Lee Wei Jia, Main Stories - Monday, June 9, 2008 21:16 - 39 Comments

The integrity of the courts

Lee Weijia

During the hearings for the quantum of damages between the Chees and the Lees recently, the Chees were cited for contempt of court by High Court Judge Belinda Ang. Subsequently, Dr Chee Soon Juan and Ms Chee Siok Chin were convicted of contempt of court by Justice Ang and sentenced to 12 and 10 days’ imprisonment respectively on 2 June.

Nemo judex in re sua

Without going into the facts of the cases and whether their convictions were justified, I would like to focus on the procedure of the case, namely that the judge in both instances was the same. This is an obvious disregard of the natural justice rule against bias where the person must never be a judge of his own cause (nemo judex in re sua). Continue…