ABSTRACT
The main feature of the legal system in Indonesia during the colonial era was its dualistic character. This dual legal system had been in existence since the eighteenth century, when the Dutch gained control of the interior of Java. It was solidly anchored in the government regulation (Regeringsreglement) for the Netherlands Indies of 1854.1 According to article 75 of this ‘Indies constitution’, jurisdiction, legislation, and legal procedures for Dutchmen and other ‘Europeans’ (an expression that after 1899 also covered the Japanese) had to be based on regulations and ordinances as much as possible in conformity with the laws and procedures that existed in the Netherlands (the so-called principle of concordance). ‘Natives’ on the other hand – that is, Indonesians, including the Chinese minority who were especially important in Indonesian business life – were subjected to their own ‘religious laws, institutions and customs’ – so far as they were ‘not in conflict with generally recognized principles of equity and justice’ – except where ‘natives’ or those equated with them had voluntarily accepted European (Dutch) law either generally (which happened only in the case of ‘mixed’ marriages) or specifically for certain transactions. Furthermore, the colonial administration could declare – and did so many times – the applicability of certain regulations and ordinances to the Indonesian population or part of it (for instance the Chinese minority).2 Finally, there were two separate court systems, for Europeans and non-Europeans, although in ‘native’ cases appeals went to the European courts and Dutchmen – either civil servants or professional judges – ordinarily presided over the non-European courts.
