This paper examines why Singapore law has not followed English law in the area of beneficial ownership of family property. It points out that the landmark cases in the two jurisdictions are underpinned by different family paradigms.The English landmark cases are based on the unmarried cohabitants paradigm and the legal rules that have emerged from these cases are aimed at, whether successfully or not, ensuring a fair division of the family home upon the breakdown of these relationships. In contrast, the Singapore seminal judgments are underlaid by contests between children over their parents’ property which raised questions as to the parties’ true intentions and the legal techniques to determine that. In the main, this paper argues that the legal rules that emerge in a society are shaped by the conditions of that society: these rules are purpose-built to resolve the specific types of disputes that come through the judicial system, which are in turn moulded by the distinctive conditions of that society. The discussion also shows that whilst the courts in the two jurisdictions differ in the legal techniques which they apply to determine these disputes, they do not appear to differ greatly in their understanding of human interactions and complex family relationships.

中文翻译：

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比较英国和新加坡法律中的家庭财产纠纷：“背景就是一切”

本文探讨了为什么新加坡法律在家庭财产的实益所有权方面没有遵循英国法律。指出两个司法管辖区的标志性案件是由不同的家庭范式支撑的。英国标志性案件以未婚同居者范式为基础，从这些案件中产生的法律规则无论成功与否，都旨在确保在这些关系破裂后公平分割家庭住宅。相比之下，新加坡的开创性判决以子女之间对父母财产的争夺为基础，这引发了对双方的真实意图以及确定这一点的法律技巧的质疑。本文主要认为，一个社会中出现的法律规则是由该社会的条件决定的：这些规则是专门为解决通过司法系统产生的特定类型的争议而制定的，而这些争议又是由该社会的独特条件决定的。讨论还表明，虽然两个司法管辖区的法院在裁决这些纠纷时所采用的法律技术不同，但它们对人际交往和复杂家庭关系的理解似乎并没有太大差异。