Early life and education
Chan was born in 1937 in Ipoh,Malaya as the third of five children in an ethnic Chinese family of Cantonese descent. His father was a clerk in the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. During World War II,Chan and his family fled from Ipoh to Taiping to live with his grandfather.
Along with his elder brother,Chan received his early education in King Edward VII School in Taiping. When the war ended in 1945,he returned to Ipoh and continued studying at Anderson School. Chan,who was then eight years old,was placed with other children who had missed entering school at the usual age of six years. At the time,Anderson School was the premier government school in Ipoh. In school,he interacted well with students of other ethnicities. In 1955,Chan scored eight distinctions for his Senior Cambridge School Certificate examinations—one of the best in Malaya that year. He was offered a teaching bursary. However,as a teaching career was not what he envisaged,he continued on to the sixth form in hopes of securing a place in a university.
During his second year of the sixth form course,Chan heard from his English literature teacher,Dr. Alan Etherton,that a law professor from the University of Malaya would be visiting the school to encourage students in the form to take up a new law course offered by the university. Etherton saw Chan's potential for law and urged him to go for it. Chan,unaware about the career prospects that a law degree could offer,heeded Etherton's advice and went for an interview conducted by Professor Lee Sheridan. [3]
Career
After being admitted to the bar on 31 January 1962,Chan practised as a lawyer for a number of years first with Bannon &Bailey in Kuala Lumpur and then with Braddell Brothers and Shook Lin &Bok in Singapore before being appointed the first Judicial Commissioner of Singapore on 1 July 1986. Two years later,he became a Judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore.
In 1992,Chan was appointed Attorney-General. Acting in this capacity in 1997,he submitted an opinion to the Singapore government that although the Parliamentary Elections Act forbade unauthorised persons to loiter within 200 metres of polling stations on polling day,this did not apply to unauthorised persons who were inside the stations. Chan was asked to render this opinion following a complaint by the Workers' Party that during the 1997 general election former People's Action Party Members of Parliament had loitered in polling stations. [4]
Chan relinquished the position of Attorney-General on 11 April 2006 when he was appointed Chief Justice. He retired in 2012,having spent 26 years in legal service. In October 2013,he joined the National University of Singapore's Faculty of Law as its first Distinguished Fellow. The term of appointment is on an honorary basis and will be for an initial period of three years. As a Distinguished Fellow,Chan pursued research and writing projects. [5]
In October 2019,Chan called for a review of the constitutional validity of Section 377A. [6]
There is a long history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activity in Singapore. Male homosexuality was outlawed under British rule, despite being acknowledged among the local population. Following Japanese occupation during World War II and the country gaining independence, homosexuality and transvestism were visible as a street scene, and from the 1970s were catered for in some nightclubs. In that decade also, Singapore became a centre of gender-reassignment surgery.
Taiping is a town located in Larut, Matang and Selama District, Perak, Malaysia. It is located approximately 48 km (30 mi) northwest of Ipoh, the capital of Perak, and 78 km (48 mi) southeast of George Town, Penang. With a population of 245,182, it is the second largest town in Perak after Ipoh, the state capital.
The Supreme Court of Singapore is a set of courts in Singapore, comprising the Court of Appeal and the High Court. It hears both civil and criminal matters. The Court of Appeal hears both civil and criminal appeals from the High Court. The Court of Appeal may also decide a point of law reserved for its decision by the High Court, as well as any point of law of public interest arising in the course of an appeal from a court subordinate to the High Court, which has been reserved by the High Court for decision of the Court of Appeal.
The National University of Singapore Faculty of Law is Singapore's oldest law school. NUS Law was initially established in 1956 as the Department of Law in the University of Malaya. After its establishment, NUS Law was Singapore's only law school for half a century, until the subsequent establishment of the SMU School of Law in 2007 and the SUSS School of Law in 2017. NUS Law is currently located at the NUS Bukit Timah Campus. The current dean of NUS Law is Andrew Simester. Internationally, NUS Law has been ranked twelfth by the QS World University Rankings by Subject in 2023 and ninth by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject in 2023.
Yong Pung How was a Malayan-born Singaporean judge who served as chief justice of Singapore between 1990 and 2006.
Chung Thye PhinMSC, JP was a Chinese Malayan business magnate, planter, miner, bureaucrat, and philanthropist who served as the last Kapitan Cina of Perak and Malaya. He was reported to be the richest man in Penang.
Cheng San Group Representation Constituency was a Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the North-eastern region in Singapore. The GRC consisted of the eastern part of Ang Mo Kio, Jalan Kayu, Seletar Hills, part of Serangoon North, a large part of Hougang, Buangkok, and the whole of Sengkang New Town and Punggol New Town.
Ong Hock Thye (1908–1977), PMN, PSM, DPMS, also known as H. T. Ong, was Chief Judge of Malaya and a Barrister-at-Law of Middle Temple. He was the son of Mr. Ong Teng Up and was born in Penang in 1908. In 1935, he married Chong Khew Yin (1915–1942). In 1943, he married Mary Chung Yuet See (1924–1995), the eldest daughter of Kapitan China Chung Thye Phin.
The judicial officers of the Republic of Singapore work in the Supreme Court and the State Courts to hear and determine disputes between litigants in civil cases and, in criminal matters, to determine the liability of accused persons and their sentences if they are convicted.
The Malaysian Bar is a professional body which regulates the profession of lawyers in peninsular Malaysia. In Malaysia, there is no distinction between a barrister and a solicitor, in that, it is a fused profession. Membership into the Bar is automatic and mandatory. The bar was created under the Legal Profession Act 1976. Like other bar associations around the world, it has a wide range of functions, including, to protect the reputation of the legal profession, to uphold the cause of justice, to express its views on matters relating to legislations, and others.
Choor Singh Sidhu, known professionally as Choor Singh, was a Singaporean lawyer who served as a judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore and, particularly after his retirement from the bench, a philanthropist and writer of books about Sikhism. Born to a family of modest means in Punjab, India, he came to Singapore at four years of age. He completed his secondary education in the top class at Raffles Institution in 1929, then worked as a clerk in a law firm before becoming a civil servant in the Official Assignee's office.
The Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) is a promotion and development agency for Singapore's legal industry. SAL also undertakes statutory functions such as stakeholding services and the appointment of Senior Counsel, Commissioners for Oaths and Notaries Public. It also organises the annual TechLaw.Fest with the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) and MP International. The conference is a global gathering of legal and tech professionals and has featured speakers like Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Law Minister K. Shanmugam.
Leong Sin Nam 梁燊南, alias Leong Sin, Leung Sin, Leong Sin Hee, was a Malaysian businessman. He migrated and settled in British Malaya in 1898. From humble beginnings, he worked hard to become a wealthy tin mine owner in Perak. He was a businessman, an active community leader and a philanthropist. He was a Chinese revolutionary with similar aspirations as Dr. Sun Yat Sen and a strong supporter of the Chinese war efforts during the Sino-Japanese war.
Sundaresh Menon is a Singaporean lawyer and judge who has been serving as chief justice of Singapore since 2012.
Tan Boon Teik was a Singaporean judge who served as the second attorney-general of Singapore between 1969 and 1992. At the age of 39, Tan was the youngest person to be appointed as attorney-general, and was the longest-serving attorney-general after the Independence of Singapore, after 25 years in office.
Tun Mohamed Raus bin Sharif is a retired Malaysian lawyer who served as the eighth Chief Justice of Malaysia from 1 April 2017 until 31 July 2018. He replaced Arifin Zakaria.
Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Anderson or short nameSMK Anderson or Anderson School Ipoh, is a Malaysian government secondary school located on Jalan Hospital.
Punch Coomaraswamy was a Singaporean judge, diplomat and politician who served as Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore between 1966 and 1970, and Singapore Ambassador to the United States between 1976 and 1984.
Shook Lin & Bok is a law firm with offices in Singapore and Malaysia.
