Murray Buttrose (31 July 1903 – 8 September 1987) was an Australian colonial judge who served as Solicitor General of Singapore.
In 1955, he was appointed Solicitor General, Singapore and from 1956 to 1968, served as a Puisne Judge and sat as a member of the Federal Court of Appeal.
He was described by Singapore's ambassador to France: "As a prosecutor he was very tough and was a very tough judge, very strong on order, rather hard on criminals, but fair", and by senior local lawyers as: "Very sharp and very brisk...He liked lawyers to conduct their cases with speed and not waiver about".
[4] Two of the most memorable cases held before him were the Pulau Senang Trial (1964) in which 60 detainees of a penal settlement were charged with three counts of murder and rioting, of which 18 were given death sentences and hanged, and the Sunny Ang Trial (1965) in which the accused was hanged for murder-at-sea of his girlfriend whose body was never found.
[3][4][5] In 1959, he served as Chairman of the Commission of the Inquiry established to investigate Chew Swee Kee, a Singaporean politician and Minister of Education, accused of receiving foreign funds.