In legal science, there is an adage ““Ubi societas ibi ius,” which means where there is society, there is law. Based on this adage, there are three factors that can be used as benchmarks for the goodness or badness of a prevailing law. These three factors are juridical, philosophical, and sociological factors. Juridically, a prevailing law is considered good if it is formed by a specific body/institution and based on certain procedures. Philosophically, a prevailing law is considered good if it aligns with the legal aspirations of society. Sociologically, a prevailing law is considered good if it is accepted, recognized, and obeyed by society. Based on these three factors, it can be said that the formation of laws in the Indonesian State cannot be separated from the forming institution, forming procedures, and society. Then, what about units with a narrower scope than the State, such as Villages for example? Can Villages create laws based on these three factors?

A Village, or by other names, is a legal community unit that has territorial boundaries, authorized to regulate and manage government affairs, the interests of the local community based on community initiatives, ancestral rights, and/or traditional rights recognized and respected in the governance system of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.

After grappling with managing and organizing data to develop community planning, an instrument of policy needs to be incorporated into local legal products. This extends not only to villages but also to indigenous/local communities that have customary norms. Although in this context, the law used is formal law embodied in regulations, village regulations, and village chief decisions, customary law, and local law based on noble values can be accommodated. Therefore, the resulting legal product is a quality, participatory policy product based on local wisdom and directly impactful on community needs.

Participants of the Field School as actors who will drive a good legislative process must have a broad perspective in designing regulations, including integrating the interests and needs of the community into the regulations being drafted. In this session, participants will be invited to analyze the position of village regulations in the hierarchy of legal regulations, the needs and common interests of the village community, and integrate these common needs and interests into a village regulation or customary regulation that is beneficial for all and participatory.

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