tem. The birth of girls is celebrated rather than
mourned as is reported elsewhere. Women’s impor-
tant, though informal, participation in conflict
mediation reflects and inspires a corollary respect
for women’s intellect.
Among the most serious breaches of the princi-
ples of customary law is for a man to harm a
woman, no matter what she has done to instigate
his anger. Rural women’s safety is thus ensured,
and they enjoy considerable mobility, in contrast to
urban women in the region who are secluded.
Historically, during feuds and raids, women would
take food and messages to their warring relatives
without incurring any danger to themselves. In
some places, women would bare their heads and
accompany men in battle while beating drums to
support their efforts. In contrast, situations have
been recorded in which women, tired of war, would
walk into the midst of fighting, take off their head
covering or bare their breasts, thus putting their
own honor on the line as an effective way of stop-
ping the fighting.
While the laws of custom cover those aspects of
tribal life that involve collective responsibility, they
do not cover inheritance, marriage, economic tran-
sactions, or religious ritual, issues that fall under
the rubric of personal status law. Formally, these
are relegated to the domain of Islamic law. Thus,
depending on the degree of her family’s support, a
woman may inherit land, choose her husband, or
leave an unhappy marriage. On the other hand, she
may not enjoy these rights if she does not have the
backing of her immediate kin.
Bibliography
N. Adra, Qabyala. The tribal concept in the Central
Highlands of the Yemen Arab Republic, Ph.D. diss.,
Temple University, Ann Arbor 1982, 104–211.
H. al-≠Awdì, Al-turàth al-sha≠bìwa ≠alàqatuhu bi-al-tan-
miyya fìal-bilàd al-nàmiyya. Diràsa ta†bìqiyya ≠an al-
mujtama≠al-Yamanì, San≠a 1980.
D. Chatty, Mobile pastoralists. Development, planning
and social change in Oman, New York 1996.
S. al-Mu†ayrì, Al-dìwàn al-atharì. ≠âdàt wa-turàth al-
bàdiya. Al-a≠ràf wa-al-mu†àla≠àt al-qabaliyya, Kuwait
1984.
H. Qàyid, Bàdiya li-al-amàràt. Taqàlìd wa ≠àdàt. U.A.E.,
n.d.
Najwa AdraIndonesiaThe main features of adat
inheritance law
In Indonesian customary law (commonly called
adat), the law of inheritance is comprised of rules
indonesia 419governing the process of transfer and retention of
family property, both material (such as land prop-
erty, money, house) and immaterial (involving any
legal rights and responsibilities of the deceased
when alive, such as debts, mortgage, the right of
land control, and similar matters), from one gener-
ation to the next (ter Haar 1950, 197). This is one
aspect of adatsubstantive law that is inseparable
from the law of marriage, in which the principles of
life arising from a communal way of thinking are
reflected very strongly in the teaching of preserving
equilibrium and harmony within the family, the
core component of the community structure. What
makes the adatlaw of inheritance so distinct is
that the process of transferring property does not
focus on the death of the parents or of a particular
person in one generation but is believed to have
commenced with the family’s original formation
(Hadikusuma 1980, 18–19). Thus, although the
death of a parent can be an important event for the
future of the family bond, this does not mean that
the transfer of property hinges on this fact, since the
transfer is seen as a continuing process and can take
place without any such event.
The importance of equilibrium in the community
seems to be a legal foundation for dealing with
transfer of property within the family, and this
principle extends not only toward that which exists
between man and nature but also between man and
woman in the family sphere. As the welfare of the
family means also in turn the welfare of the com-
munity at large, the estate transfer mechanisms
should ideally be undertaken in such a way as to
avoid disturbing the harmony of the family bond.
Differently put, the property, whether material or
immaterial, is transferred through whatever method
of succession can best ensure the wellbeing of the
next generation in the family, so that in turn the
wellbeing of the community can be preserved. As a
consequence, the mechanism of the inheritance law
does not involve any complicated mathematical
calculation of estate division. In principle, all the
heirs can receive equal portions of the estate with-
out consideration of gender, age, or religious belief.
As long as the heirs belong to one genealogical net-
work, the vertical transfer of property can theoret-
ically be assumed.
On a practical level, more often than not prefer-
ence is given to those heirs most in need of the
estate. In this case, the economic function of the
estate thus operates as a kind of primary reason for
the transfer. If so, the first consideration is given not
to the owner of the property in question but to the
role of the estate as capital for assuring the welfare
of the living members of the family. Therefore, in