The Library
Review of Nine tenths of the law : enduring dispossession in Indonesia by Lund, C.
Tools
Tools
Tools
Meszaros, George (2022) Review of Nine tenths of the law : enduring dispossession in Indonesia by Lund, C. Journal of Peasant Studies, 49 (1). pp. 225-228. ISSN 0306-6150
|
PDF
WRAP-Book-review-Indonesian-22.pdf - Accepted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (189Kb) | Preview |
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2021.1998869
Abstract
Scholars of legal pluralism have long been preoccupied with the paradoxes, uncertainties and competing legal claims, often land centred, that arise from layered and fractured postcolonial legal orders. Lund’s book offers an extremely rich, wide-ranging and nuanced account of these issues in the context of Indonesia from the period of Dutch colonization (1619) to the present.
The title, Nine Tenths of the Law, reflects his enduring concern with the complex relationship between possession on the one hand, and the last tenth, legalization. Whilst aware ‘that property rights (“the law”) are not merely about legal rights, but, more importantly, about the political and physical capacity to hold things of value: land in particular’ (2), he is equally aware of ‘the importance people and companies attach to law, and the energies and efforts they invest in the legalization of their claims’ (4). ‘[R]ecognition still matters a great deal’ (5). But here is the twist: the meaning of legalization for both Lund and, more crucially, his research subjects, is far from straightforward. He sees it as the legitimation of rules, claims, administrative operations ‘through reference to law regardless of whether a genuine correspondence between them and statutory law actually exists’ (6). Clearly, this opens huge practical and theoretical problems, but it is also a reflection of reality on the ground, however imperfect and contradictory. ‘The affinity between statutory law and legalization is often assumed and asserted, as both villagers and company representatives did in Meka Haya, but not necessarily juridically accurate’ (6).
| Item Type: | Book Review | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform K Law [Moys] > KT Asia and Pacific |
||||||
| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Law | ||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Land tenure -- Indonesia, Real property -- Indonesia, Right of property -- Indonesia, Eviction -- Indonesia | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Journal of Peasant Studies | ||||||
| Publisher: | Taylor and Francis | ||||||
| ISSN: | 0306-6150 | ||||||
| Book Title: | Nine tenths of the law: enduring dispossession in Indonesia | ||||||
| Official Date: | January 2022 | ||||||
| Dates: |
|
||||||
| Volume: | 49 | ||||||
| Number: | 1 | ||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 225-228 | ||||||
| DOI: | 10.1080/03066150.2021.1998869 | ||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
| Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): | This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Peasant Studies on 06/12/2021, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/03066150.2021.1998869 | ||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 30 August 2022 | ||||||
| Date of first compliant Open Access: | 6 June 2023 |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year
