About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

5 L. & Critique 3 (1994)

handle is hein.journals/lwcrtq5 and id is 1 raw text is: Law and Critique Vol.V no.1 [19941 LAW AS LITERATURE: DECONSTRUCTING THE LEGAL TEXT by SHEILA DUNCAN* 1. Introduction This article focuses on a theoretical analysis of the legal text and most specifically one text: the case of D.P.P. v. Morgan1 - a 1976 rape case which is still authority for an important principle in the law of rape. This analysis draws extensively on the theory of Michel Foucault and Luce Irigaray to pose, and respond to, a number of theo- retical issues which are raised by the discourse of the law and which are illustrated powerfully in the case chosen for deconstruction. At a general theoretical level these questions must be posed: What is this discourse that is law as it is expressed in the legal text? How is this discourse constructed? What are its truths? What does it ex- clude in constructing those truths? Who is the subject of this dis- course? What are its defining concepts? What is the relationship be- tween legal discourse and justice? How can this discourse and its defining concepts of reason, consent, intention and honest belief be deconstructed in the context of the case of Morgan? It is necessary to consider the way in which this legal text dismisses reason and con- structs consent, intention and honest belief to give space to reason's others: the sexual violence and desire of the male subject and in doing so it is necessary to seek to define the violence of the legal text. * School of Law, University of Warwick. The author gratefully acknow- ledges the comments of Brendan McSweeney on an earlier draft of this text and the comments of participants at the Conference on Literature and Law, Centre for English Studies, University of London, November 1993. 1 [19761 A.C. 182.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most