Penal Code 1871 - Singapore Statutes Online

Short title

1. This Act is the Penal Code 1871.

“Public servant”

21.—(1) The words “public servant” denote a person falling under any of the following descriptions:

(a)

every officer in the Singapore Armed Forces;

(b)

every judge;

(c)

every officer of a court of justice whose duty it is, as such officer, to investigate or report on any matter of law or fact, or to make, authenticate, or keep any document, or to take charge or dispose of any property, or to execute any judicial process, or to administer any oath, or to interpret, or to preserve order in the court, or to conduct mediation or other alternative dispute resolution process under any written law, and every person specially authorised by a court of justice to perform any of such duties;

[Act 18 of 2023 wef 31/01/2024]

(d)

every assessor assisting a court of justice or public servant;

(e)

every arbitrator or other person to whom any cause or matter has been referred for decision or report by any court of justice, or by any other competent public authority;

(f)

every person who holds any office by virtue of which he is empowered to place or keep any person in confinement;

(g)

every officer of the Government and every officer or employee of a body corporate established by a public Act for the purposes of a public function whose duty, as such officer or employee, is any of the following:

(i)	maintaining law and order;
(ii)	preserving the public peace;
(iii)	preventing and detecting offences;
(iv)	apprehending offenders or otherwise bringing offenders to justice;
(v)	executing summonses, subpoenas, orders to attend court, warrants, commitments and other legal processes issued by a court or Justice of the Peace; [Act 25 of 2021 wef 01/04/2022]
(vi)	maintaining order in the premises of the courts of justice;
(vii)	escorting and guarding prisoners and accused persons in remand;
(viii)	protecting the public health or safety or prevention of public inconvenience;

(h)

every officer whose duty it is, as such officer, to take, receive, keep or expend any property, on behalf of Government, or to make any survey, assessment, or contract on behalf of Government, or to execute any revenue process, or to investigate, or to report on any matter affecting the pecuniary interests of Government, or to make, authenticate or keep any document relating to the pecuniary interests of Government, or to prevent the infraction of any law for the protection of the pecuniary interests of Government, and every officer in the service or pay of Government, or remunerated by fees or commission for the performance of any public duty;

(i)

a member of the Public Service Commission, the Judicial Service Commission or the Legal Service Commission;

[Act 33 of 2021 wef 14/01/2022]

(j)

every person (other than a person mentioned in paragraph (g)) who is employed to carry out any of the duties, mentioned in paragraph (g)(i) to (vii), on behalf of the Government or a body corporate established by a public Act for the purposes of a public function, when that person is performing such duties.

Explanation 1.—Persons falling under any of the above descriptions are public servants, whether appointed by the Government or not.

Explanation 2.—Wherever the words “public servant” occur, they shall be understood of every person who is in actual possession of the situation of a public servant, whatever legal defect there may be in his right to hold that situation.

[19/2016; 15/2019]

(2) Despite subsection (1), the words “public servant” in sections 175, 178, 179, 180 and 228 does not include a judge as defined in the Administration of Justice (Protection) Act 2016.

[19/2016]

Public servant disobeying a direction of the law, with intent to cause injury to any person

166. Whoever, being a public servant, knowingly disobeys any direction of the law as to the way in which he is to conduct himself as such public servant, intending to cause, or knowing it to be likely that he will, by such disobedience, cause injury to any person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

Illustration

A, being an officer directed by law to take property under or pursuant to an enforcement order, or in execution in order to satisfy a decree, pronounced in Z’s favour by a court of justice, knowingly disobeys that direction of law, with the knowledge that he is likely thereby to cause injury to Z. A has committed the offence defined in this section.

[Act 25 of 2021 wef 01/04/2022]

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