PROPOSING CUSTOMARY CRIMINAL OFFENCES AS THE ABSOLUTE COMPETENCE OF THE NAGARI CUSTOMARY COURT WITH LEGAL CERTAINTY IN WEST SUMATRA
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Absolute competence, Nagari Customary Court, Legal Certainty, Customary Criminal Law, Living Law in Society
Abstract
This study aims to examine and formulate a proposal for future law-making (de lege ferenda) by adding customary criminal offences to the absolute competence of the Nagari Customary Court, in order to strengthen the standing and authority of that court as the judicial customary institution of West Sumatra Province. The proposal is grounded principally in Law No. 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code and Government Regulation No. 55 of 2025 on the Procedures and Criteria for Determining the Living Law in Society. The inquiry matters because the existence of the Nagari Customary Court is at present regulated normatively only by West Sumatra Provincial Regulation No. 7 of 2018 on Nagari, shaped by Minangkabau custom and culture as the defining characteristic of the province affirmed in Article 5(c) of Law No. 17 of 2022. Article 15(3) of that Regional Regulation confers a narrow absolute competence limited to the amicable settlement of customary civil matters and the imposition of customary sanctions, without legal certainty as to the scope of matters covered, and no certainty whatsoever as to authority over customary criminal offences. The study employs normative juridical research using statutory, conceptual and historical approaches. It finds that, first, the Nagari Customary Court presently stands as a judicial institution outside the state court structure; second, its relative competence is confined to the territory of the Nagari in which it sits; and third, customary criminal offences may be conferred as its absolute competence by reference to Article 2 of Law No. 1 of 2023 juncto Article 16(1) of Government Regulation No. 55 of 2025.
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