Law of Indonesia

Law of Indonesia is based on a civil law system, intermixed with customary law and the Roman Dutch law. Before the Dutch colonization in the sixteenth century, indigenous kingdoms ruled the archipelago independently with their own custom laws, known as adat. Foreign influences from India, China and Arab have not only affected the culture, but also weighed in the customary adat laws. Aceh in Sumatra, for instances, observes their own sharia law, while Toraja ethnic group in Sulawesi are still following their animistic customary law.

Dutch presence and subsequent occupation of Indonesia for 350 years has left a legacy of Dutch colonial law, largely in the Indonesia civil code. Following the independence in 1945, Indonesia began to form its own modern Indonesia law, not developing from scratch but with some modifications of the precepts of existing laws. As a result, these three components (adat, Dutch-Roman law and modern Indonesia law) still co-exist in the current Indonesia laws.