Comparative Study of the Customary Institutional Structure of Ngata Toro, Central Sulawesi, and Montesquieu’s Legal Doctrine

Abstract

The Republic of Indonesia was established on a unified territory of kingdoms and the original laws bounding them. Article 18B paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia became the constitutional basis for formulating Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages, accommodating both Customary Villages and Villages. At the local level, the ratification of the Decree of the Sigi Regent Number 189-324 of 2018 was a form of recognition and respect by the state for the existence of indigenous people living in Ngata Toro, Sigi region. As a customary village, Ngata Toro has a unique institutional structure based on local ancestral law. This study aims to explain the institutions in Ngata Toro’s Customary Law compared to the infamous view of the Trias Politica by Baron de Montesquieu. A socio-legal method was employed by focusing on the study of legal anthropology to compare the institutional structure and functions of Ngata Toro to Monstesquieu’s doctrine. The results unveiled that institutions within Ngata Toro resembled Montesquieu’s view regarding the separation of powers. Those institutions were Topantale (the legislative), Topo Baha (the executive), and Topo Tangara (the judges/judiciary), whose jurisdiction covered the entire territory of the Ngata Toro customary land.