In the great variety of matter comprehended in the colonial statutes, no subject seems to have occupied more attention than the laws respecting slavery. These, as already observed, appear to have been formed in general upon principles of humanity and consideration for the condition of the unfortunate beings to whom they related.
In consequence of a resolution of the year 1760, the Council of India ordered that the customs of the Mahomedans, in matters of inheritance and successions ab intestat, &c. should be sanctioned and published.
In civil matters, natives and Chinese in the districts of Batavia seem to have been governed by the same laws as the European inhabitants.
Crimes committed by natives or Chinese in the city of Batavia and its environs, had, from the first settlement of the Dutch on the island, always been tried by European judges, and according to European law.
In Bantam the criminal jurisdiction over the natives was left to the Sultan, and that over the Chinese resident there, was exercised as at Batavia according to the European law.
The Jakatra and Priáng'en Regencies seem formerly to have enjoyed a peculiar and fortunate state of tranquillity. Almost entirely removed from every communication and intercourse with Europeans, Chinese, and other foreign settlers found in the neighbourhood of Batavia, engaged in agriculture, and ruled by their own native chiefs, these districts seem to have been in a high degree free from crime; but whenever enormities did happen, the offenders were sent down to Batavia, and tried according to European law. It is to be observed, however, that on the first submission of those districts to the Company, their chiefs or regents reserved to themselves the jurisdiction over the inhabitants of their respective districts; but this stipulation appears to have been disregarded in the latter times of the Dutch Company, and under the late administration of Marshal Daendals, a court was established for these districts, the rule of which was European law.
From Chéribon the Chinese were amenable, as from Bantam and Batavia; but the natives were subject to a landraad (or local court), of which the Resident was president, and the Sultans members; and this court was, partly at least, directed by a papákam, or native code, compiled under the sanction of the government.
In the Eastern districts of the island, the Javans seem always, in criminal matters, to have enjoyed their own laws, founded on ancient custom and the precepts of the Koran. Of these laws the Council of Batavia caused abstracts to be printed, for the guidance of the great landraad or high court at Semárang, to which all the Javans in the European provinces, from Losári to Banyuwángi were amenable.
Under the native government, the prime minister (Ráden Adipáti) is the head of the police, as well as every other department of authority. The higher class of functionaries is most frequently to be found in those parts of the country most remote from the seat of government, where, as governors of provinces, they possess some extension of powers. The great and fertile provinces near the capital, on the other hand, are divided into small appropriations, of from two hundred to one thousand cháchas, or families, placed under the administration of division officers, whose authority is limited to the duties of police.
Each village is possessed of a distinct organization within itself, has its chief, its Kabáyan or assistant, and if of any considerable size, its priest, whose advice is frequently had recourse to, and who generally decides petty disputes, especially respecting divorces and matters of inheritance. The chief of the village is not without his share of judicial authority, and often takes upon himself to punish by fine and imprisonment. In each village the inhabitants keep regular nightly watches and patrols.