Abstract
The issue of law enforcement is central to land property rights. Modes of property rights enforcement can be performed either with or without intervention of the state. This article focuses on the latter mode of enforcement; that is, how people manage to enforce their land rights without the involvement of state institutions and to what extent informal arrangements can offer effective enforcement and secure land property rights. This article also contributes to the debate on how formal and informal institutions can be used to secure property rights and resolve disputes over land ownership. In particular, this paper examines how the people of Flores, East Nusa Tenggara Province, settle land disputes among themselves. Many available studies indicate that the residents of Flores rely heavily on informal land dispute resolution based on adat (customary) law rather than formal or legal rules. Adat provides certain sense of security and has been proven effective in resolving conflicts in a relatively closed and homogeneous community. Moreover, it offers greater accessibility, flexibility and legitimacy that support reconciliation process between the disputing parties.
Highlights
“informal justice,”1 or “traditional justice system”2 is the most common type of dispute settlement in Indonesia and is typically applied by members of the lower class who live in rural areas or poor urban communities
This paper defines informal dispute resolution as any kind of dispute settlements that are reached outside formal adjudication system
The term adat is used to refer to informal institutions connoting “particular timehonored practices and institutions, inherited by communities rather than imposed by the state.”4 Control over territory and other natural resources is at the core of conflicts and struggles in Indonesia5 and is one of the central issues in adat law
Summary
“informal justice,” or “traditional justice system” is the most common type of dispute settlement in Indonesia and is typically applied by members of the lower class who live in rural areas or poor urban communities. This paper defines informal dispute resolution as any kind of dispute settlements that are reached outside formal adjudication system. The first section discusses adat in general and its relation to legal pluralism in a post-colonial country It examines adat institutions in Flores, the role of adat chiefs in enforcing property rights, and how local people manage to enforce their land rights without the involvement of state apparatus. Dinnen defines legal pluralism as “a situation where multiple forms of law co-exist within a single environment or setting.” Favali and Pateman, on the other hand, employ a stronger definition of legal pluralism as coexistence that involves various rules and multiple actors who produce law.14 That way, they incorporate institutional elements whose legitimacy originates outside the state power. Despite facing challenges under state repression as well as modernity and globalization, these adat institutions have not perished Instead, they continue to be one of the primary sources of law and provide an important informal mechanism of conflict management at the local level. It seeks to answer these questions: (1) who can be appointed as adat leaders? and (2) what are the sources of their authority? This paper discusses how adat responds to modern challenges and how it is used in current situations
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