Legal Ideals: The Legal Expediency as the Main Orientation of Lawmaking
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Lawmaking in Indonesia continues to face challenges in harmonizing legal certainty, justice, and legal expediency as guiding principles of a state governed by the rule of law. This condition highlights the importance of reforming the paradigm of legislation so that law not only fulfills formal and procedural requirements but also delivers tangible benefits to society. This study aims to analyze the position of legal utility as a primary orientation in the formation of legislation in Indonesia and to examine the relationship between legal utility, justice, and legal expediency. It also aims to identify problems in the formation and implementation of legislation that do not fully reflect societal needs and to formulate a reconstruction of the lawmaking process. This study employs normative legal method using statutory, conceptual, and case approaches, with data analyzed qualitatively. The findings indicate that legal expediency should be positioned as the primary orientation of lawmaking while harmoniously integrating justice and legal certainty. Legal utility should not be understood merely as the pursuit of the greatest happiness for society but must also take into account the equitable distribution of benefits, public participation, and the long-term impacts of legal implementation. Therefore, legislators should strengthen public participation mechanisms and regulatory impact evaluations to ensure that legislation responds to the actual needs of society.
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