Abstract
While customary law typically is not the sole legal system regulating people's daily lives, it still plays a big role in shaping the behavior of countless individuals worldwide. For this reason, law schools in many countries teach customary law courses, but these courses often present customary law as a sterile set of principles and norms detached from studying social reality. This approach associates customary law with traditional communities whose members live in relative isolation from the world, ignoring the fact that customary law operates in a legally pluralistic universe, interacting with religious and state law systems, and that it adapts to new economic and social conditions. This way of teaching customary law is common in Indonesia. The present article discusses the origins of the current situation and the need for innovations in customary law courses in Indonesia. We analyze the current shortcomings and challenges in the existing adat (customary) law courses and propose socio-legal approach to improve their relevance. This new approach aims to equip students with knowledge that has more practical relevance and enhances the course’s doctrinal features. In so doing, we pay tribute to Keebet von Benda-Beckmann’s indefatigable efforts to better understand and recognize the importance of adat in the context of legal pluralism in Indonesia.
Bahasa Abstract
Meskipun bukan lagi satu-satunya sistem hukum yang mengatur kehidupan sehari-hari masyarakat, hukum adat (customary law) masih memainkan peranan besar dalam membentuk perilaku banyak orang di seluruh dunia. Dengan alasan itu, sekolah-sekolah hukum di banyak negara mengajarkan mata kuliah hukum adat kepada mahasiswanya. Akan tetapi, mata kuliah ini sering kali menyajikan hukum adat sebagai seperangkat prinsip dan norma yang steril, terpisah dari realitas sosialnya. Pendekatan semacam ini kerap mengasosiasikan hukum adat dengan komunitas tradisional yang anggotanya hidup relatif terisolasi dari dunia luar, mengabaikan fakta bahwa hukum adat beroperasi dalam semesta hukum yang plural, berinteraksi dengan sistem hukum agama dan negara, serta beradaptasi dengan kondisi ekonomi dan sosial yang baru. Pendekatan mengajar hukum adat seperti ini umum ditempuh di Indonesia. Oleh karena itu, artikel ini membahas asal mula pendekatan pengajaran hukum adat hari ini dan kebutuhannya akan inovasi. Kami menganalisis kelemahan dan tantangan dalam mata kuliah hukum adat yang ditawarkan beberapa fakultas hukum di Indonesia dan mengusulkan pendekatan sosio-legal untuk meningkatkan relevansinya. Pendekatan baru ini bertujuan untuk membekali mahasiswa dengan pengetahuan empiris yang lebih relevan secara praktis sekaligus juga memperkuat aspek-aspek doktrinal dalam mata kuliah hukum adat. Dengan melakukan hal ini, kami memberi penghormatan kepada upaya tak kenal lelah Keebet von Benda-Beckmann untuk lebih memahami dan mengenali pentingnya adat dalam konteks pluralisme hukum di Indonesia.
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Recommended Citation
Utama, Tody S.J.; Simarmata, Rikardo; Vel, Jacqueline A.C.; and Bedner, Adriaan W.
(2024)
"New Ways of Teaching Adat (Customary) Law at Indonesian Law Schools,"
The Indonesian Journal of Socio-Legal Studies: Vol. 4:
No.
1, Article 2.
DOI: 10.54828/ijsls.2024v4n1.2
Available at:
https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/ijsls/vol4/iss1/2
