Probate matters are dealt with in the High Court if the value of the estate exceeds S$3 million or if the case involves the resealing of a foreign grant.

Criminal cases involving offences which carry the death penalty and generally those punishable with imprisonment for a term exceeding ten years, are prosecuted in the High Court.

[3] The Third Charter of Justice of 12 August 1855 reorganised the Court, providing the Straits Settlements with two Recorders, one for Prince of Wales' Island and the other for Singapore and Malacca.

All members of the Bench are appointed by the President of Singapore if he, acting in his discretion, concurs with the advice of the Prime Minister.

[46] Registrars deal with certain types of court proceedings in chambers, such as the assessment of damages, hearings of bankruptcy petitions and applications, interlocutory matters and pre-trial conferences.

Registrars are also appointed as district judges or magistrates, which enables them to conduct preliminary inquiries to determine whether there are enough grounds for trying accused persons for criminal offences in the High Court.

The four gentlemen made their way to the Chief Justice's chambers in the courthouse, the route lined by police officers and members of the Bar.

[65] It appears that the parade by police officers during which Chief Justice inspected a guard of honour was abolished in the late 1960s or early 1970s.

Generally, except in probate matters, a civil case must be commenced in the High Court if the value of the claim exceeds S$250,000.

[90] The High Court has power to prohibit vexatious litigants from bringing or continuing legal proceedings without its permission.

[95] Unless the Chief Justice orders otherwise, applications for admission as an advocate and solicitor are heard on the second Wednesday of each month except during court vacations.

[96] The Court generally arranges a "mass call" of advocates and solicitors on the last Saturday of May[97] to cater to the large number of graduates from the Faculty of Law of the National University of Singapore and the School of Law of the Singapore Management University completing their professional training and seeking admission to the bar at this time of year.

[99] Complaints about the conduct of advocates and solicitors may be referred by the Council of the Law Society of Singapore to an inquiry panel appointed by the Chief Justice.

[108] Up to the early 20th century wigs were not consistently worn in court by judges in Singapore, apparently due to the hot climate – in a letter of 13 February 1934 to The Straits Times the writer said that when he first arrived in Malaya seven years earlier he had been "astonished" to discover that judges and barristers did not don wigs, which he felt were "an important or necessary part of Court attire".

[116] At the Opening of the Legal Year on 5 January 1991, the Chief Justice Yong Pung How announced that the Council of Judges had unanimously decided that the short wig would cease to be part of court dress for all judges and lawyers, including Queen's Counsel appearing in Singapore courts.

He wore a long scarlet robe with a grey cape or mantle and a black scarf around his shoulders, a white wing-collared shirt, and bands (a linen collar made of two rectangular pieces tied at the throat).

On 9 January 1993, at the Opening of the Legal Year, the Chief Justice announced that judges would henceforth wear a lightweight black robe over an ordinary white shirt with a turn-down collar and a tie.

The difficulty of obtaining shirts with wing collars and the growing sense that the traditional gown was inappropriate for the judiciary of an independent republic were cited as reasons for this change.

Formerly, a lawyer appearing in open court would wear a dark suit, a shirt with a wing collar, bands, and an English barrister's black robe.

In open court, male lawyers are required to dress in "the existing gown worn over an ordinary long-sleeved white shirt with a turn-down collar, a tie of a subdued or sober colour, a dark jacket, dark trousers and black or plain coloured shoes".

The instructions for the attire of female lawyers is similar, except that they must wear "a long-sleeved white blouse high to the neck" and must avoid "[c]onspicuous jewellery or ornaments".

[124] In 1839, the court moved to a newly built one-storey annexe adjacent to Maxwell House so that the latter could be used entirely by the colonial government.

Maxwell eventually sold the building to Sir George Bonham, Governor of the Straits Settlements, and the East India Company on 10 October 1842 for 15,600 Spanish dollars.

[123] However, the Maxwell House annexe proved to be unsuitable as a courthouse due to noise from a nearby shipbuilding yard.

[125] Construction on a new courthouse, now called the Old Supreme Court Building, began in 1937 on the site of the Grand Hotel de L'Europe on Saint Andrew's Road opposite the Padang.

On 1 April 1937 the building's foundation stone – then the largest in Malaya – was laid by the Governor, Sir Shenton Thomas.

Beneath the stone were placed six Singapore newspapers dated 31 March 1937 and some Straits Settlements coins; this time capsule is due to be retrieved in the year 3000.

The Supreme Court Building was declared open by the Governor on 3 August 1939 and handed over to the Chief Justice Sir Percy McElwaine.

As this proved insufficient because of the Supreme Court's burgeoning caseload, at Chief Justice Wee Chong Jin's direction six additional courtrooms were constructed in the City Hall Building next door in 1986, and another six in 1988.

The liberal use of glass in atria, skylights and lift shafts, and the open layout of the building, are said to signify the ideal of transparency in the law.