The Treaties of 1824 and the Legal Foundations of British Singapore: summary
The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 17 March 1824 ended the Dutch objection to British Singapore, exchanged Bencoolen for Malacca and drew a border through the Singapore Strait that still separates Singapore and Malaysia from Indonesia. The Treaty of Friendship and Alliance of 2 August 1824 completed the transfer of the island to the East India Company in exchange for payments to the sultan and the Temenggong, whose political role declined rapidly thereafter. The Second Charter of Justice of 27 November 1826 gave the Straits Settlements a common court and became the vehicle for the reception of English law, qualified by regard for the religions, manners and customs of the inhabitants and supplemented in 1878 by the continuing reception of English commercial law. The Application of English Law Act 1993 closed the colonial chapter of reception by fixing the common law as it stood on 12 November 1993 and limiting English statutes to a closed list. The development of land title from the Company’s leases through deeds registration in 1886 to the Torrens system of 1956 completed the legal foundations – a clear sovereign, a court, a known law and secure property – on which the financial centre was built.
For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of November 2026.