The Legal Values of Bonokeling Customary Law as Indigenous Knowledge in Heritage-Based Tourism Innovation

Abstract

This study examines the existence of living law within the Bonokeling Indigenous Community as a form of indigenous knowledge that persists amid modernization. The research focuses on the process of internalizing legal values through customary ritual practices and their relevance to heritage-based tourism innovation. Employing a normative juridical method, this study is conducted through literature review and analysis of primary, secondary, and tertiary legal materials concerning the recognition of indigenous peoples. The findings indicate that legal values are internalized through communal rituals that reinforce collective identity and legitimize customary leadership. Customary law functions not only as a mechanism of social control but also holds strategic potential as a normative foundation for the development of sustainable, authentic, and community-based heritage tourism.