LEGAL HERMENEUTICS IN THE GADAMER-RICOEUR PERSPECTIVE AND ITS RELEVANCE TO THE INDONESIAN LEGAL SYSTEM

Abstract

Legal hermeneutics emerges as a response to the limitations of literal legal interpretation, particularly within the context of rapid social change and the pluralistic character of the Indonesian legal system, which demands contextual, historical, and value-laden interpretation. Drawing upon the thought of Gadamer and Ricoeur, this approach is deemed relevant to bridging legal texts, interpreters, and social reality. Concurrently, it fills a research gap that has remained predominantly conceptual and has not yet systematically linked it to the practices and distinctiveness of Indonesian law. The problems examined in this article are how the conceptual framework of legal hermeneutics develops within modern legal philosophy, specifically through the insights of Gadamer and Ricoeur, and its relevance to the Indonesian legal system. This article subsequently concludes that legal hermeneutics asserts that legal meaning arises from a dialogue between texts, interpreters, and social contexts, thereby becoming an essential approach within the pluralistic Indonesian legal system to achieve adaptive, contextual, and just legal interpretation.