TY - BOOK ID - 78678428 TI - The Javanese way of law : early modern Sloka phenomena PY - 2019 SN - 9048541891 9789048541898 9789462989337 9462989338 PB - Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, DB - UniCat KW - Law KW - Acts, Legislative KW - Enactments, Legislative KW - Laws (Statutes) KW - Legislative acts KW - Legislative enactments KW - Jurisprudence KW - Legislation KW - Legal maxims KW - Legal proverbs KW - Maxims, Legal KW - Proverbs, Legal KW - Maxims KW - Law, Javanese, written legal traditions, sloka (maxim/proverb). UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:78678428 AB - The author's investigation of early-modern Javanese law reveals that judicial authority does not come from the contents of legal titles or juridical texts, but from legal maxims and variations thereof. A century and a half ago Simon Keyzer, a recognized scholar of Javanese law, noted that understanding of that law is dependent upon a grasp of such pithy expressions, which provide the key to the whole body of suits. (*Preface*, C.F. Winter, *Javaansche Zamenspraken*, 1858, which examines hundreds of *sloka*, the majority of which are directed to prevailing legal practice).Drawing upon the contents of 18th century Javanese legal texts, the present work builds upon Keyzer's and Winter's references to '*sloka*-phenomena', namely *sloka* proper (maxims) and its derivatives *sinalokan* (that made of *sloka*), *aksara* here meaning legal principles, and *prakara* (matter, case). These are usually conveyed in vignettes illustrating their function and as a group, constitute the essence of traditional Javanese written law. ER -