The Violence of Law and Violence Against Women

Abstract

Like the words of most prophets, Robert Cover's work resists generalities. Consider Cover's view of insular communities as law-creating, or jurisgenerative, coupled with his view of courts as law-destroying, or jurispathic.' This Article argues that by advancing such a stark vision, Cover limited the role of courts in combating pervasive ideologies of subordination, such as racism or sexism. Yet one can also read Cover's work as a challenge to critical scholars' very conception of ideology. In particular, Cover's respect for the law-creation of insular communities challenges critical scholars' use of the concept of "false consciousness" to explain those actions of subordinated groups which seem to reinforce their subordinated status. This Article examines both the gaps and resonances in Cover's theory of law as violence, by focusing on violence against women, in the United States and in the international arena.