Conflict Of Laws In A Nation

Relation among humans is often tied by rule: marriage, heritage, business, employment, and purchase. Many people with different cultures, races, religions and countries have their own rule. In the beginning, the relation is going smoothly because the parties do it by mutual agreement. The problem will come up in the middle or the end of relationship. The reason of the problem is various: i.e. fraud, deception, breach of promise, etc.

 

The term conflict of laws is often used related to international law. A legal case that contains a foreign element will be called a conflict of laws case. This matter is due to different laws from one country to another. However, the difference in laws could happen in different countries or in one country. Indonesia is an example of different laws. Lots of court cases become hostile because each court has the authority to settle the same subject with a different law.

 

In Indonesia, there are four laws that are valid. The Adat law (custom law), Islamic law, Western law and National law.

 

         Adat law, the oldest law, is the rule based on customs and society. There are many kinds of Adat law in Indonesia, since Indonesia consists of various societies whose customs are different.

 

         Islamic law is the rule from religion of Islam based on al-Qur fan (the Holy book) and Hadits (Sunnah Rasulullah Muhammad saw: words, action, and being silent of Prophet Muhammad saw). The merchant from the middle-east country introduced Islamic law when they came into Indonesia.

 

         Western law is the rule from Dutch people when they colonized Indonesia for more than 350 years. Indonesia still uses this rule now, though there are efforts to change it, adjusting to the situation and condition of society today.

 

         National law is the rule made by Indonesian government after reached independence.

 

One of examples of conflict of laws case in point is about divorce. A Moslem man and a Moslem woman marry in Islamic way. During their marriage, the woman changes her faith to be a non-Moslem. Which law has to be used if the non-Moslem woman would like to ask her Moslem husband for a divorce?

 

In divorce cases, there are two authority courts: Religious Court (using Islamic law) and court of First Instance (using Western law or Adat law). According to Act No. 7 year 1989 about Religious Court article 49 paragraph 1, a case could be settled at religious court if the parties are Moslem; thus, they base their ideas on the Islamic way and kept in private.

 

In the case above, however, the legalities are based on Islamic way -- except the woman is not Islam. So? In this matter, the law misses an important and fundamental thing to be regulated. As a consequence, between Religious Court and Court of First Instance could either hand the case over to each-other or fight for settling the case. Luckily, Indonesia has Supreme Court as the highest court. The Supreme Court has authority to solve these problems among the courts.

 

On August 1983, based on its letter to Head of Appellate Court Ujung Pandang, Supreme Court determined that Religious Court could settle the case based on legal relation in Islamic way. If we see the year, the letter of Supreme Court is prior to the Act. But the Act does not regulate firmly. Moreover, it makes confusing regulation. Therefore, the letter is still valid because it determined the regulation firmly.

 

In my opinion, the letter is not a great solution. If the case above is changed so that both the woman and the man had changed their faith to be non-Moslem, would the Moslem Religious Court the authority to hear the non-Moslem parties? Of course not: the non-Moslem parties could not use Islamic law in their divorce.

Practically, the letter is not valid for the second case. Therefore, the non-Moslem parties take their divorce to the court of First Instance.

 

The case of divorce subject above is just one of examples. Lots of other cases are about conflict of laws. Firm and appropriate regulation should be the way out of the conflict of laws in one nation, i.e., Indonesia.

 

Politics Factzone: The truth about Kim Jong Il Kim Jong Il, the leader of the free world, has decided to move on to more fertile grounds, leaving with us just the memories of 8-color rainbows, singing Korean women and couple of nuclear weapons. But who was this man whose next ambition would have been to get the next Nobel Peace prize? Here are just a few facts you should know about. more Top 5 Conspiracy Theories Related to John F. Kennedy's Assassination 26.Aug 2011 Since just after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, conspiracy theories abou...read ISRAEL KEEPING GHADDAFI AFLOAT 10.Mar 2011 ...read Glen Beck Is NOT the Anti-Christ! 10.Mar 2011 Hurtful and fiery rhetoric is now media’s default setting! This slippery and m...read Recipe for A REVOLUTION! (10 easy steps - try not to get burned!) 28.Feb 2011 Rebellion is cooking in the air. People are mad as hell, and not going to take...read THE ASSANGE CASE. CIA INTERFERED WITH SWEDISH LEGAL PROCESSES EXTREME RIGHT POLITICS A DANGER TO EUROPEAN UNITY THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY. OUT OF TOUCH, OUT OF FOCUS, OUT OF CREDIBILITY AND HOPEFULLY, OUT OF THE DOOR Opinion World governments charged with criminal negligence (in response to Megaupload case) EARTH (thecheers.org) - Federal authorities of the universe have charged the governments of all the countries in the world as well as the operators actually in power in these countries with operating a criminal enterprise, the Galaxy warriors announced Today. more The Great OSCARS 2011 – or so it would seem 5.Mar 2011 So, how exciting......a morning off, the Academy Awards. I wish I could say the...read Top 7 Expensive Bordellos. Prostitution: Shakedown, Tier Down, and Priced Out 31.Jan 2011 According to a report of the Washington DC-based US Department of State, The Ph...read The Great Secret and Reason for the JFK Assassination 11.Oct 2010 The great question is why the great secret? On June 4 1963, President Kennedy s...read Don't Do it! The 3 Worst Times to Get Tattoos 4.Oct 2010 As a general rule, tattoos gotten after 2 am are a bad idea. But in a bigger pi...read

Travel Travel Warning 13 September 2010 - DO NOT TRAVEL TO IRAN 13.Sep 2010 TRAVELWISE has been watching the situation in Iran for some months in relation ...read more TRAVELWISE TRAVEL ADVISORY 5th June 2010. DO NOT TRAVEL TO ISRAEL. 5.Jun 2010 Given the recent incident whereby the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, used...read TRAVELWISE. 16 APRIL 2010. EUROPEAN TRAVEL ALTERNATIVES 16.Apr 2010 Travelwise issues the following advice in relation to cancelled flights to, fro...read TRAVELWISE 6 APRIL 2010. AUSTRALIAN AIR TRAVEL. THE BEST WAYS TO TRAVEL BY AIR IN AUSTRALIA. 5.Apr 2010 Regular readers might have seen and read the various advisory and no-fly notice...read TRAVELWISE 2 APRIL 2010. QANTAS. 2.Apr 2010 Some concerns have been raised in relation to some of the maintenance practices...read Sport No Payoff From the Playoffs $16.50 will Get Anyone in the Hall Mr McGwire Stupid Athlete Tricks Technology Think Big! Think the World's Largest International Trade Show Top 9 cool laptop accessories for laptop geeks Twittering: I'm not that interesting Cheers Jesus' Answering Machine Brown Couch or twelve midgets in the town square How To Be Happy Drugged Out Saturday Nights Muslim Decapitation: Bad, or Simply Misunderstood?