is submitted that a general principle of liability for intentionally inflected non-physical harm, subject to a sufficiently wide and pliable defence of justification, should be recognised by the common law.

The dichotomy traditionally drawn in copyright law between literary works and artistic works has to be reviewed in the light of recent cases, from England and Singapore, holding that circuit diagrams and the like qualify as a literary work and as an artistic work. This article examines the implications arising from the overlap between literary copyright and artistic copyright in this area.