JOURNAL ARCHIVE
2026-07-01
•
Journal Customary Law
•
pp. 1–11
Amrullah, Megawati Barthos
The digitalization of land administration has driven fundamental changes in how the validity of land rights transactions is understood and applied in legal practice. The implementation of electronic certificates, database integration, and digital verification mechanisms has strengthened public reliance on the registration system as a source of administrative legitimacy. This development has given rise to normative ambivalence regarding the principle of nemo plus juris, which classically asserts that a person cannot transfer rights beyond what they own. When system data becomes the primary reference for verification, tension arises between the substantive truth of ownership and the administrative validity based on digital registration. This study aims to analyze the paradigm shift in the validity of land transactions in the digital era and formulate a conceptual reconstruction that balances the protection of original owners with the need to maintain legal certainty and transaction stability. The method employed is normative legal research with a limited statutory, conceptual, and comparative approach, through an analysis of the Basic Agrarian Law, Government Regulations on Land Registration, electronic certificate regulations, and electronic system provisions. The results reveal a dualism in validity between substantive and systemic aspects, which has the potential to create legal uncertainty if not clearly regulated. Reliance on digital systems broadens the meaning of legal legitimacy, but also presents the risk of systemic error and an incompletely defined distribution of responsibility. Reconstruction of the validity model is necessary through a reinterpretation of the nemo plus juris principle that adapts to technology, the establishment of digital verification-based due diligence standards, and the development of a legal protection model based on risk allocation. This approach is expected to strike a balance between the efficiency of digitalization and the protection of substantive ownership rights in the modern land system.
JOURNAL ARCHIVE
2026-06-27
•
Journal Customary Law
•
pp. 1–11
Endang Rahmawati AR, Megawati Barthos
The enactment of Law Number 20 of 2025 concerning the criminal procedure code marks a new milestone in the criminal justice system. It not only strengthens criminal justice as a whole but also has a significant impact on the role of the public prosecutor as dominus litis. The existence of the public prosecutor as dominus litis can be observed in one of their authorities, namely the power to bring cases before the court. Various legal literatures define dominus litis in different ways; however, it can be concluded that scholars generally agree that dominus litis refers to the role of the public prosecutor as the controller of the case. The implementation of the new criminal procedure code reinforces the status of the public prosecutor as the controller of the case, including granting the authority to submit an acquittal demand. This research employs a normative juridical method by linking statutory regulations to analyze legal norms related to the authority of the public prosecutor. In addition, this study utilizes various legal literatures as well as internal prosecutorial regulations to examine the implementation of the dominus litis principle in submitting acquittal charges. The results of the study indicate that the public prosecutor possesses full rights and authority in filing criminal charges, including acquittal charges, derived from the principle of dominus litis. This strengthened role is emphasized in the new criminal procedure code and its implementing regulations, where the public prosecutor functions not only to present indictments but also as the controller of the case who must prioritize objectivity based on facts revealed during trial. As the owner of the case, the public prosecutor bears full responsibility to ensure that the judicial process does not impose punishment on individuals who are not proven guilty. This underscores that the success of prosecution is not measured by the severity of punishment, but by the realization of justice and material truth in line with the spirit of reform in the national criminal procedure law.
JOURNAL ARCHIVE
2026-06-05
•
Journal Customary Law
•
pp. 1–14
Anggiat Tobing, Megawati Barthos
The land registration publication system plays a crucial role in establishing legal certainty, rights protection, and the stability of land transactions. Indonesia implements a negative publication system with a positive tendency, in which land certificates are recognized as strong evidence but remain open to lawsuits. This situation creates a paradox between the need for legal certainty and the demands of substantive justice, as certificate holders who have legally obtained rights still have the potential to face disputes in court. This study aims to analyze the construction of the land registration publication system in Indonesia, identify problems that affect legal certainty and protection, and formulate a reconstruction model that is more responsive to developments in legal practice and the digitalization of land administration. The research method used is normative juridical with a statutory, conceptual, and comparative legal approach. The analysis is conducted on the national regulatory framework, land law doctrine, and judicial practice, which demonstrates differing interpretations of the evidentiary power of certificates. The results of the study indicate that the main weaknesses lie in the absence of strong state guarantees, regulatory fragmentation, and suboptimal protection for buyers in good faith. The reconstruction of the publication system is aimed at a hybrid model that strengthens positive elements without neglecting corrective mechanisms, the development of a compensation scheme based on state responsibility, and the harmonization of regulations that support the integration of digital land registry systems. A comparative approach to the Torrens system in Australia and continental European registration models provides lessons on the importance of rigorous initial verification, data transparency, and clear assurance mechanisms to increase public trust in the land registration system.