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296 Singapore Academy of Law Journal (2003) any party may for any sufficient reason at any time apply to the High Court for an order that the proceedings be transferred to a District Court. (2) The High Court may thereupon, if it thinks fit, order that the proceedings be transferred accordingly notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act. (emphasis added) 209 The effect of this section is to give “the High Court an unfettered discretion to transfer at any time any proceedings commenced by writ of summons to the district court. The words ‘notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act’ have the effect of vesting in the High Court the jurisdiction to increase the ordinary civil jurisdiction of the district court.” (per Chan Sek Keong JC (as he then was), Australian Master Builders Co Pty Ltd v Ng Tai Tuan 128 ) (a) Only proceedings commenced by a writ of summons may be transferred down 210 It should be noted that under Section 37, only actions commenced by way of writs of summons may be transferred down from the High Court to the District Court. Thus, if an originating summons is to be transferred from the High Court to the Family Court, it must first be “converted” into a writ under Order 28 Rule 8 (Continuation of proceedings as if cause or matter begun by writ) of the Rules of Court 129 . 128 [1987] SLR 539 129 Order 28, Rule 8 of the Rules of Court states: 8. -(1) Where, in the case of a cause or matter begun by originating summons, it appears to the Court at any stage of the proceedings that the proceedings should for any reason be continued as if the cause or matter had been begun by writ, it may order the proceedings to continue as if the cause or matter had been so begun and may, in particular, order that pleadings shall be delivered or that any affidavits shall stand as pleadings, with or without liberty to any of the parties to add thereto or to apply for particulars thereof. (2) Where the Court decides to make such an order, Order 25, Rules 2 to 7, shall, with the omission of so much of Rule 7 (1) as requires parties to serve a notice specifying the orders and directions which they require and with any other necessary modifications, apply as if there had been a summons for directions in the proceedings and that order were one of the orders to be made thereon. (3) This Rule applies notwithstanding that the cause or matter in question could not have been begun by writ. (4) Any reference in these Rules to an action begun by writ shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as including a reference to a cause or matter proceedings in which are ordered under this Rule to continue as if the cause or matter had been so begun.
15 SAcLJ Matrimonial Assets and the 3 rd Party 297 It will not be possible to transfer ancillary matters pending in the High Court to the Family Court, as the originating process would be a petition and not a writ of summons. In this regard, other types of actions such as bankruptcy, companies’ winding up actions and probate matters, which are commenced by petitions, may also not be transferred from the High Court to the Family Court. (b) Proceedings commenced under specific legislation only giving jurisdiction to High Court 211 It is further submitted that if the High Court proceedings were commenced under specific legislation only giving jurisdiction to the High Court (for example, an application taken out under Section 73B of the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act (Cap. 61) 130 (as was done in the case of Soh Lai Chan, supra)) such proceedings would fall outside the scope of Section 37. The High Court would therefore not have the power to transfer the case down to the District Court. The rationale for this is that if Parliament has expressly given the jurisdiction over cases coming under the specific legislation to the High Court alone, the courts should not go against Parliament’s intention by transferring such cases to the District Court under Section 37. 212 This argument is reinforced by the fact that there is already a specific legislative mechanism for the District Court to be conferred jurisdiction to deal with certain classes of cases that only the High Court would have had jurisdiction to deal with. Under Section 28A (Allocation of proceedings to District Court) of the SCJA, the Chief Justice may by order direct certain classes of cases commenced in the High Court to be heard by the District Court, and confer jurisdiction on the District Court to do so. 131 (The Transfer Order and the Second Transfer Order, which 130 The term “court” in the Act is defined as “High Court”—see Section 2(Interpretation) of the said Act. 131 Section 28A SCJA states: (1) The Chief Justice may, where he considers it necessary or expedient to improve efficiency in the administration of justice and to provide for more speedy disposal of proceedings commenced in the High Court, by order direct such class or classes or description of proceedings as may be specified in the order to be heard and determined by the District Court. (2) Notwithstanding any other written law, any order under subsection (1) — (a) may confer jurisdiction on a District Court to hear and determine — (i) any proceedings specified in the order which, but for the order, the District Court would not have jurisdiction to hear and determine by reason only of the fact that the amount involved exceeds the monetary limit of its jurisdiction; or (ii) any proceedings relating to any of the ma tters referred to in [continued next page]
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