ABSTRACTIndonesia is a unified country consisting of various tribes and cultures, the one of whichis the Sasak tribe living in the island of Lombok, the part of Nusa Tenggara Barat (WestNusa Tenggara) Province. The traditional people inhabit this island possessing adistinguished form o f marriage compared to the ones in other areas. The difference canbe seen on the form o f the marital institution. This people acknowledge a traditional formof marriage named “Merari”, which has been deeply rooted in their life, while at the sametime also considered as a legal requirement that should be filled in a marriage within theirsociety. The tremendous variation o f the traditional forms of marriage in Indonesia hasimposed a challenge to the government to provide a national law which is able toaccommodate it. In this case, the situation prevails in Lombok concerning to marriage isthat traditionally, it is expected that the bride should “kidnap” and “run” the groom (theliteral meaning o f Merari), without telling anyone before hand, nor even the groom’sfamily. Contrary, the government law demands that any plan for marriage should beinformedto the concerning parties at least 10 days (working days) before the ceremony isheld. From this contrast, the researcher would analyze several things, comprising theinfluence of the law towards the traditional marriage pattern, the effectiveness rate of thelaw implementation in the society, as well as the changes occur on the “Merari” marriagepattern in Lombok after the Government Law No. 1 Year 1974 Concerning Marriage isapplied. This research applies the normative and empirical research method, with the datasourced form the relevant literature as well as direct in-depth interview with thetraditional and religious leaders, as well as the society itself and the legal practitioners inthe realm of Religious Court. From the research it is discovered that the influence of thelaw is still of the low rate, the effectiveness is not maximum, and the changes occur onlyon the urban people, take form in registration, the conformity on the determinedminimum age for marriage, on poligamy and divorce.