The Besluit van den Civielen en Militairen Gouverneur van Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden of 26 April 1911 No. 2199 was the gubernatorial decision by which verjaring (prescription, limitation of actions) — an institution unknown to Atjehnese adatrecht — was introduced by administrative act in Atjeh, fixing periods of fifteen and ten years for inheritance claims according to whether they were written or unwritten.
Occasion
The decree was issued on the reports of two district officials, cited in its recitals: the missives of the Assistent Resident van Groot-Atjeh of 7 March 1911 No. 593/9, and of the Assistent Resident van de Noordkust of 29 March of the same year No. 606/9.
Recitals
The decision recited four grounds, which D. W. N. de Boer reproduced in full:
- “Overwegende dat de behandeling van oude schuldvorderingen door de Moesapat’s in dit gewest zeer verschillend plaats vindt en geheel willekeurig dan eens wel, dan weer geen verjaring wordt toegepast” — that the treatment of old claims of debt by the moesapat’s in this gewest (region) took place very differently, and that prescription was applied quite arbitrarily, now yes, now no;
- that in the interest of a good administration of justice it was desirable to bring unity into the matter;
- “Overwegende dat ook de Islam onder zeker voorbehoud verjaring erkent” — that Islam too, subject to certain reservations, recognised prescription;
- that even before the Netherlands establishment, in many districts under the adat no right was done upon claims which the plaintiff had without valid reason omitted to bring for fifteen years;
- “Overwegende dat zoowel de Atjehsche hoofden als de mohammedaansche schriftgeleerden de wenschelijkheid en de noodzakelijkheid tot regeling dezer materie inzien” — that both the Atjehnese chiefs and the Mohammedan scholars perceived the desirability and the necessity of regulating this matter.
Operative provision
“Heeft besloten: Te bepalen dat zullen verjaren: Alle erfenisvorderingen na een onafgebroken tijdsverloop van 15 of 10 jaren, al naar gelang deze beschreven of onbeschreven zijn” — has resolved: to determine that there shall be prescribed all inheritance claims after an uninterrupted lapse of fifteen or ten years, according as these are written or unwritten. The decision closed with the customary direction that copies be sent for information and guidance.
Significance
The decree is an unusually explicit instance of the introduction of a legal institution into Atjehnese customary law by colonial administrative act. Its recitals are notable for grounding the innovation simultaneously in three authorities — the practical inconsistency of the moesapat courts, the recognition of prescription in Islam, and an asserted pre-colonial adat practice of refusing relief on claims neglected for fifteen years — and for citing the concurrence of both the Atjehnese chiefs and the Mohammedan schriftgeleerden (scholars of the written law). De Boer, himself a former chairman of Atjehnese moesapats and landschapsgerechten, placed the decree at the very end of his study as the last of the innovations affecting the Atjehnese law of property.
See Also
- Verjaring in Atjehsch adatrecht
- Moesapat
- Civiel en Militair Gouverneur
- Assistent-Resident van Groot-Atjeh
- Assistent-Resident van de Noordkust
- Adatrecht
- 1911
- 26 April
Source
Het recht op den grond in Atjeh, by D. W. N. de Boer, dated Scheveningen, November 1931, pp. 59-80. Offprint DLP-141, Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, ‘s-Gravenhage; Bibliotheek KITLV accession 0060 4460 60 081470 428.