Journal Customary Law
Vol. 3 No. 3.1 (2026): ICLSSEE Special Collection

The Ambivalence of the Supreme Court's Jurisprudence in Recognizing the Customary Rights of Indigenous Communities and Its Implications for the Transformation of the Concept of Communal Rights in National Land Law

Akh Mulyanto (Universitas Borobudur)
Richard (Universitas Borobudur)



Article Info

Publish Date
01 Jul 2026

Abstract

This study's objective is to examine the Supreme Court's reluctance in acknowledging indigenous peoples' customary rights and its consequences for the evolution of the notion of communal rights in Indonesian national land law. However, the Supreme Court's jurisprudence exhibits an ambivalent tendency in judicial practice, where a formal evidentiary strategy that prioritizes land title certificates as the primary evidence in land disputes frequently limits the acceptance of customary law. On the other hand, the development of legislative policies that introduce the concept of communal rights as a form of recognition of land ownership by indigenous communities aims to provide legal certainty, but has the potential to reduce the dimension of customary authority contained in the concept of customary rights. In order to achieve agrarian justice for Indonesia's indigenous communities, it is necessary to reconstruct the paradigm of more substantive customary law recognition within the national land law system. This circumstance demonstrates how the dualism between state law and customary law in the land sector persists in a new form.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

jcl

Publisher

Subject

Law, Crime, Criminology & Criminal Justice

Description

Journal Customary Law is an international legal journal that publishes research and theoretical articles related to various legal fields. The journal aims to provide scholarly and authoritative articles that discuss legal issues of current importance to both academic research and legal practice. JCL ...