The principles of international trade contract as reference of Indonesian contract law

Abstract

There is no legislation to regulate international contract commercial in Indonesia. The law that has been regulating such activity still refers to the Indonesian Civil Code ( book III) which it’s an inheritance of the Dutch colonial government (the Dutch 1838 Civil Code). Many people said that the law is out of date and it will be a problem and an obstacle to perform international commercial contract in Indonesia (especially contract that involve foreign entities). In accordance with that, there is an opinion that it is urgent for Indonesia to make a new legislation as soon as possible to replace or reform the old code. Even though on the other side, people said that an old code ( book III Civil Code) is still appropriate to regulate performing contracts including international commercial contracts in Indonesia. The research resume that to modernize the Indonesian contract law, it is better to refer to the international contract profiles and rules. The UNIDROIT principles on international commercial contract are maybe the best source for modern Civil Code ( Book III) and UNIDROIT Principles have fundamental principles value like “Freedom of Contract, Consesualism”, and so on. It means that some fundamental values in the UNIDROIT Principles are not strange to Indonesian law.