Civil liability

Civil liability

I refer to Peter A. Bell's article on the civil liability system published in The Jakarta Post, Feb. 10.

Many public transportation accidents have taken place besides the Gurita ferry catastrophe. Other accidents to which civil liability rules apply are environmental pollution problems and food poisoning cases.

As pointed out by Peter Bell, the Indonesian civil code contains rules, according to which the victims, or relatives of the victims, can sue the responsible, negligent parties in court.

Closely related to the civil liability concept is the one concerning product liability -- which is almost unknown in Indonesia -- according to which the seller must indemnify the buyer of goods that contain hidden defects as the result of negligence occurring in the manufacturing process.

Alf Ross, in his book On Law and Justice (1958), says that although legal norms exist, in the final analysis it is the application of the law by the courts that is decisive in determining the effectiveness of the legal norms.

Furthermore, the effectiveness that signifies the validity of the norms must be sought solely in the judicial application of the law. This means that the decisions of the courts are the determinant elements in the enhancement of the validity of any branch of the legal system.

The law will lose its character of effective law if the legal authority fails to apply the corresponding sanctions.

Thus, we can see that it is up to the judges to form the appropriate machinery to play a decisive role in enhancing the validity of any system of whatever branch of law, such as the civil liability system raised by Peter Bell.

But what would happen with the civil liability system we are yearning for if extra-judicial factors, such as signaled by retired justice Bismar Siregar, happen to interfere? This is for the jurists to ponder and to answer.

SAM SUHAEDI

Jakarta