Legal Protection of Third Parties in Marriage Agreements after the Constitutional Court Decision Number 69/puu-xiii/2015: Analysis of Legal Certainty and Implementation of the Principle of Pacta Sunt Servanda

Abstract

Constitutional Court Decision No. 69/PUU-XIII/2015 represents a significant milestone in the evolution of Indonesian marriage law. This decision arose from a judicial review petition filed by an Indonesian citizen who married a foreign national without a prenuptial agreement and faced obstacles in property ownership due to a formalistic interpretation of Articles 29 and 35 of Law No. 1 of 1974 concerning Marriage (hereinafter referred to as the Marriage Law) and its relationship to the Basic Agrarian Law (UUPA) regarding the prohibition on foreigners acquiring land rights (Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia, 2015). This research employs a normative juridical method (legal research) with a statutory, conceptual, and comparative approach. Primary data sources include the 1945 Constitution, the Marriage Law, the Civil Code, Constitutional Court Decision No. 69/PUU-XIII/2015, and related implementing regulations. The ratio decidendi of Constitutional Court Decision No. 69/PUU-XIII/2015 rests on the reconstruction of the constitutional interpretation of Article 29 of the Marriage Law through a constitutional add-in interpretation approach, which expands the timeframe for making a prenuptial agreement to include before, during, and after the marriage. The Court emphasized that this expansion must be accompanied by the fulfillment of formal requirements (notarial deed and registration) and material requirements (good faith, not violating law/religion/morality), as well as the principle of publicity to protect third parties from harm.