SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Randolph Khoo, See Chern Yang, Tan Ei Leen and Sharon Ki, Drew & Napier
or improperly obtained evidence may weigh against its admission by the court.
Rules”), both of which came into operation on 1 April 2022. Under the ROC 2021, a single consolidated applica - tion must be filed by the enforcing applicant, regard - less of whether that party intends to seek one or multi - ple types of enforcement orders (Order 22 Rule 2 (1) of the ROC 2021). The single application is filed by way of summons, supported by an affidavit that complies with the requirements set out in Order 22 Rule 2 (4) of the ROC 2021. It may be filed without notice to the opposing party but cannot be filed earlier than three days after a judgment is served (Order 22 Rule 2 (3) of the ROC 2021). Where multiple methods of enforcement are sought, the application must specify the sequence in which they are to be carried out (Order 22 Rule 6 (1) of the ROC 2021). If no such sequence is stated, the sheriff of the court may carry out the enforcement terms in any sequence or concurrently at the sheriff’s discre - tion (Order 22 Rule 6 (2) of the ROC 2021). Only one court order should be drawn up by the party who takes out the application (Order 17 Rule 3 (4) of the ROC 2021). This potentially simplifies the process but also means that applicants must take care to consider all available enforcement options before proceeding with the application. In the UK, there appears to be a more liberal stand - ard, which allows even new parties to be joined after judgment for the purpose of enforcement (see C Inc plc v L (2001) 2 Lloyd’s Rep 459). The Singapore court has not adopted this liberal standard but held that a person may not be added or joined after judg - ment is granted and expiry of the time for appeal (see Shanghai Shipyard Co Ltd v Opus Tiger 1 Pte Ltd and another and other appeals and another matter (2022) 1 SLR 643 at (11) to (17)). Types of Enforcement Methods An enforcing applicant may apply for the following types of enforcement orders: • order for seizure and sale of property; • order for delivery or possession of property; • order for attachment of debt; • order for committal; and
2. Domestic Judgments 2.1 Types of Domestic Judgments
The types of judgments in Singapore may be divided into two categories based on the nature of the reliefs they grant: • money judgments are judgments for a specified amount of money; and • non-money judgments are judgments for other types of relief, such as declaratory relief, injunctive relief or specific performance. Both money and non-money judgments can be grant - ed after a full trial, with the benefit of cross-exami - nation of affidavit evidence, or without a full trial in limited circumstances. Examples of this include the following. • Default judgments are obtained if a defendant fails to file a notice of intention to contest or not contest the claim, or if the defendant neglects or fails to file a defence. • Summary judgments are obtained through an expedited summary procedure, which is only avail - able in cases where a defendant has no defence to a claim or part thereof. Where a defendant is able to demonstrate the existence of a genuine triable issue, the court may instead choose to grant such a defendant permission to defend the action at trial unconditionally or on such terms as it thinks fit. • Consent judgments are entered into with the con - sent of the parties to bring the proceedings to a close. 2.2 Enforcement of Domestic Judgments There are several prescribed methods for the enforce - ment of domestic judgments in Singapore. The ter - minology for the methods of enforcement and their procedures involved under the Rules of Court 2014 (the “Revoked Rules”) have since undergone chang - es due to the introduction of the new Rules of Court 2021 (the “ROC 2021”), as well as the new Singapore International Commercial Court Rules 2021 (the “SICC
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