In colonial policy ‘traditionalization’ of society became a major theme.
In this connection the study of adat law was a fitting means to exercise stable colonial control Adat,
the totality of written and unwritten rule for daily conduct and affairs,
had always been a flexible system.
But as soon as Dutch reserchers, most of them lawyers,
laid these rules down in law books,
flexibility disappeared and the character of adat was transmuted into an unchangeable tradition carrying the seal of approval of the colonial government.