Singapore is likely to see a new appellate court as it seeks to reduce the burden on the current Court of Appeal, media reports have said. 

According to a report in the Straits Times, the total number of cases before the Court of Appeal rose by 56 percent to 490 last year, compared to 314 cases in 2013, as Singapore positions itself as an international hub for dispute resolution services.

This has led to the need for a new appellate court, the report quoted Edwin Tong, senior minister of State for Law and Health, as saying.

Once the new court is introduced, it is likely that the Supreme Court of Singapore will see a change in its structure, the report said. Initially, an extra appeal court could be a de facto revival of the criminal appeal court to hear just the criminal appeals that are now bundled with the civil cases. Lawyers have said that criminal appeals generally involve issues of fact and not of law, issues that can be resolved by a possible intermediate court, wedged between the High Court and the present apex court.

The Ministry of Law is currently looking at various options to allow appeals from the High Court to be distributed between two appellate courts, and for a pool of judges to sit in the new court but the existing Court of Appeal will remain the apex court, the Straits Times added.

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