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Changes to the Supreme Court Practice Directions



Four Practice Directions were issued by the Supreme Court in 2009.


Practice Direction No. 1 of 2009 introduces the requirement for a table of contents to be included in all bundles of authorities for use in court. The table of contents must contain a concise statement of the relevance of each authority to the specific issues before the court.


Practice Direction No. 2 of 2009 increases the quantum of security for costs for civil appeals to the Court of Appeal, payable under Order 57, Rule 3(3) of the Rules of Court. Previously, the quantum was fixed at $10,000, vide Practice Direction No. 5 of 1998. In order to ensure that the amount of security is commensurate with the current amount of costs likely to be awarded to a successful party in an appeal, the quantum was raised from $10,000 to $15,000 for interlocutory appeals and $20,000 for all other appeals.


Both Practice Direction No. 1 and Practice Direction No. 2 took effect on 31 August 2009.


Practice Direction No. 3 of 2009 establishes an opt-in framework for parties wishing to request for and/or apply for discovery and inspection of electronically stored documents. It sets out certain criteria which may be considered by the Court in considering if an order for the discovery and production of documents for inspection is necessary either for disposing fairly of the matter or for saving costs. It also includes a sample electronic discovery protocol which may be adopted by parties in the summons for directions, if they deem fit. This Practice Direction took effect on 1 October 2009.


Finally, Practice Direction No. 4 of 2009 was issued to regularise the citation of judgments following the issuance of the Singapore Law Reports (Reissue) 1965 – 2009 series at the Opening of the Legal Year 2010. The Practice Direction was effective 11 January 2010.