Definition and Example of Legal Standing

PERTANYAAN

What is a legal standing, and what are the examples of it?

INTISARI JAWABAN

Legal standing is a concept or condition in which a person has the right to and fulfills the requirements to submit an application to the court. Examples of legal standing that are often encountered are related to applications to the Constitutional Court. What do the provisions sound like?

Please read the review below for a further explanation.

ULASAN LENGKAP

This article is an English translation of Pengertian Legal Standing dan Contohnya which was written by Bernadetha Aurelia Oktavira, S.H., and was published on Friday, 24 February 2023.

This article below is an update of the article entitled Definition of Legal Standing in relation to Applications to the Constitutional Court (Pengertian Legal Standing Terkait Permohonan ke Mahkamah Konstitusi) which was first written by Sovia Hasanah, S.H., and was first published on Wednesday, 9 November 2016. 

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What is Legal Standing?

It is necessary to first understand what legal standing means. Legal standing is a concept used to determine whether an applicant is sufficiently affected so that a dispute is brought to the court.[1]

Harjono in his book entitled Constitution as the House of the Nation (Konstitusi sebagai Rumah Bangsa) (p. 176), explains that legal standing is a condition in which a person or a party is determined to fulfill the requirements and therefore has the right to submit an application for settlement of disputes or disputes or cases in the Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi/ "MK").

So, it is concluded that legal standing is a concept or condition in which a person has the right to and fulfills the requirements to submit an application to the court.

Requirements and Examples of Legal Standing at the Constitutional Court

In order to ease your understanding, we provide an example of legal standing, namely when submitting an application to the Constitutional Court. The legal standing can be seen in Article 51 section (1) of Law 24/2003 which stipulates that the applicant is a party who considers their constitutional rights and/or authorities, namely the rights regulated in the 1945 Constitution, are harmed by the enforcement of the law, namely:

1. individual Indonesian Citizens, including groups of people who have similar interests.[2]
2. customary law community as long as they are still alive and in accordance with the development of the society and the principles of the Republic of Indonesia as regulated by law;
3. public or private legal entities; or
4. state agencies.

Achmad Roestandi in his book entitled The Constitutional Court in Questions and Answers (Mahkamah Konstitusi dalam Tanya Jawab) (pp. 43-44), also explains a similar thing, that by referring to Article 51 Law 24/2003, the Constitutional Court in its several decisions has formulated criteria so that a person or party has legal standing, namely:

1. Qualification as a legal subject, in which case the applicant must be one of the following legal subjects:

1. individual citizens;
2. customary law community;
3. public or private legal entities; or
4. state agencies.

 

2. The applicant's presumption that his/her constitutional rights and authorities are harmed by the enforcement of the law, with details as follows:[3]

1. the existence of constitutional rights/authorities of the applicant granted by the 1945 Constitution;
2. the constitutional rights/authorities of the applicant, are deemed by the applicant to have been harmed by the law which is being reviewed;
3. said losses are specific and actual or at least potential in nature which according to reasonable reasoning can be ascertained to occur;
4. the existence of a cause-and-effect relationship (causal verband) between the loss and the enforcement of the law petitioned for review; and
5. the possibility that if the petition is granted, the postulated constitutional harm will occur or no longer occur.

Therefore, upon the fulfillment of the abovementioned requirements on the qualifications of legal subjects and losses, the applicant has the legal standing of the Constitutional Court to file an application.

So, the legal standing provisions mean that not all people or parties have the right to submit an application to the Constitutional Court. Instead, only those with a genuine legal interest may become applicants.

Harjono explained that any applicant who does not have legal standing would receive a decision from the Constitutional Court, declaring the application inadmissible (niet ontvankelijk verklaard) (p. 176). This is as addressed in Article 56 paragraph (1) Law 24/2003.

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These are the answers we can provide, we hope you will find them useful.

Legal Basis:

1. The 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia;
2. Law Number 24 of 2003 on Constitutional Court as amended by Law Number 8 of 2011 on the Amendment to Law Number 24 of 2003 on Constitutional Court as secondly amended by Law Number 4 of 2014 on the Stipulation of the Government Regulation in Lieu of Law Number 1 of 2013 on the Second Amendment to Law 24 of 2003 on Constitutional Court to be Law as lastly amended by Law Number 7 of 2020 on the Third Amendment to Law Number 24 of 2003 on Constitutional Court.

Court Decision:

1. Decision of the Constitutional Court Number 006/PUU-III/2005;
2. Decision of the Constitutional Court Number 11/PUU-V/2007.

Reference:

1. Achmad Roestandi. Mahkamah Konstitusi dalam Tanya Jawab. Jakarta: Sekretariat Jendral dan Kepaniteraan Mahkamah Konstitusi, 2006;
2. Harjono. Konstitusi Sebagai Rumah Bangsa. Jakarta: Sekretariat Jendral dan Kepaniteraan Mahkamah Konstitusi, 2008;
3. Ajie Ramdan. Problematika Legal Standing Putusan Mahkamah Konstitusi. Jurnal Konstitusi Vol. 11, No. 4, December 2014.

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[1] Ajie Ramdan. Problematika Legal Standing Putusan Mahkamah Konstitusi. Jurnal Konstitusi Vol. 11, No. 4, December 2014, p. 739.

[2] Elucidation to Article 51 section (1) letter a Law Number 24 of 2003 on Constitutional Court (“Law 24/2003”).

[3] Decision of the Constitutional Court Number 006/PUU-III/2005, p. 16 jo. Decision of the Constitutional Court Number 11/PUU-V/2007, p. 20.