A Brief Comparative Study between Indonesian Contract Law Under Indonesian Civil Code and Singapore Contract Law

Abstract

Agreements or familiarly known as contracts is the basis for various aspects of business activities. Contracts in the Indonesian Civil Code (ICC) are called agreements, which is one of the sources of engagement whose provisions are the subject of Book III concerning Contracts of ICC. The experts on contract law, diametrically have divided their views on the term ‘agreement’ with ‘contracts’. According to Peter Mahmud Marzuki as quoted by Agus Yudha Hernoko, he provided a critical view of the differences between these terms, namely: In the Anglo-American mindset, an agreement in Dutch is known as overeenkomst and in English it is known as an agreement which has a broader meaning than a contract, due to the fact that it includes matters relating to business or non-business. Therefore, Agreements related to business are called contracts, while those that are not related to business are only called agreements. Based on the results of the comparative study, it is known that the contract law arrangements in the ICC are not as complete and not as up-to-date as Singapore's contract law. This is because since the ICC was first promulgated in Indonesia, it has never been modernized. In order to minimize legal problems, both due to empty and vague norms, the results of the comparison of contract law can help construct additional arrangements both for a holistic-comprehensive study of contract law and for making business contracts that are required to be updated.