1. Welcome to C J Koh Law Library
Library Orientation for GCIA students
Presented by Carol Wee & Bissy Ithack
Date: 11th January 2017

2. Outline C J Koh Law Library- History, Collection, & Services.
NUS Library portal- Library Catalogue (FindMore/LINC), Searching Books & Journal Articles
Sources of Law- Singapore & UK
LawNet Database
Abbreviations & Citations
CJ Koh Law Library Home Page- Legal resources on web

3. Hon Sui Sen Memorial Library
Chinese Library
C J Koh Law Library
NUS Libraries
Central Library
Medical Library
Hon Sui Sen Memorial Library
Science Library
Music Library

4. C J Koh Law Library History
The library was originally established in September 1957, catering primarily to the Faculty of Law at the Bukit Timah Campus.
In April 1980, the Law Library moved to new premises at Kent Ridge, occupying two floors of the Faculty of Law building.

5. C J Koh Law Library
On 1st January 2001, the Law Library was renamed the C J Koh Law Library, in appreciation of Mr Koh Choon Joo’s generous donations to the library. After extensive renovations which began in July 2000, the library celebrated its official opening by the Honourable Chief Justice Yong Pung How on 27 February 2002.
Following the Government's announcement to reallocate Bukit Timah Campus to NUS on 28 May 2005, the Law Library made its historic return to its first home in August 2006.

6. Library collection
The C J Koh Law Library has a rich collection of local, foreign and international legal resources. The library’s traditional strength is in the common law. Apart from a comprehensive collection of Singapore legal materials, the library also has extensive collections of legal resources from Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The library has developed collections on comparative and international law, international trade law as well as the laws of the European Union.

7. C J Koh Law Library - Collection
C J Koh Law Library has a rich collection of local and international legal resources.
1st Storey-
RBR, RBR 1-Week Loan (Self-Service Loan)
Legislation/Law Reports, Singapore Malaysia Collection, Theses & Current Periodicals.
2nd Storey-
Bound Journals.
3rd Storey-
Books, ASEAN collection, Chinese collection.

8. Self-Service Loan RBR – 2 hrs loan RBR (1-Week Loan) – 7 days
LW Holdshelf - 7 days
Books on hold (Reserved / Ready for pick-up books)

9. Self-service Loan
A Library PIN is required to borrow books from this section.
For GCIA students your library PIN (Personal Identification Number) is your Singaporean NRIC no. or your passport number or FIN number without letters.
If it doesn't’ work, please use the link below to reset your PIN
For details please refer to the Library FAQ’s
Please use the Self-service Kiosk to borrow and return RBR books.

10. Library Collection 1st storey Entrance E-Resources
Legislation/ Law Reports
RBR/ RBR 1 week loan
E-Resources
Singapore/Malaysia
Current Journals, Reference, Theses
Information Desk/ Loans Desk
Legislation/ Law Reports
Entrance
1st storey

11. Library Collection
Bound Journals
Bound Journals
2nd storey

12. Library Collection
Books, ASEAN, Chinese
Books
3rd storey

13. Library opening hours
Term time Monday to Friday – 8 am to 10 pm Saturdays & Sundays – 10 am to 5 pm Public Holidays – Closed Please check Library website for opening hours

14. http://libportal. nus. edu

15. Library Opening Hours

16. Services Loans RBR books (1 book at a time) 2 hrs No online renewal
Book type
Loan Period
Online Renewal
RBR books (1 book at a time)
2 hrs
No online renewal
RBR (1-Week Loan)
1 week
Main Shelf Books
14 days
2 online renewals
Loan Entitlement: 20 books
RBR & RBR (1- Week Loan) books are kept in Self-service Loan facility (Level- 1)
Photocopy services
Photocopiers are available in the Library. Use Cash card/ EZ link card/ NETS Flash Pay(3¢ per page) to pay.

17. NUS Library Portal

18. FindMore
This search engine allows discovery of the library’s online and print collections in a single search.
Search by author, title or keyword
Refine search by “library catalogue”

19. How to find books?
Search by keywords or title in

20. FindMore

21. Library Integrated Catalogue- LINC
Select Books & Media tab and search by specific fields like title, author, keyword, subject or call number.

22. Searching catalogue (LINC)
Search by
specific field-
Title
Author
Keyword
Subject
ISBN
E.g.: Nigel Blackaby et al., Redfern and Hunter on international arbitration, vol. Sixthition, student version. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).

23. Searching catalogue (LINC)

24. Searching catalogue (LINC)
Find Location, status and call number to borrow it.
Please use the Self-service Kiosk to borrow RBR or RBR 1 –Week Loan books.

25. Searching Journal articles
Search by Journal name in FindMore/ LINC

26. Searching Journal articles

27. Primary sources of Law
Primary sources of law are authoritative records of law made by the law-making bodies of Singapore.
The 2 main sources of law are:
Legislation
Statutes
Subsidiary legislation
Quasi-legislation.
2. Case Law
Decisions of the Singapore courts.

28. Singapore Legislation
Introduction
The 2 main sources of legislation in Singapore today:
I. Statutes of the Republic
of Singapore
(primary legislation)
Ref: K
II. Subsidiary Legislation of
the Republic of Singapore (secondary legislation)
Ref: K

29. Singapore Legislation
Legislative Process
The Legislature, the law-making body in Singapore, comprises
the President
the Parliament of Singapore.
Statutes begin life as Bills which are drafted by legal officers in the Attorney-General's Chambers.
A Bill becomes law when it is
passed by Parliament and
assented to by the President.
An Act comes into force on a date determined by the Minister and notified by a Commencement Notification in the Government Gazette.

30. Where to find Singapore Statutes?
Free website: Singapore Statutes Online

31. UK Legislation Introduction
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland consists of 4 countries forming 3 distinct jurisdictions, being England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Since 1999, Scotland and Northern Ireland have had legislative bodies capable of producing primary legislation for those regions. In Wales, the powers of the National Assembly are limited to producing only secondary legislation.
© Travelonline.com

32. UK Legislation The 2 main sources of UK legislation are:
Acts of Parliament (primary legislation)
a. Public General Acts
b. Local and Personal Acts
II. Statutory Instruments (secondary legislation).

33. UK Legislation
There are several sources of full text Acts of Parliament.
However, it is important to distinguish between sources which
give the law as it currently stands (sources which incorporate repeals or amendments made since the Act was passed e.g. Halsbury’s Statutes) and
sources which give the text of the statute as it was originally published (e.g. Queen Printer’s copy)
Public General Acts access via UK Government website

34. UK Legislation Where to Find It UK Statutes and Statutory Instruments
(Legislation & Law Reports collection, Level 1)

35. Case Law

36. Law Reports of Singapore
Law reports are the published judgments of court cases. Cases are only selected for reporting if they raise or expand upon significant points of law.
Therefore, only a small proportion of cases are reported, and these are mainly from the Supreme Court (i.e. High Court, Court of Appeal and Constitutional Tribunal).

37. Law Reports of Singapore
A. Singapore Law Reports
The principle law report series in Singapore is the Singapore Law Reports. It covers cases from 1965.
Ref: K7599 SLR
Access via LawNet database (Faculty of Law website)

38. Law Reports of Singapore
B. Singapore Law Reports (Reissue)
The Academy of Law has re-issued the Singapore Law Reports from 1965 through 2009 with re-written headnotes for the reports from 1965 to 2002, and re-edited judgment texts that conform to the SAL house-style. This set of reports is called the Singapore Law Reports (Reissue).
Both the original SLR volumes from 1965 to 2002, and the Reissue are equally authoritative as each judgment reported in both remains in substance, though not in form, the same.
Ref: K7599 SLR

39. Law Reports of Singapore
C. Malayan Law Journal
The other law report series which is the major source of reported Singapore court decisions from is the Malayan Law Journal.
Ref: K7599 MLJ

40. Case Citation What is it?
A case citation is a reference to a legal case in the law reports.
It generally includes the
names of the parties to the case
year the decision of the court was delivered
or published
volume number of the law report
abbreviation of the law report series
first page at which the case is reported.
Example
Anwar Siraj and Another v Ting Kang Chung John [2010] 1 SLR 1026

41. Case Citation Neutral Citation
The neutral citation system is defined in s.63(8) of the Supreme Court Practice Directions as follows:
“A neutral citation is a Court-approved system of citation which is independent of the series of law reports or other publication, and unique to each written judgment. Each written judgment from a particular level of Court is assigned a sequential number, starting from 1 at the beginning of each calendar year.”
A similar definition can be found in s.53(1) of The Subordinate Courts Practice Directions (2006 Ed.)

42. Case Citation Neutral Citation
The neutral citation includes the following
Names of the parties to the case
Year of the decision
Jurisdiction/ Level of court
Sequential number
Paragraph number (s)
Example: Public Prosecutor v Nguyen Tuong Van [2004] SGHC 54, [1]

43. Law Reports of UK A. Modern Reports
The Law Reports (1865- )
The official set of law reports published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales
Text of each report is reviewed by judges before publication
So, it takes between 10 and 14 months to report cases
The only set of reports that has a summary of the arguments of counsel
The High Court and the Court of Appeal require that where a case has been reported in the Law Reports, it must be cited from that source. Other series may only be used when a case is not reported in the Law Reports. See Practice Direction (Judgments: Form Citation) (Supreme Court) [2001] 1 WLR 194.

44. Law Reports of UK Modern Reports Title Reports Decisions of Ref
The Law Reports (1865- ) (contd.)
The 4 current series of the Law Reports are:
Title
Reports Decisions of
Ref
Appeal Cases
(AC)
House of Lords, Privy Council &
Court of Justice of the European
Communities
K2022 4C
Queen’s Bench
(QB)
Queen’s Bench & Court of Appeal & ECJ on appeal from QB
K2022 2E
Family (Fam)
Family Division & Court of Appeal on appeal from Fam D
K2022 1C
Chancery
(Ch)
Chancery Division & Court of Appeal on appeal from Ch D
K2022 3B

45. Law Reports of UK 2. The Weekly Law Reports (WLR) (1953- )
Modern Reports
2. The Weekly Law Reports (WLR) (1953- )
Timely, full text reports.
Ref: K2020 WNR
3. All England Law Reports (All ER) (1936- )
Timely, full text reports; contains editorial notes.
Ref: K2020 AELR

46. Law Reports of UK Modern Reports
4. Specialist series
Contain a selection of cases in a discrete practice area.
e.g. Lloyds Law Reports (maritime and commercial law)
Ref: K2020 LLLR
5. Newspapers
Brief, edited reports.
e.g. The Times Law Reports
Ref: K2020 TR/ K2020 TLR

47. Baili -British and Irish Legal Information Institute
Free website – UK legislation & cases

48. Law Databases via Faculty website
Law databases are listed under Resources tab on the Faculty of Law website:
Case Track
LawNet
Westlaw
*No access to electronic resources (e-books, e-journals and databases) from the library website.

49. LawNet Lawnet is a service provided by the Singapore Academy of Law.
LawNet gives access to the following:-
Singapore Acts – Acts, subsidiary legislation
Cases – Reported cases( Singapore Law Reports),
unreported cases
Journal articles – Singapore Academy of Law Journal,
Singapore Journal of Legal Studies and more

50. LawNet

51. LawNet Searching Legislation
Example : Arbitration Act (Cap. 10), International Arbitration Act (Cap.143 A)

52. LawNet - Cases
Coop International Pte Ltd v Ebel SA - [1998] 1 SLR(R) 615

53. LawNet- Searching articles
Jeffrey Pinsler, “Is Discovery Available Prior to the Commencement of Arbitration Proceedings?” [2005] SJLS. 64

54. Free websites for legal information
CanLII – Access to Canadian Legal information HKLII – Access to Hong Kong legal information AusLII – Access to Australasian legal information AsianLII – Access to Asian law WorldLII – World legal information

55. Abbreviations & Citations
Journal articles Dora Neo, “The Sale of Goods (Amendment) Act 1996: Satisfactory Quality, an Undivided Share in a Bulk and other Amendments” (1997) 9 SAcLJ 362. David Feldman, “The Nature of Legal Scholarship” (1989) 52 Mod.L.Rev. 498.
Find out what journal the abbreviation stands for
Search for the journal title in LINC/LINC+

56. Abbreviations & Citations
Singapore Cases Siang Hoa Goldsmith Pte Ltd v The Wing On Fire & Marine Insurance Co Ltd [1998] 2 SLR 777
Singapore Law reports

57. Abbreviations & Citations
1. Print Index:
Donald Raistrick, Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations, 3rd ed. (London: Bowker-Saur, 2008).
Location: KB280 Rai 2008 (LW RBR; LW Reference Office; LW Reference1)
2. Online: Law Reference Desk
Librarian’s pick - Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations

58. Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations

59. C J Koh Law Library Homepage
Legal Resources on the Web

60. If you have any queries, email cjkohlib@nus.edu.sg
Thank you
If you have any queries, or
speak to a librarian at C J Koh Law Library Information Desk: