Adat

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This article is about Indonesian law. For the digital recording format, see ADAT.

Adat (Arabic ﻋﺎﺪﺔ ʿādah) is a set of local and traditional laws and dispute resolution systems in many parts of Nusantara. In older Malay language, adat refers to the customary laws, the unwritten traditional code regulating social, political, and economical as well maritime laws.

Two kinds of Malay adat laws were developed before the 15th century:

Adat Perpateh was developed as a matrilineal kinship structure from early time by the Minangkabau people in Sumatra and Negri Sembilan.
The office of the sea admiral or under Adat Temenggong originated bilaterally based on territorial social units. Both adat forms were significantly transformed by Islamic and later European legal system during the later colonial times.
During the inter-maritime contact prior to the 15th Century, Chinese vessels (wooden junks) came and had established the basic draft form for the original development in the adat Temenggong maritime laws. The Malacca sultanate had the office of the sea admiral or the Office of the Temenggung.