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Conflict of Laws in Indonesia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

A. Arthur Schiller
A. Arthur Schiller
Affiliation:
Columbia University
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Extract

Netherlands indies occupies a position somewhat unique in the sphere of colonial administration, or at least did so until its conquest by the Japanese. For one thing, it is not a dependency of the ‘mother country’ for it forms a component part, along with the Netherlands, Curacao and Surinam, of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. As such its nationals are Dutch subjects and stand on an equal footing, legally, with the citizens of other sovereign nations. In the event of legal controversy involving a resident of the Netherlands Indies and a citizen of another nation, the principles of private international law, better known in this country as conflict of laws, come into play to determine what body of legal rules, which of the two legal systems shall be applied in the particular case. The position of the Indies with respect to Holland—or Curacao or Surinam—introduces another, somewhat different, aspect of conflict of laws. For interregional law, as it has been termed, does not involve diverse sovereignties but concerns controversies that arise between subjects of the same state, controversies that flow from the fact that Indies private law is not identical to that of the Netherlands.

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Articles
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The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , November 1942 , pp. 31 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1942

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References

1 Constitution, art. 1 (Engelbrecht, p. 1); cf. Carpentier Alting, Grondslagen der rechtsbedeeling in Nederlandsch-Indië (2d ed. 1926), pp. 45 ff. Abbreviations employed include (1) Engelbrecht, to designate this editor's collection of Netherlands Indies statutes, entitled De Nederlandsch-Indische Wetboeken (2d ed. 1939), and (2) T., signifying Indisch Tijdschrift van het Recht, the leading legal periodical, containing both juristic writings as well as the reports of cases determined in the various courts; among these courts are: Landraad or Native Court; Residency Court, the inferior European court; Raad van Justitie (abbreviated Raad) or Council of Justice, the superior European court and appellate native court; Supreme Court of the Indies.

2 See generally Furnivall, , Netherlands India: A study of plural economy (1939)Google Scholar; Boeke, , The structure of Netherlands Indian economy (1942).Google Scholar

3 Indies Government Act, art. 163. (Engelbrecht, p. 67); cf. Carpentier Alting, op. cit., pp. 94 ff.

4 Indies Government Act, art. 131, paragraph 2a.

5 The basic studies on adat law are those of van Vollenhoven, , Het adatrccht van Nederlandsch-Indië, 3 vols. (1931–1933).Google Scholar For a summary treatment of the subject in English, together with further bibliography, see Schiller, , “Native customary law in the Netherlands East Indies,” Pacific Affairs 9 (1936), pp. 254–63.Google Scholar

6 Laws of 1919 and 1925 (Engelbrecht, pp. 169 ff.).

7 Law of Dec. 9, 1924 (Engelbrecht, pp. 167 ff.).

8 The legal institutions of these adat circles are set forth in the first volume of van Vollenhoven's adatrecht, cit. supra, note 5. A complete bibliography of works dealing with adat law is to be found in Adatrechtstichting: Literatuurlijst voor het adatrccht van Indonesië (2d ed. 1927), with supplement thereto covering 1927–1937 (1938).

9 The common factors of adat law are treated by ter Haar, Beginselen en stelsel van hit adatrecht (1939).

10 General Provisions of Legislation, art. 17 (Engelbrecht, p. 165).

11 Idem, art. 18.

12 Cf. André de la Porte, , Recht en rechtsbedeeling in Nederlandsch-lndië (1926), pp. 17 f.Google Scholar; Wagener, Verhouding, cit. infra, note 17, pp. 35 ff.Google Scholar An instance thereof, Raad Batavia 1928, 129 T. 64.

13 Raad Batavia 1927, 126 T. 222; Raad Semarang 1928, 127 T. 350.

14 Raad Soerabaja 1926, 127 T. 121.

15 Raad Batavia 1936, 143 T. 466; cf. Kollewijn, , Het duitse verbod van huwelijken tusschm Ariërs en niet-Arërs, 142Google Scholar T. 473 ff.

16 Leading Dutch authorities in private international law pay little attention to Indies developments. Even such an extensive bibliography as that in Hasselt, , De Nederlandsche rechtspraak bitreffende intemationaal privaatrecht, I: “Rechtspraak en literatuur” (1936), pp. 703–39Google Scholar, omits numerous studies and classifies others incorrectly; see the criticism ofWertheim, 144 T. 580 ff. There exists no comprehensive study of Indies private international law, but some pages are devoted to it in such works as Carpentier Alting and André de la Porte, cit. supra, notes 1 and 12; cf. also Marcella, , Algemeene bepalingen van wetgeving voor Nedcrlandsch-lndië (1913), pp. 160 ff.Google Scholar

17 The leading works in the field are Abendanon, , Publiek- en privaatrechtlijke verhoudingen tusschen Nederland en de Nederlandsche Kolonien (1891)Google Scholar; Wagener, , De verhouding tusschen het Nederlandsche en het Nederlandsch-lndische Privaatrecht (1932)Google Scholar; Kollewijn, , Interregional en internationaal privaatrecht (1938)Google Scholar; Wagener, , Enkele onderwerpen uit het interregionaai personenrecht, 151 T. Supp., pp. 113–76.Google Scholar

18 Cf. Kollewijn, , op. cit., pp. 5 ff.Google Scholar

19 ibid., pp. 104, 113.

20 E.g., Civil Code, arts. 366–67 (Engelbrecht, p. 243), concerning Holland guardianships continued in the Indies; Indies Government Act, art. 159 (Engelbrecht, p. 67), concerning the effect of Holland decisions in the Indies.

21 General Provisions, art. 16 (Engelbrecht, p. 165).

22 Verhouding, p. 76.

23 The legislative enactments are set forth by Wagener, Verhouding, pp. 55 ff.

24 Cf. Wagener, Enkele Onderwerpen, pp. 122 ff.

25 Residency Court Batavia 1933, 140 T. 680.

26 Cf. generally Wagener, Verhouding, pp. 79 ff.

27 Raad Batavia 1936, 145 T. 85.

28 Supreme Court 1930, 132 T. 292.

29 Numerous decisions summarized by Kollewijn, , op. cit. supra, note 17, p. 21 n. 1.Google Scholar

30 Cf. Wagener, Verhouding, pp. 12 ff., and a review thereof by Wageningen, 52 Rechtsgcleerd Magazijn 533 ff.; Kollewijn, , op. cit., pp. 22 ff.Google Scholar, and a review thereof by Wertheim, 151 T. 93 f.

31 The basic studies in this field are Porte, André de la, Beschowingen over quasi-mtcrnationaal privaatrecht, 91 T. (1908) 1 ff.Google Scholar, 167 ff., 329 ff.; Kollewijn, , “Interracial private law,” in The effect of Western influence on native civilisations in the Malay Archipelago (1929), pp. 204–36Google Scholar (translated into Dutch, 131 T. 517–53); Nederburgh, , Hoofdstukken over adatrechl (1933), pp. 175–92Google Scholar; Klein, , Bijdrage tot de stadie van het intergentiel privaatrecht; Vermögensrecht (1933), pp. 1–71Google Scholar; Kollewijn, , “Intergentiel recht in Ncderlands-Indië,” 151 T. 551–77Google Scholar (reprinted from 1939 Tydskrif vir hedendaagse Romeim-Hollandse reg, pp. 169 ff.).

32 Unfortunate in that the law is not inter gentes, interracial, since the ‘European’ group includes Japanese, and the ‘foreign oriental’ is made up of Semitic, Indo-European and even Indonesian peoples; cf. van Mastenbroek, , De historische ontwikkeling van de staatsrcchtlijke indeeling der bevolking van Ncdcrlandsch-Indië (1934)Google Scholar, particularly pp. 97 ff., on the abrogation of the race criterion in the last decades. Further, unattractive due to the political connotation that ‘racial’ has acquired in recent years, wholly foreign to the writers on interracial law. The legislator employs ‘population-groups’ (bevolkingsgroepen) to designate the three elements, Indies Government Act, arts. 131 and 163, but an adjective like ‘intcrpopular’ or ‘inter-group’ means nothing.

33 Handelingen der Nederlandsch-Indische juristen-vereeniging, 1887, part I, particularly the reports of van den Berg and Heijligers.

34 Summed up in his Hoofdstukken, op. cit. supra, in accord, Cassutto, Handleiding tot de Studie van het adatrechl in Nederlandsch-Indië (1936), pp. 65 ff.

35 Beschouwingen, loc. cit.; cf. also his Recht en rechtsbedeeling …, op. cit. supra, note 12, pp. 19 ff. In accord, Carpentier Alting, op. cit. supra, note 1, pp. 378 ff.

36 Précis de droit international privé, vol. I (1927), pp. 105 ff.

37 Traité de la condition des indigénts en droit privé (1927); 131 T. 554 ff.; 132 T. 316 ff. Cf. also Eliesco, Essai sur les conflits de lois dans {espace, sans conflit de souveraineti (1925).

38 “Privatrechtliche mischbeziehungen nach deutschem kolonial recht,” Zeitschrift f. Völkerrecht, 6 (1912), pp. 125 ff.

39 International and inter-religious private law in Palestine (1926), pp. 9 ff., 113 ff., 142 ff.

40 E.g., Yanaihara, , Pacific Islands under Japanese mandate (1940), pp. 259 ff.Google Scholar

41 Sharp criticism of Nederburgh in this respect by Kollewijn, , 52 Rechtsgeleerd Magazijn, pp. 488 ff.Google Scholar; and of Solus by Kollewijn, , “lntcr-racial private law,” cit. supra, note 31, pp. 221 ff.Google Scholar, and 132 T. 309 ff.

42 Criticism of André de la Porte and others with the same views by Kollewijn, , “Interracial private law,” op. cit., pp. 215 f., 233 f.Google Scholar

43 Kollewijn, Lemaire, Klein, ter Haar, among others, recognize interracial law as a distinct sphere of conflicts, references in Litcratuurlijst …, cit. supra, note 8.

44 Indies Government Act, art. 131, paragraph 2b (Engelbrecht, p. 62).

45 Supra, notes 6 and 7.

46 Klein, , op. cit. supra, note 31, pp. 27 ff.Google Scholar, lists the statutes providing European law for the natives. The law of voluntary subjection of 1917 (Engelbrecht, pp. 174 ff.) is treated by Tobi, , De vrijwillige ondcrwerping aan het Europccsch privaatraht (1927).Google Scholar

47 General Provisions, art. 11 (Engelbrecht, p. 164), “insofar as these are not in conflict with the generally recognized principles of equity and justice.”

48 Idem, art. 18.

49 Idem, art. 19.

50 See generally Klein, , op. cit. supra, note 31, pp. 45 ff.Google Scholar

51 See Kollewijn, 151 T. 553 ff.

52 On the importance of decisions and precedent in Indies law, see ter Haar, 140 T. 35–79.

53 The only comprehensive studies of the substantive rules of interracial law are by Kollewijn, 151 T. 554 ff., and “Het hooggerechtshof van Nederlands-Indië en het intergentiel recht,” Feest-bundel K. Bataviaasch genootschap, vol. I (1929), pp. 327–74, limited to decisions of the Supreme Court, as the title indicates. The following sketch is based upon these two works, brought up to date by recent decisions.

54 Royal decree of Dec. 29, 1896 (Engelbrecht, p. 505); cf. van Hoeve, 135 T. 451 ff.

55 idem, art. 7.

56 Marital ordinance for Christian natives of 1933, art. 74 (Engelbrecht, p. 521); cf. generally Lemaire, 138 T. 655 ff.

57 Decree of 1896, supra note 54, arts. 6–7.

58 Kollewijn, , “Hooggerechtshof …” pp. 341 ff.Google Scholar

59 Civil Code, Art. 275 (Engelbrecht, p. 221); cf. Kollewijn, , op. cit., pp. 347 ff.Google Scholar

60 As early as 1865, according to Kollewijn, and still the law, Raad Batavia 1940, 152 T. 27.

61 Landraad Menado 1935, 144 T. 253.

62 Raad Batavia 1933, 139 T. 91.

63 Landraad Menado 1934, 144 T. 215; Raad Batavia 1934, 141 T. 166.

64 Cf. Kollewijn, , “Hooggerechtshof …” pp. 334 ff.Google Scholar

65 Residency Court Tjilatjap 1931, 134 T. 459; and cf. Raad Batavia 1939, 153 T. 486.

66 Raad Medan 1938, 149 T. 416.

67 Supreme Court 1927, 127 T. 1; and idem 1931, 134 T. 142.

68 Kollewijn, , Intergenticl recht …; p. 563.Google Scholar

69 Cf. Klein, , op. cit. supra, note 31, pp. 115 ff.Google Scholar; note in 151 T. 603 ff.

70 Raad Padang 1932, 137 T. 197; Landraad Klaten 1938 and Raad Batavia 1939, 151 T. 595.

71 Raad Batavia 1929, affirmed Supreme Court 1930, 133 T. 385.

72 Ordinance of Feb. 15, 1918 (Engelbrecht, p. 1647).

73 Civil Code, book III, title 7A (Engelbrecht, pp. 394 ff.). Cf. Kollewijn, 139 T. 19 ff.; Buddingh de Voogt, 141 T. 555 ff.; Tetering, 154 T. 439 ff.

74 Raad Padang 1930, 134 T. 701; Raad Semarang 1933, 143 T. 361; Supreme Court 1935, 141 T. 625.

75 Residency Court Padang 1930, 132 T. 417; Landraad Indramajoe 1933, 142 T. 155; Raad Medan 1935, 142 T. 710; Landraad Malang 1938, 148 T. 764; Raad Batavia 1938, 149 T. 421.

76 Landraad Malang 1937, 148 T. 80; Rijksraad Ternate 1938, 149 T. 425.

77 A special number of 151 T., pp. 581–656, is devoted to interracial law, including numerous contract cases.

78 Landraad Padang 1932, 138 T. 476; Landraad Indramajoe 1933, 141 T. 178. Cf. also Raad Soerabaja 1941, 154 T. 378.

79 Landraad Palembang 1935, affirmed by Raad Batavia 1935, 142 T. 232.

80 Residency Court Probolinggo 1916, 108 T. 223.

81 Haar, Ter, Beginselen …, op. cit. supra note 9, pp. 13 ff.Google Scholar

82 On the relation of interlocal to interracial law see Klein, , op. cit. supra, note 31, pp. 13 ff.Google Scholar

83 Cf. Lemaire, 138 T. 655 ff.

84 Raad Padang 1927 and Supreme Court 1930, 131 T. 82; the decision accords with the advisory opinions of ter Haar and Carpentier Alting, requested by the court.

85 Landraad Padang 1931, 135 T. 290.

86 Landraad Fort de Kock 1939, 153 T. 204.

87 Landraad Bandoeng 1927 and Raad Batavia 1928, 128 T. 75.

88 Landraad Sipirok 1938 and Raad Padang 1938, 149 T. 278.

89 Landraad Teloekbetoeng 1938 and Raad Batavia 1939, 152 T. 177; cf. also Landraad Kotaboemi 1938 and Raad Batavia 1939, 152 T. 194.

90 An excellent study of recent date, in English, is by Westra, , “Custom and Muslim law in the Netherlands East Indies,” Transactions of the Grotius Society, 25 (1939), pp. 151–67.Google Scholar Cf. also the standard treatment by van Vollenhoven, , op. cit. supra, note 5, vol. II, pp. 126 ff.Google Scholar; further references in Literatuurlijst …, op. cit. supra, note 8, pp. 442 if. and Supp., pp. 153 ff.

91 E.g., ordinance of Jan. 31, 1931 re penghoeloe courts (Engelbrecht, pp. 154 ff.); marriage ordinance for Christian native, cit. supra, note 56.

92 Supreme Rapat Goenoeng Toea 1934, 154 T. 217.

93 Landraad Menado 1928 and Raad Makasser 1929, 131 T. 112.