Navigating Legal Pluralism: Lessons from the Normative Recognition and Substantive Protection of Ende Customary Law Communities

Stefanus Don Rade; Catherine Ayunia Zoerin Pellokila

doi:10.24843/UJLC.2026.v10.i02.01

Authors

Stefanus Don Rade Doctor of Law Study Program, Faculty of Law, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia Author
Catherine Ayunia Zoerin Pellokila Master of Law Study Program, Faculty of Law, Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung, Indonesia Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24843/UJLC.2026.v10.i02.01

Keywords:

Customary Law Communities, Ende Regency, Legal Pluralism, Legal Protection, Regional Regulation

Abstract

Indonesia’s constitutional framework formally recognizes customary law communities and their traditional rights. However, a significant gap persists between normative recognition and substantive protection at the local level, as emphasized in legal pluralism scholarship. This study examines the situation in Ende Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province, where 184 customary law communities from the Ende, Lio, and Nage ethnolinguistic groups maintain communal land tenure systems and governance structures led by Mosalaki authorities. These communities face regulatory fragmentation, territorial disputes, and encroachment by mining concessions on customary territories. This research analyzes the interaction between state law and customary law and its impact on the legal recognition of customary law communities in Ende Regency, as reflected in current regulations and court decisions. It also evaluates the effectiveness of Ende Regency Regulation No. 2 of 2017 and critically examines the extent to which its implementing regulation, Ende Regent Regulation No. 7 of 2025, provides substantive legal protection for the rights and cultural identity of these communities. The analysis is conducted from a legal pluralism perspective. This study employs an empirical socio-legal methodology that integrates normative legal analysis with fieldwork conducted in March 2025. The findings indicate that the current regulatory framework, while progressively expanding normative recognition through regional regulations and court decisions, has produced a structural condition of pluralism without harmonization. In this context, formal recognition coexists with the absence of institutional mechanisms for genuinely accommodating customary law. The study recommends the formal institutionalization of tripartite governance, the revision of the verification committee’s composition to include customary community representatives, and regulatory harmonization across governance levels

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