Legal Literacy - As is well known, the hierarchy of laws and regulations in Indonesia consists of many types of regulations, starting from the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, MPR Decrees, laws to regional regulations (perda) of regencies/cities.

From the many laws and regulations, there are often regulations that regulate similar things, but contradict each other, causing confusion in their implementation. So it is important for us to be able to understand the hierarchy of laws and regulations so that we will understand which regulations should be used.

Understanding Laws and Regulations

The definition of laws and regulations is written regulations that contain legal norms that are generally binding and are formed or stipulated by state institutions or authorized officials through procedures stipulated in laws and regulations.

Meanwhile, the word hierarchy itself in the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI) has the meaning of order of levels or levels. Thus, understanding the hierarchy of laws and regulations means finding out the order of levels of laws and regulations in Indonesia.

To be able to know the hierarchy of laws and regulations, of course we must refer to Law Number 12 of 2011 which is an update of Law Number 10 of 2004 and was last updated through Law Number 13 of 2022 concerning the Establishment of Laws and Regulations.

In article 7 paragraph (1) of the Law, it is stated that the types and hierarchy of laws and regulations consist of:

  1. The 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia
  2. Decrees of the People's Consultative Assembly
  3. Laws/Government Regulations in Lieu of Laws
  4. Government Regulation
  5. Presidential Regulation
  6. Provincial Regional Regulations, and
  7. Regency/City Regional Regulations

Then, in Article 7 paragraph (2) of the Law, it is stated that the legal force of Statutory Regulations is in accordance with the hierarchy as referred to in paragraph (1). Thus, from these two provisions we can understand that hierarchically/sequentially, according to Article 7 paragraph (1), that the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia is a statutory regulation that has the highest order, then the second order is the MPR Decree, and so on to district/city regional regulations. Likewise with the nature of its legal force, the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia has the highest legal force compared to other statutory regulations.

Read Also:The State in an Ideal Portrait of Legal Politics: For People's Sovereignty

To make it easier to understand, here is a table that summarizes it:

[ninja_table_builder id="19228"]

Important Principles of Statutory Regulations

And it should be remembered that the principle applies in the order of statutory regulations lex superior derogat legi priori which means that statutory regulations that have a lower position must not conflict with statutory regulations that have a higher position above them.

Examples of Problematic Statutory Regulations

Although there is a principle lex superior derogat legi priori, in practice there are still regulations that conflict with statutory regulations that have a higher position. One example can be seen in the Constitutional Court's decision Number 85/PUU-XI/2013 which through the decision, the Constitutional Court annulled all provisions contained in the Law Number 7 of 2004 concerning Water Resources (SDA) because the law was considered to conflict with statutory regulations above it, namely the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, specifically in Article 33 paragraphs (1) and (2) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.

Status and Position of Statutory Regulations Not Mentioned in Article 7

Apart from what is mentioned in Article 7 paragraph (1), if we pay close attention together, there are actually other statutory regulations that we often encounter, for example ministerial regulations issued by each ministry, prosecutorial regulations, police regulations, and other regulations which are in accordance with the meaning of a statutory regulation as mentioned previously.

Police regulations, for example, are certainly written rules that contain legal norms that are generally binding and formed or stipulated by state institutions or authorized officials. Although police regulations and regulations issued by other state institutions are not explicitly mentioned in Article 7 paragraph (1) of Law No. 12 of 2011 concerning the Establishment of Statutory Regulations, these regulations are still recognized as statutory regulations.

This can be understood by the provision of Article 8 paragraph (1) which states that Types of Laws and Regulations other than those referred to in the hierarchy of laws and regulations in Article 7 paragraph (1) include regulations stipulated by the People's Consultative Assembly, the House of Representatives, the Regional Representative Council, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, the Audit Board, the Judicial Commission, Bank Indonesia, Ministers, agencies, institutions, or equivalent commissions established by Law.

As well as the provisions of Article 8 paragraph (2) which states that the Laws and Regulations as referred to in paragraph (1) are recognized and have binding legal force as long as they are ordered by higher Laws and Regulations or formed based on authority. This means that regulations issued by bodies or institutions other than those mentioned in Article 7 paragraph (1) are also recognized as laws and regulations and have binding legal force.