Book Reviews: The Law of Torts in Singapore by Gary Chan Kok Yew

Abstract

The Law of Torts in Singapore is the first local torts textbook in Singapore. It is published under Academy Publishing’s “Law Practice Series”, which aims to build up a library of textbooks on important aspects of Singapore law. The present book is a prominent addition to that series. The book is divided into twenty chapters, with seventeen chapters written by Gary Chan Kok Yew, the book’s stated author. Lee PeyWoan contributed two other chapters, and co-wrote one other chapter with the author. These twenty chapters cover the major torts, with an understandable concentration on the tort of negligence. Apart from negligence, the other chapters also cover intentional torts to the person, breach of statutory duty, interference with land, occupiers’ liability, interference with goods, defamation, false representations, the economic torts, protection of privacy and malicious prosecution/misfeasance of public office. There are further chapters that deal with more “general” aspects of the law of torts, such as an introductory chapter discussing (in a more theoretical vein) the aims of the law of torts, as well as more doctrinal chapters discussing the various possible parties in a tort action, vicarious liability, and remedies. This is a comprehensive spread of coverage that is similar to other contemporary textbooks of this nature (see e.g., Carolyn Sappideen & Prue Vines, eds., Fleming’s The Law of Torts, 10th ed. (Sydney: Lawbook Co., 2011). In the preface, the author states that the book’s aim is “to provide a synthesis of the law of torts in Singapore by bringing together… a discussion of Singapore court decisions and statutes as well as reviews and commentaries on these developments, and by tapping on the deep reservoir of English and Commonwealth precedents” (at p. ix). As we shall soon see, the book more than meets this broadly stated aim.