1. Indonesia Law System
Introduction to Law – Part 3
(The Courts and ADR)

2. Civil Court System
• As you will remember, civil law deals with
the relationships between individuals
• The civil court system provides a place for
individuals to settle their arguments
• You can think of it like a boxing match where
the court is the boxing ring, the judge is the
referee, and the individuals are the fighters
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3. Civil Court System (cont.)
• The civil courts are arranged in a hierarchy
• Court cases begin in the lower courts
• If an individual loses, they can appeal to a
higher court
• They hope that the higher court will change
the decision of the lower court in their favour
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4. Civil Court System (cont.)
• For example, a dispute over a contract would
start in the City Court
• If the person who loses launches an appeal,
the case would go to the High Court
• An appeal from the High Court would go to
the Supreme Court
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5. Appeal Process
District Court
(city)
High Court
(Province)
Supreme Court
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6. Civil Court System (cont.)
• The Supreme Court is the highest civil
court & Criminal Court in Indonesia
• However, not every case goes to appeal
• Each time you appeal, you have to pay your
lawyers
• It is free to go all the way to the Supreme
Court. ( In Fact is very Expensive )

7. Terminology
Some common legal words and phrases used in
English civil law
• civil proceedings: a court action in a civil
matter such as contract
• claimant: the person who starts the civil
proceedings in order to get some kind of
remedy (eg money)
• defendant: the party whom the claimant
seeks the remedy against
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8. Terminology (cont.)
• to sue: to bring civil proceedings against
someone (ie the defendant)
• The claimant sues the defendant to try to get
a remedy (such as the payment of money)
• If the court agrees with the claimant’s
argument the claimant will be successful and
win his case
– (the court finds in his favour)
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9. Terminology (cont.)
• If the court thinks that the defendant has a
better argument than the claimant then the
defendant will win
– (the court finds in favour of the defendant)
• Usually, the party who loses a civil court case
has to pay their own legal costs and the legal
costs of the winner
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10. Terminology - Example
• Wang enters into a contract with Zhang
• They agree that Zhang will pay Wang £100
for some S.H.E DVDs
• Wang delivers the DVDs to Zhang, but
Zhang refuses to pay him £100
• Therefore, Wang sues Zhang for £100
• That is, Wang brings civil proceeding against
Zhang to try to make him pay £100
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11. Terminology – Example (cont.)
• Wang is the claimant
• Zhang is the defendant
• The court decides that Wang has a better
argument than Zhang
• The court finds in favour of Wang
• Wang wins
• Zhang must pay Wang £100 plus Wang’s
legal costs plus his own legal costs
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12. Alternative Dispute Resolution
• The civil court system is adversarial
• One person “fights” another
• Like in a boxing match, they are
opponents
• There is a winner and a loser at the end
of the case
• There is no attempt to reach a
compromise
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13. Alternative Dispute Resolution
(cont.)
• This may not be in the best interests of the
claimant and the defendant – especially if
they had a close relationship before the court
action
• Because of this, there are some procedures
which can be used instead of court action
• These are known as Alternative Dispute
Resolution (ADR)
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14. Forms of ADR
• Arbitration
• Administrative Tribunals
• Ombudsman
• Mediation and Conciliation
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15. Arbitration
• In this procedure, the two parties ask an
independent third party (an arbitrator) to
settle their argument instead of going to court
• This might be part of the contract or
something which they agree to later
• The arbitrator is often an expert in a relevant
area
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16. Arbitration (cont.)
• In our earlier example, instead of a court
action, Wang and Zhang could have asked
Zhuge Liang to act as their arbitrator to settle
the dispute over the £100 payment
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17. Advantages of Arbitration
Compared to a court action, arbitration is:
• More private
– courts are public places
– court actions are often reported in the media
• More informal
• Usually faster
– do not have to follow court procedures
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18. Advantages of Arbitration (cont.)
• Less expensive
• Gives access to an expert
– judges are not experts in every area of business
• Less antagonistic
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19. Administrative Tribunals
• Administrative tribunals deal with arguments
between individuals and government
institutions
• They are created by legislation
• Examples
– Employment Tribunals
– Social Security Tribunals
– Immigration Appeal Tribunal
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20. Advantages of Tribunals
Compared to court action, tribunals are:
• Usually faster
• Less expensive
• More informal
• More flexible
– not so many rules to follow
• Consist of experts in appropriate areas
• More private
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21. Disadvantages of Tribunals
• Appeals procedure not as good as the court
system
• Some poor people are entitled to legal aid (ie
financial support) in court actions but not in
tribunals
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22. Ombudsman
• An ombudsman (or woman) is an official who
investigates complaints from individuals about
government departments
• The person complains that the administration of
the department is below acceptable standards
(maladministration)
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23. Disadvantages of the
Ombudsman System
• A person must first complain to their MP
(Member of Parliament), who passes the
complaint to the Ombudsman
• Ombudsman has a much narrow area to operate
in than a court or tribunal
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24. Mediation and Conciliation
• These are the most informal of all ADR
procedures
• In mediation, a third party (a mediator)
helps the two people to communicate, but the
mediator does not try to solve the dispute
• In conciliation, the third party may suggest
ways of solving the argument
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