Ministry of Law (Singapore)

Ministry of Law
Agency overview
Jurisdiction	Government of Singapore
Headquarters	100 High Street, #08-02 The Treasury, Singapore 179434
Motto	A Trusted Legal System, A Trusted Singapore
Employees	1,022
Annual budget	S$555.57 million (2019)
Ministers responsible	K Shanmugam, Minister; Edwin Tong, Second Minister;
Agency executives	Lai Wei Lin, Permanent Secretary; Calvin Phua, Deputy Secretary;
Child agencies	Intellectual Property Office of Singapore; Singapore Land Authority;
Website	www.mlaw.gov.sg

The Ministry of Law (MinLaw; Chinese: 律政部; Malay: Kementerian Undang-Undang; Tamil: சட்ட அமைச்சு) is a ministry of the Government of Singapore responsible for regulating and reviewing legal policies including but not limited to intellectual property, land, insolvency, public trustee, moneylending, pawnbroking, supervision of precious stones and metal dealers, licensing of all law practice entities, legal aid, and community mediation.^[3]^[4] MinLaw sees itself as a legal services hub which cooperates with international and regional organisations on legal policy issues, providing support most notably within the ASEAN region.^[5]^[6]

Organisational structure[]

The Ministry of Law comprises

Headquarters (HQ)
Four departments (Insolvency and Public Trustee's Office, Legal Aid Bureau, Anti-Money Laundering / Countering the Financing of Terrorism Division, and Community Mediation Unit, the last of which oversees the Community Mediation Centres located at The Treasury and at the Subordinate Courts of Singapore)
Three boards and tribunals (Appeals Board for Land Acquisitions, Land Surveyors Board and Copyright Tribunal)
Two statutory boards (Intellectual Property Office of Singapore and Singapore Land Authority)

Ministers[]

The Ministry is headed by the Minister for Law, who is appointed as part of the Cabinet of Singapore. The incumbent minister is K. Shanmugam.

Portrait	Minister	Term start	Term end	Time in office	Political Party	Ref.
	Kenneth Michael Byrne	5 June 1959	17 October 1963	4 years, 134 days	People's Action Party
Vacant (18 October 1963 – 30 October 1964)				1 year, 12 days
	Edmund William Barker	1 November 1964	12 September 1988	23 years, 316 days		^[7]^[8]
	Shunmugam Jayakumar	12 September 1988	30 April 2008	19 years, 231 days
	K Shanmugam	1 May 2008	Incumbent	13 years, 282 days		^[9]^[10]

References[]

^ ^a ^b "Singapore Budget" (PDF).
^ "Permanent Secretary Appointments - 18 September 2020". Public Service Division. 18 September 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
^ "Ministry of Law". www.singaporelawwatch.sg. Singapore Law Watch. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
^ "What We Do". www.mlaw.gov.sg. Ministry of Law Singapore. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
^ Harding, Andrew (November 2018). "Multi-Level, Recursive Law and Development: Singapore 's Legal Role in ASEAN". Asian Journal of Law and Society. 5 (2): 251–269. doi:10.1017/als.2018.33.
^ "Legal services in Singapore: an interview with the British High Commissioner". www.lawsociety.org.uk. The Law Society. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
^ "Barker's sworn in as Law Minister". The Straits Times. Singapore. 1 November 1964. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
^ "Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong launches new E W Barker Centre for Law and Business at NUS". The Straits Times. 29 May 2017. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
^ Ong, Justin (28 September 2015). "Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announces Singapore's new Cabinet". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
^ Mahmud, Aqil Haziq (25 July 2020). "PM Lee announces new Cabinet; 6 office holders promoted, 3 retirements". CNA. Archived from the original on 25 July 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2020.

External links[]

[budget2019-1] "Singapore Budget" (PDF).

[2] "Permanent Secretary Appointments - 18 September 2020". Public Service Division. 18 September 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2020.

[3] "Ministry of Law". www.singaporelawwatch.sg. Singapore Law Watch. Retrieved 23 April 2021.

[4] "What We Do". www.mlaw.gov.sg. Ministry of Law Singapore. Retrieved 23 April 2021.

[5] Harding, Andrew (November 2018). "Multi-Level, Recursive Law and Development: Singapore 's Legal Role in ASEAN". Asian Journal of Law and Society. 5 (2): 251–269. doi:10.1017/als.2018.33.

[6] "Legal services in Singapore: an interview with the British High Commissioner". www.lawsociety.org.uk. The Law Society. Retrieved 23 April 2021.

[7] "Barker's sworn in as Law Minister". The Straits Times. Singapore. 1 November 1964. Retrieved 6 September 2013.

[8] "Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong launches new E W Barker Centre for Law and Business at NUS". The Straits Times. 29 May 2017. Retrieved 29 May 2017.

[CNA_20150928-9] Ong, Justin (28 September 2015). "Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announces Singapore's new Cabinet". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2015.

[:0-10] Mahmud, Aqil Haziq (25 July 2020). "PM Lee announces new Cabinet; 6 office holders promoted, 3 retirements". CNA. Archived from the original on 25 July 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2020.

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Ministry of Law (Singapore)

Contents

Organisational structure[]

Ministers[]

See also[]

References[]

External links[]