Court Reform

Three types of strategies have been common for court reform programmes: the ‘holistic’, the ‘tactical’, and the ‘strategic’ approach. This Research and Policy Note discusses strategic court reform and its underlying ideas. Its main intention is to alert those involved in judicial reform to some of the pitfalls and choices connected to particular types of interventions. The concluding remarks will comment on the political nature of judicial reform and on a model to design a proper sequence of interventions for judicial reform

Court reform

At present, virtually everyone working in the field of development agrees that reform of mal-functioning court systems is central in promoting good governance and rule of law. Unfortunately, however, the record of court reform attempts is not very heartening. Those who intend to reform must take into account a complex set of courts' relations with other state agencies, dispute resolvers, and actors in the state legal system, but they also depend heavily on the quality of legislation and legal education. In reaction to this complexity, three types of strategies have been common for court reform programmes: the 'holistic', the 'tactical', and the 'strategic' approach. This Research and Policy Note discusses strategic court reform and its underlying ideas. Its main intention is to alert those involved in judicial reform to some of the pitfalls and choices connected to particular types of interventions. The concluding remarks will comment on the political nature of judicial reform and on a model to design a proper sequence of interventions for judicial refor

Democracy, Human Rights, and Islamic Family Law in Post-Soeharto Indonesia

This article examines the developments in Indonesian family law in the aftermath of the political transition that occurred in 1998. Its focus is on the position of the Islamic courts and the role of the women’s movement as a driver of reform. Combining literature on gender, Islam, and the state in Indonesia with new material such as divorce rates, cases of the Constitutional Court, and law reform initiatives, the authors argue that the family law reform processes already underway before 1998 have not changed much and have continued to lead to more state control of Islamic family law. Yet, even though the reforms since 1998 have not directly targeted family law, they have unleashed processes of liberalization, democratization and decentralization that have emboldened Indonesian women in the exercise of their rights and have invigorated debates over further reform

Court reform

At present, virtually everyone working in the field of development agrees that reform of mal-functioning court systems is central in promoting good governance and rule of law. Unfortunately, however, the record of court reform attempts is not very heartening. Those who intend to reform must take into account a complex set of courts' relations with other state agencies, dispute resolvers, and actors in the state legal system, but they also depend heavily on the quality of legislation and legal education. In reaction to this complexity, three types of strategies have been common for court reform programmes: the 'holistic', the 'tactical', and the 'strategic' approach. This Research and Policy Note discusses strategic court reform and its underlying ideas. Its main intention is to alert those involved in judicial reform to some of the pitfalls and choices connected to particular types of interventions. The concluding remarks will comment on the political nature of judicial reform and on a model to design a proper sequence of interventions for judicial refor

Legal Education in Indonesia

Many of the discussions about legal education in Indonesia are similar to the ones conducted in other countries. They reflect the tension between a liberal legal education on the one hand and a vocational training on the other, as well as the tension between a legal education preparing students for legal practice and one preparing them for a broad range of generalist positions. However, we argue that legal education in Indonesia is also marred by problems of the legal system itself and by a lack of communication between its constituent parts – the judiciary, the legislative, the bar, public prosecutors, and legal scholars. Caused by years of authoritarian rule, these problems have resulted in an unproductive and largely misguided debate in law faculties between proponents of legal formalism and others promoting a more contextualised approach to law. Nonetheless, it is undeniable that overall the quality of legal education has improved during the past 20 years and that this process will likely continue

Real legal certainty and its relevance: essays in honour of Jan Michiel Otto

The concept of ‘real legal certainty’ provides a much needed corrective to the general attention for legal certainty in this day and age. It emphasises relations between citizens, adds socio-legal insight, provides a ‘view from below,’ and thus leads to more realistic insights on how to build state institutions. The concept was introduced by Leiden University’s professor of Law and Governance in Developing countries Jan Michiel Otto, and can be considered a central pillar of his work. Against the backdrop of an ever-increasing interest in ‘legal certainty’ in policy-making and academia, friends and colleagues of Jan Michiel Otto engage with the concept provide a wide variety of examples of its relevance. Drawing on case material from all over the world, they show how real legal certainty can be understood in a bottom-up manner and how it is relevant for building state institutions. They also show how the concept can gain in relevance by taking into account actors other than the state. In all, the edited volume is important reading for all whom share professor Otto’s interest in what it takes to bridge law in the books and law in action

Plurality of marriage law and marriage registration for Muslims in Indonesia: a plea for pragmatism

This article discusses the law and practice of Muslim marriages and their registration in Indonesia. The central question is to what extent these accommodate the rights and needs of poor women. A historical overview of state involvement in marriage regulation demonstrates how the women’s rights discourse has been largely replaced by one based on Islamic law, but that nonetheless women’s rights in marriage have been substantively reinforced. The next part discusses the control of Muslim marriage in practice, by focusing on the registration of marriage and divorce. It shows how informal practices at the lowest level of the state and state courts serving as a safety net protect the rights of poor women in practice much more effectively than is often assumed. These findings undermine the assumptions underlying the current emphasis by national women’s rights groups and donors on extending state registration and criminalising non-registration. This emphasis on the juridification of people’s lives by casting the issue essentially in terms of human rights and remedies may in fact even lead to the opposite of what it aims to achieve: more liberty for women to dispose of their own lives