Introduction: Violence and the Limits of Law (original) (raw)
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Journal of Palestine Studies, 2013
Commonly law is seen as an alternative to violence, although it relies on violence or its threat for enforcement. Through a study of Israel's campaign to transform international humanitarian law (IHL) by systematically violating it, this essay considers the possibility that violence precedes and even creates law. Israel has a long history of ad hoc ''legal entrepreneurialism,'' but its current effort, launched during the second intifada, is institutionalized, persistent, and internally coherent. The essay reviews the specific legal innovations Israel has sought to establish, all of which expand the scope of ''legitimate'' violence and its targets, contrary to IHL's fundamental purposes of limiting violence and protecting non-combatants from it. WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP between law and violence? Students of the role of law in society have pondered this question for decades. Prominent Yale legal scholar Robert Cover began a widely-read law review article a number of years ago with the striking introduction: ''Legal interpretation takes place in a field of pain and death.. .. Legal interpretive acts signal and occasion the imposition of violence upon others: A judge articulates her understanding of a text, and as a result, somebody loses his freedom, his property, his children, even his life.'' The article, entitled ''Violence and the Word,'' spurred renewed inquiry into the relationship between law, language, and violence, and underscored law's ultimate, though not always visible, reliance on force. 1 A later volume, inspired by Cover, was entitled ''Law's Violence,'' and expanded on this theme, considering the question of how violence done by and in the name of the law differs from illegal or extralegal violence-or, indeed, if they differ at all. 2 The relationship between law and violence has also figured prominently in anthropological definitions of law. According to E. Adamson Hoebel, an early and influential legal anthropologist, law was defined by the threat or GEORGE E. BISHARAT is a professor at UC Hastings College of the Law. The author would like to thank Rose Mishaan for her highly capable research assistance. Thanks are also due to Laura Nader, Mai Taha, and the Interdisciplinary Group at
The Concept of Violence and its Expression in Criminal Law
International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 2020
The very concepts of violence, studies of its forms from the criminal law viewpoint may be instrumental in dissociating criminalised violent actions from non-criminalised though having a legal significance or the actions falling outside the area of criminal regulation; furthermore, such studies can help identify the actions that in criminal law should be viewed as socially useful (for instance, the circumstances excluding criminal responsibility). It should be noted that the concept of violence and identification of its expression forms have not only a theoretical value, but also, as has been by this study proven, is applicable in legislation (for instance, for the purpose of criminalising different types of violence), as well as in case law (for instance, when identifying possible violence manifestation options). In the light of the above the present paper focuses on the definition of violence, the possible forms of its manifestation; the authors also looked into the specific forms the coercive criminal acts can acquire in the legislation.
Political Studies Review, 2005
The aim of this review article is to explore some theoretical issues regarding the nature and scope of violence. There are two ways of thinking about violence: in terms of an act of force, or in terms of a violation. Those who define violence as an intentional act of excessive or destructive force endorse a narrow conception of violence (the Minimalist Conception of Violence or MCV), while those who see violence in terms of a violation of rights champion a broader conception of violence (the Comprehensive Conception of Violence or CCV). The strengths and weaknesses of both approaches will be assessed.