JAN 2013 PART A QUESTION 1

Part Adat Perpatih is matrilineal, whereas Adat Temenggung is patrilineal.

Explain.

DEC 2014 PART A QUESTION 2

Explain the statement, “Adat Perpatih is matrilineal, whereas Adat Temenggung
is patrilineal.

DEC 2016 PART A QUESTION 3

Adat Perpatih is matrilineal, whereas Adat Temenggung is patrilineal. Explain.

Customary law is a regular pattern of social behavior which has been accepted
by the bulk of a given society as binding upon its members. These are customs which
the courts will enforce. Thus, customary laws are customs which have legal
consequences. One the most prominent customary law is derive from the Malay adat
law. Malay adat law or Malay customary law in Peninsular Malaysia is commonly
divided into two contrasting system which are adat perpatih and adat temenggung. Both
systems are said to come from the same cradle which is Minangkabau in Sumatra.
They are called after two mythical law-givers that is Dato’ Parapatih nan Sabatang and
Dato’ Katumanggungan who were half brothers. Although it comes from the same
origin, there are a few differences between adat perpatih and adat temenggung

Firstly, we can see the differences in the adat systems itself. Adat perpatih
applies in Negeri Sembilan and Naning in Malacca. The unique characteristic of adat
perpatih is its matrilineal form of organisation. it concerns with matters such as land
tenure, lineage, inheritance and election of members of lembaga and YDP. Matrilineal is
a system in which one belongs to the mother's lineage. It generally involves the
inheritance of property, names or titles from mothers to daughters.

Adat Perpatih which recognizes matrilineal system inherits the customary land
only to daughters as only female lineage have the right to inherit their family ancestral
land. This is because ancestral land is considered to belong to a clan, not to an
individual and female descendants of the clan are appointed as guardians of the land.
As in the case of Munah v Isam, it describes the position of ancestral land according to
Adat perpatih. In this case, a certain land was transferred outside of the Tiga Nenek
clan. The court ordered for the said land to be returned to the rightful heiress, Isam,
conditional upon payment of a sum of money.
 In addition, intertribal marriage is not allowed among Adat Perpatih followers.
Punishment system in the laws of Adat Perpatih generally aims to reform or rehabilitate
the wrongdoer rather than retaliating against him. Adat Perpatih is characterized as
democratic as because it exists in a peasant society. Adat perpatih is expressed in
perbilangan or kata adat, passed down orally from generation to generation. Adat
perpatih can be seen in the Undang-Undang Keturunan daripada Minangkabau turun
ka-Negeri Perak, also known as UndangUndang Dua Belas from Perak and one each
from Kuala Pilah and Sungai Ujong, Negeri Sembilan.

On the other hand, adat Temenggong is based on the characteristic of the

patrilineal form of organisation. Patrilineal is a system in which one belongs to the
father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles from
fathers to sons. Patrilineal system inherits the property of deceased based on the
syariah law where the son is entitle to inherits in a ratio of 2:1 from daughter. Unlike
adat perpatih, adat temenggung applies in other states. Marriage between those who
come from the same tribe is allowed. Unlike Adat Perpatih, the laws in Adat
Temenggung are harsh as punishment is imposed as retribution. Conversely, adat
Temenggung is characterized as aristocratic and autocratic. Aristocratic because the
rules are made by decree of a ruler and autocratic because because the rules tend to
define a crime as an infringement of the ruler’s prerogative.

The application of adat temenggung can be seen through the matter of

distribution of property after divorce or called the matrimonial property which are divided
into three kinds, namely harta pembawa, harta dapatan and harta sepencarian. Harta
pembawa refers to inherited property bought by the husband to the marriage, which
reverts to him on divorce. Harta dapatan is brought by the wife to the marriage which
reverts to her on divorce and harta sepencarian refers to property acquired jointly during
the marriage. Adat temenggung is a body of written rules. It is found in several legal
digests, for example, the Undang-Undang Melaka, Undang-Undang Kerajaan Pahang,
the Kedah digest, the Undang-Undang Kerajaan and the Ninety-nine Laws of Perak.

In Boto’ bin Taha v Jaafar bin Muhamad, the wife claimed against the
matrimonial property that her husband had purchased. When the husband divorces his
wife, court decided moveable properties such as fishing boat can also be placed under
the provisions of the matrimonial property even if she did not give financial contributions
to the husband to buy the property, but his wife has many times accompanied her
husband when he went fishing in the sea together. This is enough to count as a
“contribution” in buying the property in the event of dispute. Although the wife did not
participate directly in the fish business for her husband, the presence of her husband
caused the peace of mind that allowed it to manage the business effectively.

Harta sepencarian is applicable to all types of property jointly acquired as was

judge in the case of Roberts v Ummi Kalthom. In this case husband is a soldier who
converted to Islam were married to Malay women and have brought property during the
marriage and the name of the property under his wife’s name. When they divorce, the
husband has claimed the property as matrimonial property. The High Court ruled that
the property was jointly acquired property, although at the time the plaintiff was not a
Malay but English people who have converted to Islam.

In conclusion, adat perpatih is using the matrilineal system which one belongs to
the mother's lineage while adat temenggung is using thepatrilineal system which one
belongs to the father’s lineage.