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The State Courts of Singapore (known as the Subordinate Courts up to 6 March 2014) form the lower tier of the court system of Singapore, the upper tier being the Supreme Court. The State Courts comprise the District and Magistrates' Courts – both of which oversee civil and criminal matters – as well as specialised courts such as the Coroners' Courts and the Small Claims Tribunals.

History
The first official court to be established in Singapore was the Court of Judicature of Prince of Wales' Island, Singapore and Malacca, which was introduced by the Second Charter of Justice of 27 November 1826. The Charter extended to Singapore and Malacca (now officially Melaka) the jurisdiction of the Recorder's Court established in Prince of Wales' Island (now Penang; officially Pulau Pinang) by the First Charter of Justice of 25 March 1807; the Recorder was to remain based in Penang and travel on circuit to Singapore and Malacca, and to be assisted by the Resident Councillors in those settlements and the Governor of the Straits Settlements. At this time, there was only one level of courts in the Straits Settlements. Appeals lay to the King-in-Council, that is, the monarch of the United Kingdom acting by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council.

In 1868, the Court of Judicature was replaced by the Supreme Court of the Straits Settlements. This new court was granted jurisidiction to sit as a Court of Appeal in 1873 and, at the same time, a criminal court called the Court of Quarter Sessions was set up. It was presided over by the Senior and Junior Puisne Judges of the Supreme Court. However, about three years later this court was abolished. Some of the Puisne Judges' powers to hear criminal cases were conferred on magistrates, thus marking the creation of a lower tier of the judiciary.

In 1907, District Courts with criminal and civil (non-criminal) jurisdiction and Police Courts were established. The Police Courts replaced the Magistrates' Courts. After World War II, in 1955, the Police Courts were renamed the Magistrates' Courts. Finally, following Singapore's full independence on 9 August 1965, from 1971 the District Courts, Magistrates' Courts, Juvenile Courts and Coroner's Courts were designated as the Subordinate Courts of Singapore.

Constitution of the Courts


The Constitution vests the judicial power of Singapore in the Supreme Court, which is the upper tier of the court system, and in such subordinate courts that are created by law, which form the lower tier. The subordinate courts are the State Courts constituted under the State Courts Act, the Family Courts and Youth Courts constituted under the Family Justice Act, and other courts, tribunals, and judicial or quasi-judicial bodies from the decisions of which there is a right of appeal to the Supreme Court.

Up to 6 March 2014 the State Courts were simply known as the Subordinate Courts; the Family Courts and Youth Courts, which are Family Justice Courts, were not established as subordinate courts until 1 October 2014. Prior to that date, the Family Courts were specialised District Courts, and the predecessor to the Youth Courts was the Juvenile Court. The State Courts comprise the following subordinate courts:


 * District Courts.
 * Magistrates' Courts.
 * Coroners' Courts.
 * Small Claims Tribunals.
 * Employment Claims Tribunals.

The District Courts and Magistrates' Courts deal with criminal and civil (non-criminal) cases; their jurisdiction is described below. Coroners' Courts are presided over by the State Coroner, who is a District Judge, and other coroners who are all appointed by the Chief Justice. A Coroner's Court may hold an inquiry to determine a person's cause of death where (1) the person's body is found in Singapore; (2) the death or cause of death happened in Singapore; or (3) the death happened on board, or due to some incident on board, a Singapore-registered aircraft or marine vessel.

Small Claims Tribunals deal with disputes arising from contracts for the sale of goods or the provision of services, from certain tort claims relating to property damage, and from contracts for leases of residential premises not exceeding two years. Claims must be brought to a Tribunal within a year of the cause of action accruing, and usually cannot exceed S$10,000 unless the parties to a claim agree otherwise, in which case a Tribunal can hear a claim not exceeding $20,000. Small Claims Tribunals cannot hear any claim which the State Courts lack jurisdiction to deal with.

Employment Claims Tribunals deal with various contractual disputes such as claims relating to overtime payments, salaries, and termination benefits (including retrenchment and retirement benefits), and statutory disputes such as those arising under the Employment Act.

As of 2014, over 95% of all judicial cases in Singapore were heard in the State Courts, and on average they handled about 350,000 cases a year.

Qualifications of judicial officers
District judges, magistrates, and registrars of the State Courts are all Legal Service officers, and serve under the supervision and control of Singapore's Legal Service Commission. District judges and magistrates, who respectively preside over District Courts and Magistrates' Courts, are appointed by the President, acting on the Cabinet's advice, upon the recommendation of the Chief Justice. People may only be appointed District Judges and Magistrates if they have been for not than seven and three years respectively been qualified persons under the Legal Profession Act.

The Registrar of the State Courts and deputy registrars assist with the administration of the State Courts. They also preside over certain court hearings such as interlocutory matters, which are matters relating to the management of a case before it has been finally resolved. Registrars are appointed by the Chief Justice, and must be qualified persons under the Legal Profession Act.

Administration
The most senior judge of the State Courts is the Presiding Judge, who is a judge or judicial commissioner of the Supreme Court appointed by the President, acting on the advice of the Cabinet and upon the Chief Justice's recommendation. He or she has overall responsibility for the administration of the State Courts. The Presiding Judge may act as a judge in any State Court and exercise all the jurisdiction, power and privileges of a State Courts judge, while also sitting in the High Court or Court of Appeal. Justice See Kee Oon was appointed as Presiding Judge in 2014.

The State Courts have six operational units: the Civil Justice Division, the Community Justice and Tribunals Division, the Criminal Justice Division, the Centre for Dispute Resolution, the Corporate Services Division, and the Strategic Planning and Technology Division. The Presiding Judge is assisted by a Deputy Presiding Judge, who is presently Jennifer Marie. As she holds the concurrent appointment of Registrar of the State Courts, she heads the Corporate Services Division. As of 2015, the Civil and Criminal Justice Divisions were headed by Principal District Judges, the Community Justice and Tribunals Division and Centre for Dispute Resolution by Principal Directors, and the Strategic Planning and Technology Division by a Senior Director.

The Community Justice Centre
In light of the growing number of litigants (LiPs) who choose to represent themselves in court, a one-stop hub that provides greater integration of legal aid and social assistance to LiPs was deemed necessary. On 20 June 2012, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (now renamed as Ministry of Social and Family Development), Ministry of Law, Subordinate Courts (now renamed as State Courts), Tan Chin Tuan Foundation, and the Law Society of Singapore entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a Community Justice Centre (CJC) that seeks to assist unrepresented litigants through its services.

The Community Justice Centre (CJC) is an independent charity with IPC (Institute of Public Character) status conferred. Based in the State Courts, the CJC is committed to ensuring litigants in person (LIPs) have access to justice through community partnership. CJC aims to provide a wide range of support services for the litigants in Person (LIPs) and their family members. It will provide free practical and emotional support to LIPs in need as well as free legal advice at the legal clinics. Through the support of the CJC, the LiPs should be able to better present their case, follow proceedings and understand judicial rulings or pronouncements in their respective cases. In collaboration with other social services agencies, the CJC also hopes that the underlying social problems and concerns for the LiPs and their family members can be addressed.

The Patron of the CJC is Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon.

2012 United Nations Public Service Award
The establishment of the Help centre - which stands for Helping to Empower Litigants- in-Person - clinched the State Courts the second prize in the category of 'Improving the Delivery of Public Services' for Asia and the Pacific region.

2011 Singapore Quality Award with Special Commendation
The State Courts of Singapore won the coveted Singapore Quality Award 2011 with Special Commendation (SQA-SC), an award which represents the pinnacle of business excellence in Singapore.

2011 – Attained Singapore Quality Award with Special Commendation (SQA-SC)

2006 – Attained Singapore Quality Award (SQA)

2001 – Attained Singapore Quality Class (SQC)

State Courts building
Prior to 1975, the Criminal District and Magistrates' Courts were located on South Bridge Road between North Canal Road and Upper Pickering Street, the Traffic Courts were housed in the former Sepoy Lines Police Station in Outram, and the Civil District Courts operated out of the old Parliament House and the Supreme Court Building at St. Andrew's Road. The State Courts (then known as the Subordinate Courts) started operations at 1 Havelock Square on 15 September 1975. The building was intended to centralise the delivery of justice from these various courthouses. The nine-storey modernist building was designed by the Public Works Department (PWD) and the architectural firm Kumpulan Akitek.

Construction of the building began in January 1973, and when completed in 1975 it had 26 courtrooms. As the Courts' workload increased, more courtrooms were added over time. There are currently 40 courtrooms and 28 hearing chambers. The building has an octagonal shape with a sunlit central atrium, and has features that were innovative for its time such as a fire sprinkler system to protect the courtrooms' wooden wall panels. On 10 July 2013, the building was given conservation status on 10 July

Family Justice Courts


The Family Justice Courts occupy the Old Ministry of Labour Building at 3 Havelock Square. Designed by H. A. Stallwood, a PWD architect, in a Neoclassical style with Art Deco motifs, it was constructed between 1928 and 1930 for the Chinese Protectorate, an administrative body responsible for the well-being of Chinese residents of the Straits Settlements.

The Chinese Protectorate was renamed the Chinese Secretariat, and in 1955 became subsumed under the Ministry of Labour and Welfare which then took over the building. The Chinese Secretariat was dissolved in 1959, and the Ministry was reorganised and renamed the Ministry of Manpower in 1998. The building has been used as a courthouse since 1990, and was gazetted as a national monument on 27 February 1998. It was extensively renovated, with an underground link added between it and the State Courts building, and in 1999 was occupied by the Family and Juvenile Courts, which were subsequently renamed the Family Justice Courts.

New State Courts Towers
New premises are currently being constructed for the State Courts at Havelock Square. Following an open design competition which began in September 2011, in June the following year Serie Architects of the United Kingdom and Multiply Architects & Engineers LLP of Singapore were awarded the assignment of developing the new State Courts Towers and retrofitting the existing State Courts building. The groundbreaking ceremony for the project was held on 28 May 2014, and in February 2016 Samsung C&T Corporation was appointed as the contractor for the Towers. Construction works began in 2016 and are expected to be completed in 2019.

The State Courts Towers will consist of two towers, a Court Tower with more than 60 courtrooms and 50 hearing chambers, and an Office Tower accommodating the Courts' support functions. Each tower will be about 178 m tall, and will be linked by skybridges. According to the architects, the towers lack an external facade, which "represents the openness and impartiality of the judicial process". They will have outdoor garden terraces according aerial views of the city, "thereby reinforcing the civic role of the building". The tiled roofs of historical shophouses in nearby Chinatown will be echoed in the interior decoration of courtrooms, which will be clad in ribbed terracotta. The buildings will have a total floor area of 113,000 sqm.