Amar Abang Iskandar bin Abang Hashim

On the judicial record

Gathers apex-court decisions across the right to peaceful assembly under Article 10 of the Federal Constitution, the oppression-versus-derivative-action distinction, Fortuna injunctions where a debt is subject to arbitration, and the limits of appellate fact-finding.

Amar Abang Iskandar bin Abang Hashim sits in the Federal Court, the apex court of Malaysia, and this collection gathers final appellate decisions across constitutional, commercial and procedural law. Constitutional law is prominent, including an appeal on the right to peaceful assembly under Article 10(1)(b) of the Federal Constitution and the permissible parliamentary restrictions under Article 10(2)(b). Administrative and judicial-review law features through a challenge to the validity of a fatwa and through an appeal on the extent of the legal immunity enjoyed by an international arbitration organisation in Malaysia. Company law is addressed in an appeal drawing the distinction between an oppression action and a derivative action and asking which is the proper vehicle for a shareholder's complaint. Insolvency and arbitration meet in an appeal on the threshold for granting a stay, a dismissal or a Fortuna injunction where the underlying debt is subject to an arbitration agreement. Civil procedure and appellate method recur through appeals examining the duty of an appellate court in reviewing a trial judge's findings of fact and the differing approaches of the High Court and the Court of Appeal to that assessment. Housing-development law appears through a claim for liquidated ascertained damages for the late delivery of vacant possession under a statutory sale-and-purchase agreement, and employment-linked liability through section 46 of the Employees Provident Fund Act 1991 and the joint and several liability of a company's directors. Because the Federal Court sits in panels and its rulings bind the courts below, these decisions settle points of general importance. Private individuals are referred to by role; corporate, governmental and statutory parties are named. Running through the collection is a concern with the proper allocation of decision-making — between Parliament and the citizen, between majority and minority shareholders, and between the trial court and the appellate court that reviews it. The collection shows how a Federal Court judge engages across fundamental liberties, company and insolvency law, and the proper limits of appellate intervention.