Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation: Legislation

*Important note: The 2020 Revised Edition of Acts came into force on 31 December 2021.

Refer to this AGC website for changes to citation format for legislation: https://www.agc.gov.sg/our-roles/drafter-of-laws/legislation-and-revisions.

"When the 2020 Revised Edition comes into force, it will generally be sufficient to cite the short title of a revised Act without its chapter number. Citing the chapter number (together with the year of the Revised Edition) will only be necessary when citing a repealed Act or a specific historical version of an Act." -- Guide to the 2020 Revised Edition of Acts, xii.

Example 1. Penal Code 1871 (refer to Infographic)

Example 2. "If the reference is not to the current Act in force but to a superseded or repealed Act, cite the citation in full as it was e.g. Criminal Procedure Code (Cap. 68, 1985 Revised Edition)” (refer to No.3p on the List of Standard Revision Changes)

Citations to statutes as recommended in the McGill Guide below will need to take into account these recent changes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

References for this section are taken from E-220 to E-222 of the McGill Guide (8th ed)

A) Revised Editions

• Revised Editions are abbreviated to Rev Ed, where there is indication that the legislative documents are from Singapore, e.g. constitutional documents
• Otherwise, abbreviate to Rev Ed Sing.

B) Constitutional Documents

• Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (1999 Rev Ed), art 12(1).

• Independence of Singapore Agreement 1965 (1985 Rev Ed).

• Republic of Singapore Independence Act (1985 Rev Ed), No 9 of 1965, s 2.

C) Statutes*

i. Statutes from the Revised Edition of the Statutes of the Republic of Singapore:

• Currency Act (Cap 69, 2002 Rev Ed Sing).

• Protection from Harassment Act (Cap 256A, 2015 Rev Ed Sing), s 4.

ii. Statutes not yet assigned a Revised Edition chapter number:

• Deep Seabed Mining Act 2015 (No 6 of 2015, Sing), s 3.

• COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020 (No 14 of 2020, Sing), s 3.

D) Subsidiary Legislation

For legislation type, use Reg for regulation, R for rule, N for notification or O for order, followed by the number. 

Pinpoint using reg for regulation, r for rule, n for notification or o for order. Note that the type of pinpoint may differ from the type of instrument (e.g. a rule may contain orders).

Revised	Employment (Part-Time Employees) Regulations (Cap 91, Reg 8, 1997 Rev Ed Sing), reg 10. Land Titles Rules (Cap 157, R 1, 1999 Rev Ed Sing), r 5. Census Notification (Cap 35, N 1, 2002 Rev Ed Sing), n 2. Customs (Duties) Order (Cap 70, O 4, 2009 Rev Ed Sing).
Unrevised	Public Transport Council (Composition of Offences) Regulations 2016 (S 83/2016 Sing), reg 2(b). Variable Capital Companies (Winding Up) Rules 2020 (S 533/2020 Sing), o 13. Street Works (Creation of Rights) Notification 2020 (S 103/2020 Sing), n 3. COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) (Prescribed Period) Order 2020 (S 302/2020 Sing), o 2.

E) Parliamentary Debates

i. Where the Parliamentary Debate has been published in the Official Reports

Parliamentary Debates Singapore: Official Report, vol 73 at col 2436 (15 October 2001) (Professor S Jayakumar).

ii. Where only the online version of the debate is available, you may refer to the citation styles in:

• Singapore Parliament website
  Singapore Parl Debates; Vol XX, Issue or Sitting No XX; Col or Page XX (if available); [Sitting Date]
  Example: Singapore Parl Debates; Vol 88, Sitting No 12; [18 Jan 2012].
   
• SAL Style Guide 2021
  Example: Singapore Parliamentary Debates, Official Report (12 November 2012) vol 89 (Teo Chee Hean, Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs)

F) SAL Style Guide (2021)

Where the McGill Guide does not provide guidance, it may be helpful to refer to the Style Guide for the Singapore Law Reports (2021 ed.) published by Academy Publishing.