Native courts and the construction of modern legal thinking in Sabah: a case study

Abstract

In Sabah the evolution of the legal order from the ad hoc establishment of village tribunals as mechanisms for dispute management to the constitution of a highly coordinated system of courts is closely associated with the role of the state as a modernising agent. The process is slow and problematic due to the deep influence that local law (adat) has on the indigenous population. During the colonial times, to make the transition to modernity less difficult, the British upgraded village tribunals or mahkamah kampung to become courts and incorporated them into the national judicial system. These courts called Mahkamah Anak Negeri or Native Courts persist into the present times. Their primary task is to administer adat law in the districts where they are established.