Reception and Resistance: Globalisation, International Law and the Singapore Constitution

The increasing permeability of the domestic legal order to international regulatory regimes has given rise to what some call the "internationalisation of constitutional law." This presupposes that there are different layers of governance ranging from the local and global levels in such fields as market integration and human rights protection and a gradual convergence between international and constitutional law in this respect. International law may influence the constitutional landscape where legislation or institutions are modelled after international standards, and where rights adjudication is impacted by treaty, customary international law or even soft law. This paper examines Singapore practice, with a focus on human rights law and constitutional adjudication, and how international law, which as a source of collective standards may harmonise the laws of nations, has influenced domestic constitutional law. In particular, it notes that while international best practices may receive a warm reception in the field of commercial law, more resistance has been encountered in relation to public law, where legal culture influences the shaping of an autochthonous constitutional order. For example, while Singapore courts do engage with foreign decisions, they have rejected rights-expansive cases contrary to their protection of communitarian values. While treaties must be incorporated to have municipal legal effect, the Singapore courts have affirmed that if the customary international legal status of a norm is established, it automatically applies in the domestic context, although the predominant view is that municipal law enjoys legal priority.