Singapore
Stamford Raffles founded colonial Singapore in 1819 as a trading post of the British East India Company. After the company's collapse in 1858, the islands were ceded to the British Raj as a crown colony. During the Second World War, Singapore was occupied by Japan. It gained independence from the UK in 1963 by federating with other former British territories to form Malaysia, but separated two years later over ideological differences, becoming a sovereign nation in 1965. After early years of turbulence and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an Asian Tiger economy, based on external trade and its workforce.
Law of Singapore
Modern Singapore was founded on 6 February 1819 by Sir Stamford Raffles, an officer of the British East India Company and Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen, in an attempt to counter Dutch domination of trade in the East. Permission for the East India Company to set up a "factory" on the island was obtained from the Sultan of Johor and Temenggung of Johor on that date, and outright cession of Singapore took place in 1824. It has been suggested that prior to British acquisition of the island, the Malay chief in charge of Singapore was the Temenggung of Johor. The Johor Sultanate was the successor of the Malacca Sultanate, both of which had their own codes of law. It is also possible that adat law, often inadequately translated as "customary law", governed the inhabitants of the island prior to its acquisition by the British. However, little, if anything, is known about the laws that were actually applicable. The British have always assumed that no law prevailed on the island of Singapore when it was acquired.