There are two contrasting scenes in the history of Banten: a history of a prosperous port sultanate in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, and a history of a dark and oppressed nineteenth-century society. The eighteenth century represents a gap between the two scenes. Historians have understood that during this period the Dutch East India Company (VOC) turned Banten a backwater of Java. Only a limited numbers of historians, however, have paid their attention on the study of Banten history during the second half of the eighteenth century. It is the aim of this thesis to study Banten society in this period to demonstrate its dynamics in both upper and lower strata. The thesis focuses only on the social and cultural aspects of the late-eighteenth-century Banten society. Indigenous sources, the law-book and the records of the Kadi Court, are mainly examined to draw up the picture of a living Southeast Asian society. The study begins with the examination of the two authorities holding the sovereignty over the sultanate, the Sultan and the VOC. Although the two authorities did not fight against each other in their rule over the state, it is worth studying the art of expressing the supremacy employed by both camps. Traditional Javanese kingship, Islam and the prosperity of the royal court were concentrated in the hands of the Sultan to secure his authority and to retain the recognition of his subjects. The VOC, on the other hand, applied a traditional overlord-vassal relationship to transform itself into a 'hybrid creature' - at once a merchant and a prince. The components of the VOC settlement in Banten are examined to prove its success. The study of the indigenous sources improves our understanding of the system of law and justice in the Sultanate of Banten. The Shari 'a law officially still played its role in people's way of life, while the state law and royal decree were created to secure the state administration and the ritual order at the centre of the kingdom. The examples of offences given in the law-book and the records of the matters brought before the Kadi Court are invaluable sources to help reconstruct the conditions in Banten society during the late eighteenth century. The life-style of people, material culture and prevailing social values can be drawn from these sources. The result shows Banten society as part of dynamic Southeast Asian world rather than an example of an ideal Muslim community.