The Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) is the development agency set up to promote Singapore’s legal industry, with the goal of making Singapore the legal hub of Asia. In November 2015 the SAL issued a news release that said: “Outlining SAL’s vision on legal convergence, the Academy’s President, the Honourable Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, said: ‘Asia stands poised at a unique time in history where economic growth and integration will fuel an unprecedented surge in intra-regional and cross-border trade and investment. However, there is considerable heterogeneity among Asian legal systems, and while a unified ‘Asian law’ is beyond the realm of possibility in the near future, the time has come to establish common legal norms and practices that will overcome regional differences and pave the way for freer trade and commerce.” Subsequently, the Asian Business Law (ABLI) was established with a Board of Governors comprising mainly judges from four countries: Australia (including Chief Justice Robert French, of the High Court of Australia), China, India and Singapore. The ABLI’s role is to conduct and facilitate research, to produce practical texts and to promote the convergence of Asian business laws.

The desirability of business law convergence seems to be largely assumed – perhaps because it is believed that similar laws reduce uncertainty or business compliance costs. What is perhaps surprising is that ABLI is mainly driven by judges, and not business. As well, the ABLI does not include people from other major trading nations in Asia such as Indonesia, Japan, Korea and Taiwan nor smaller developing countries in the region who, arguably, have commercial laws administered well outside the international developed country mainstream. Nothing is said about its role compared to the long-standing International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) which is an independent intergovernmental organisation headquartered in Rome whose purpose is to study needs and methods for modernising, harmonising and co-ordinating private and in particular commercial law as between States. Nor is there a methodology to prioritise business laws. This seminar will examine the issue of whether convergence is desirable and whether the underdeveloped comparative law and economics methodology can help.