Leonard David Shim

On the judicial record

Shows a Court of Appeal judge engaging across Order 53 judicial review at the civil-Syariah interface, fraudulent trading under the Companies Act 2016, matrimonial service under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976, and customs sales tax.

Leonard David Shim sits in the Court of Appeal, and this collection spans public, company, family and revenue law. A notable public-law matter concerns judicial review under Order 53 of the Rules of Court 2012 at the interface of the civil and Syariah systems, arising from an interim custody order and committal proceedings before a Syariah High Court — a question about the reach of the civil courts' supervisory jurisdiction where a Syariah court is involved. Company and insolvency law is engaged through striking out under Order 18 rule 19(1) and the meaning of a creditor and of fraudulent trading under section 540 of the Companies Act 2016, addressing who may pursue such a claim and on what basis. Family law features through an appeal in which a decree nisi made absolute was set aside on the ground that substituted service had been invalid because effected at the wrong address, engaging the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 and the requirements for validly serving a matrimonial petition. Revenue law appears through judicial review by way of certiorari of the Royal Malaysian Customs Department's imposition of sales tax on an imported item. Because the Court of Appeal sits in panels and its rulings bind or guide the courts below, these decisions reflect collective reasoning to which this judge contributed. Private individuals are referred to by role; corporate, governmental and religious-authority parties are named. A recurring theme is the reach and limits of jurisdiction — of the civil courts over Syariah proceedings, of a creditor's standing to allege fraudulent trading, of the requirements for valid service, and of the court's power to review a revenue authority's decision — and the care with which the court fixes each boundary. The collection shows how a single appellate judge engages across judicial review, company insolvency, family law and revenue, and how a question of jurisdiction or valid procedure can be decisive of an appeal that at first sight turns on its merits.