7 Purposes of Customary Law Applicable in Indonesia

The purpose of Customary Law is one of the studies in learning in describing the law. 

Customary law is a legal system known in the social life environment of the people of Indonesia and other countries such as Japan, India, Nigeria, South Africa, and China that form international customary law. 

Customary law itself is the original law of the Indonesian nation. Where the source comes from unwritten legal regulations that grow and develop and are maintained with the legal consciousness of their people.

Because these regulations are not written and grow in society, customary law has the ability to conform and is elastic. 

There are two different opinions about the origin of this indigenous word. On the one hand, there are those who state that custom comes from Arabic which means custom.

 

Meanwhile, in the opinion of Prof. Amura, this traditional term comes from Sanskrit because according to him this term has been used by the Minangkabau people more or less since 2000 years ago as the purpose and nature of labor law.

According to him, the word adat comes from two words, a and dato(Bahasa).  It means no and dato means something material. 

In addition to the definition of the custom itself, it is also known as an indigenous law community which is a group of people who are bound by their customary legal order as citizens with a legal alliance because of the similarity of residence or on the basis of descent. 

Customary law is born and maintained by the decisions of the citizens of the customary law community, especially the authoritative decisions of the heads of the people (customary heads) in assisting the implementation of legal acts.

In the event of a conflict of interest in the decisions of the judges in charge of adjudicating disputes, so long as such decisions are not taken on the basis of authority or lack of understanding not contrary to the legal beliefs of the people, but rather in harmony, in harmony and in harmony with such consciousness, it will be acceptable in the case of international civil disputes, recognized or at least not tolerated. 

Well, to explore further, here are 7 purposes of customary law that apply in Indonesia.

Customary law in its function as a guide is a guide for human beings in behaving, acting, and doing in society. This guideline is a foundation for the community not to violate the law which will be detrimental to both themselves and the surrounding community. 

Customary law itself is a guideline to limit oneself so that it does not apply arbitrarily. Because keep in mind that in the order of life of our society we are limited by customary rules as well as ethics and courtesy.

In this supervisory function, customary law through customary officers will supervise all behavior of community members to be in accordance with applicable customary law in the example of violations of democracy. 

In case of violation, it will be subject to sanctions to restore balance. Of course, this supervisory function is a very important function, especially in an effort to enforce customary laws. Imagine if there is no supervision, every community can do whatever it wants and can even do anarchist acts that are very detrimental and can interfere with security stability in the life of society and state.

In order to foster national law, customary law not only means creating new laws that meet the demands of a sense of justice and legal certainty, but also fulfilling the goals and demands of the national instinct according to the national ideology, namely Pancasila. 

In order to draft new national laws and regulations, it is necessary to study as much information and material as possible from the results of studies and research on customary law and ethnography that live in the lives of Indonesian people as well as sanctions for patent infringement and examples of film copyright infringement.

Customary law is an original law that reflects the culture of the Indonesian nation, it will certainly strengthen the sense of self-esteem, the purpose of a sense of nationality, and a sense of pride in every Indonesian citizen. A sense of pride in one's own culture will grow if there is an awareness of knowing the purpose of one's own nation's culture, where customary law is part of the purpose of the Indonesian nation's culture which is reflected and ingrained as part of the personality of the Indonesian nation.

In practical and judicial practice, customary law can be used in deciding the purpose of cases that occur between citizens who are subject to customary law. 

The settlement of cases and customary conflicts of the community in the field of land, inheritance law, and marriage law, will be simpler if it is done by studying customary law, this is in accordance with its pattern/ nature which still prioritizes the common interest in a familial manner based on deliberation and consensus, using mediators or arbitrators of customary functionaries in the region (traditional heads, village customary heads in their territory).

Customary law can be part of the source of Indonesian law in order to form a positive law. As we know that customary law is formed and exists because of the existence of indigenous peoples which certainly has positive values for the continuity of law in Indonesia. 

The value contained in customary law is a value that has been passed down for generations and is respected by all circles, especially indigenous peoples in it, which is different from examples of cases of human rights violations in society. 

Therefore, customary law can be used as a source in the formation of more positive laws for the people of Indonesia.

In addition to being known for adhering to the Maidana legal system in it, there is also another legal system, namely civil law. This civil law is commonly used to resolve disputes related to inheritance or also cases that are not related to violations of criminal law. Basically, before there was civil law, customary law had first regulated this.

Therefore, customary law and civil law are basically interrelated and related to each other including examples of international civil cases of inheritance disputes. So will be used as a source of study in civil law in force in Indonesia.

The customary law in Indonesia was formed because the Indonesian people who did live and grew on the basis of the customs that each of them upheld. As we know that the existence of customs and culture is still so inherent and is an inseparable part of its identity as The Indonesian nation. 

Therefore, customary law is one of the forms of civility that this nation has. So that its existence must continue to be upheld as part of the characteristics of a nation of good value.

Well, that was the description of the 7 purposes of customary law that apply in Indonesia. Hope it can be useful.