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