Civil Law (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 3/1966

Read the first time on 23rd February 1966.

An Act to amend the Civil Law Ordinance (Chapter 24 of the Revised Edition).

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows: —

Short title and commencement

1. This Act may be cited as the Civil Law (Amendment) Act, 1966, and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Amendment of section 3

2. Section 3 of the Civil Law Ordinance (hereinafter in this Act referred to as “the Ordinance”) is hereby amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “the Courts Ordinance” appearing in the seventeenth and eighteenth lines of paragraph (c) thereof and substituting therefor the words “any written law for the time being in force relating to the courts”; and
(b)	by deleting the marginal note “Cap. 3.” thereto.

Amendment of section 5

3. Section 5 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting the words “the Colony” wherever they appear therein and substituting therefor the word “Singapore”.

Amendment of section 12

4. Subsection (11) of section 12 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —

(a)

by deleting the full-stop appearing at the end thereof and substituting therefor a colon; and

(b)

by adding thereto the following proviso: —

“Provided that in deducing any relationship referred to in this subsection any illegitimate person or any person who has been adopted, or whose adoption has been registered, in accordance with the provisions of any written law shall be treated as being or as having been the legitimate offspring of his mother and reputed father or, as the case may be, of his adopters.”.

New section 12A

5. The Ordinance is hereby amended by inserting immediately after section 12 thereof the following new section: —

“Power of courts to award interests on debts and damages

12A. In any proceedings tried in any court for the recovery of any debt or damages, the court may, if it thinks fit, order that there shall be included in the sum for which judgment is given interest at such rate as it thinks fit on the whole or any part of the debt or damages for the whole or any part of the period between the date when the cause of action arose and the date of the judgment:

Provided that nothing in this section —

(a)	shall authorise the giving of interest upon interest; or
(b)	shall apply in relation to any debt upon which interest is payable as of right whether by virtue of any agreement or otherwise; or
(c)	shall affect the damages recoverable for the dishonour of a bill of exchange.”.

Amendment of section 16

6. Section 16 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —

(a)

by deleting subsection (1) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —

“(1) When a right to the personal estate of any person who dies intestate without next of kin has accrued to the Government, such personal estate or the proceeds thereof shall form part of the Consolidated Fund and shall be appropriated as part of such revenue to such public purposes as Parliament may from time to time think proper and direct:

Provided that it shall be lawful for the President, by warrant, to order the transfer of the whole or any part of such personal estate, or the proceeds thereof, to any person or persons who shall establish to the satisfaction of the President any equitable or moral claim thereto.”; and

(b)

by deleting the words “Certain droits of the Crown” appearing in the marginal note thereto and substituting therefor the words “Bona vacantia”.

New section 17A

7. The Ordinance is hereby amended by inserting immediately after section 17 thereof the following new section: —

“Moneys payable under policy of assurance not to form part of the estate of the insured

17A.—(1) A policy of assurance effected by any man on his own life and expressed to be for the benefit of his wife or of his children or of his wife and children or any of them, or by any woman on her own life and expressed to be for the benefit of her husband or of her children or of her husband and children or any of them, shall create a trust in favour of the objects therein named, and the moneys payable under any such policy shall not so long as any object of the trust remains unperformed form part of the estate of the insured or be subject to his or her debts.

(2) If it is proved that the policy was effected and the premiums paid with intent to defraud the creditors of the insured, they shall be entitled to receive out of the moneys payable under the policy a sum equal to the premiums so paid.

(3) The insured may by the policy or by any memorandum under his or her hand appoint a trustee or trustees of the moneys payable under the policy, and from time to time appoint a new trustee or new trustees thereof, and may make provision for the appointment of a new trustee or new trustees thereof and for the investment of the moneys payable under any such policy.

(4) In default of any such appointment of a trustee such policy immediately on its being effected shall vest in the insured and his or her legal personal representatives in trust for the purposes aforesaid.

(5) If at the time of the death of the insured or at any time afterwards there is no trustee, or it is expedient to appoint a new trustee or new trustees, a trustee or trustees or a new trustee or new trustees may be appointed by the High Court.

(6) The receipt of a trustee or trustees duly appointed or in default of any such appointment or in default of notice to the insurance office the receipt of the legal personal representative of the insured, shall be a discharge to the office for the sum secured by the policy or for the value thereof in whole or in part.

(7) Nothing in this section shall affect the disposal of any property according to Muslim law.”.

Amendment of section 18

8. Section 18 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting the words “the Colony” appearing in the third line thereof and substituting therefor the word “Singapore”.

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