The Elements of Adat Law

Abstract

The collection of rules of conduct applicable to natives and foreign orientals — which are ‘adat’ on account of their uncodified state, and ‘law’ because they carry sanctions — has not been derived from a single source. As with the languages and ethnic groupings, the influence of history is noticeable. Against the Malayo-Polynesian background of the indigenous languages, Sanskrit, Arabic, Portuguese and Dutch words and usages appeared as the result of the arrival of Indian, then Moslem, and finally European, foreigners. Against the Malayo-Polynesian background of indigenous beliefs and customs the imprint of Hindu, Moslem and Christian shapes and shades became visible. Likewise, the languages and customs of the Chinese and Arabs in the Indies were subject to non-Chinese and non-Arabic influences. It was no different with the adat law of these peoples. Here, too, the indigenous Malayo-Polynesian law is still the background of the adat law of the Indonesians, whether autochthones like the Batak, Dayak, and Toraja, or immigrants like the members of the Malayan race. But among the 34 million-odd Indonesians of to-day (—) only a minority estimated at less than 3 million has remained pagan, adhering to an animistic-fetishistic religion (Badui, Tenggerese, many Batak, the inhabitants of the interior of Borneo and Celebes, the people of New Guinea, the Baliaga in Bali, etc.).