Article 162 of the Constitution (Singapore)

Article 162 of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore requires any existing law to be construed to conform to the Constitution.

The Constitution of Singapore Article 162 (Existing laws) states: "Subject to this Article, all existing laws shall continue in force on and after the commencement of this Constitution and all laws which have not been brought into force by the date of the commencement of this Constitution may, subject as aforesaid, be brought into force on or after its commencement, but all such laws shall, subject to this Article, be construed as from the commencement of this Constitution with such modifications, adaptations, qualifications and exceptions as may be necessary to bring them into conformity with this Constitution."

An example of the application of Article 162 is seen in the efforts commencing in 2010 to strike down Section 377A of the Penal Code on the grounds of unconstitutionality. However, as pointed out in a 2019 academic paper by ex-Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, Section 377A, being a pre-Constitution law, cannot be declared void for unconstitutionality because Article 162 requires any existing law to be construed to conform to the Constitution. Accordingly, the court has to interpret Section 377A by reading it to have a meaning that does not violate the Constitution. How Section 377A should be construed (or read) to conform to the Constitution depends on the nature of its inconsistency with Article 12(1). Chan suggests that if the purpose of Section 377A has ceased to exist in 2007 or 2013, Section 377A may be construed to conform to the Constitution by reading it as a gender-neutral provision that criminalises non-penetrative sex of gross indecency committed in public.

=See also=
 * Section 377A of the Penal Code (Singapore)

=References=
 * Constitution of the Republic of Singapore, Singapore Statutes Online:.

=Acknowledgements=

This article was written by Roy Tan.