Opinions Opinion

The Principle of Litis Finiri Oportet in a Civil Case

Fally Avriantara

Contributor

10 Feb 2024 · 11:25 10 February 2024 11:25 WIB 4 minutes reading time: 4 minutes 10 read

This article discusses a brief understanding of the principle of litis finiri oportet and its application in a civil case.

The Principle of Litis Finiri Oportet in a Civil Case

Opinion Note

This opinion article was written by a contributor/columnist. The views expressed are entirely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors.

CONTRIBUTOR PROGRAM

You can become a columnist at Legal Literacy.

Submit your legal opinion/analysis writing. If it is published, you have the opportunity to obtain a payout/honorarium in accordance with the provisions.

Submit Article Read Guidelines

Table of Contents

Principle Litis Finiri Oportet and Legal Certainty.
Principle Litis Finiri Oportet in the consideration of the Panel of Judges.

Legal Literacy - Positivists emphasize that the purpose of law is to realize legal certainty. Therefore, every case/dispute must have a final resolution, even if it sometimes does not please all parties.

**Principle Litis Finiri Oportet and Legal Certainty.**

In principle, law exists to regulate the behavior of community life. If there is no law, it is certain that chaos will occur because humans will start to prey on each other.

The question that arises then is what exactly is the purpose of law specifically? The opinion of an expert of law and a philosopher from Germany named Gustav Radbruch can be one reference. According to Radbruch as quoted from the book Oeripan Notohamidjojo, Soal-Soal Pokok Filsafat Hukum, Griya Media, Salatiga, 2011, the purpose of law is oriented towards three things, namely legal certainty, justice, and expediency (usefulness).

Principle litis finiri oportet intersects with the goal of legal certainty. Every dispute/case (including civil cases) must have a final resolution. Rocky Marbun SH et al in the book entitled Kamus Hukum Lengkap (Mencakup Istilah Hukum & Perundang-undangan terbaru) Visimedia, Jakarta, 2012 defines the principle litis finiri oportet is essentially that a case or dispute that exists at a time has been resolved by a judge and may not be submitted to a judge again.

Thus, linguistically the principle litis finiri oportet mandates that every case must have an end. This means that legal certainty is very necessary even though there is still room to obtain justice in other forms.

**Principle Litis Finiri Oportet in the consideration of the Panel of Judges.**

If we observe several Court Decisions, the application of the principle litis finiri oportet can also be associated with the principle of nebis in idem. As an example contained in a civil case/dispute in the city of Pekalongan between a party named Hj. MS and TES.

In essence, in the case, Hj. MS argued that in 2010 she had entrusted a sum of money to TES with the aim of paying part of the capital for a cooperation agreement for the construction of a building and Room Chandra Karaoke and its contents. The total money entrusted was Rp. 140,000,000 (one hundred and forty million rupiah).

Furthermore, a civil dispute occurred between Hj. MS and TES. Hj. MS argued that the money entrusted to TES did not reach/comply with the purpose of the cooperation, until Hj. MS then sued TES in court in 2010. The civil case has been inkracht van gewijsde (legally binding) with the conclusion that the lawsuit of Hj. MS as the Plaintiff was not granted by either Judex Factie nor Judex Jurist as referred to in the Pekalongan District Court Decision Number: 40/Pdt.G/2010/PN.Pkl dated July 11, 2011 jo. Semarang High Court Decision Number: 350/Pdt/2011/PT.Smg dated November 29, 2011 jo. Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia Decision Number 1840 K/Pdt/2012 dated February 19, 2013.