Law's Dream of a Common Knowledge (The Cultural Lives of Law)

260 Pages·2003·0.94 MB·English

by  Mariana Valverde

Law’s Dream of
a Common Knowledge
Austin Sarat
series editor
Law’s Dream of a Common Knowledge
by Mariana Valverde
Emblems of Pluralism: Cultural Differences and the State
by Carol Weisbrod
Law’s Dream of
a Common Knowledge
✦
Mariana Valverde
p r i n c e t o n u n i v e r s i t y p r e s s
p r i n c e t o n a n d o x f o r d
Copyright 䉷 2003 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton,
New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1SY
All Rights Reserved
L i b r a r y o f C o n g r e s s C a t a l o g i n g - i n - P u b l i c a t i o n D a t a
Valverde, Mariana, 1955–
Law’s dream of a common knowledge / Mariana Valverde.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-691-08698-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Law—Social aspects. 2. Law—Psychology. 3. Knowledge, Sociology
of. I. Title.
K380 .V35 2003
340⬘.11—dc21 2002030720
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Sabon and Futura
Printed on acid-free paper. ⬁
www.pupress.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FOR MAGGI
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
C H A P T E R O N E Introduction 1
C H A P T E R T W O The Art of Drawing the Line: Judicial Knowledges
of Community Morality and Community Harms 28
C H A P T E R T H R E E The Forensic Gaze: Law’s Search for
Moral Clues 54
C H A P T E R F O U R Beyond Sexuality? 86
C H A P T E R F I V E “The Lifestyle That Fits the Doctrine of
Sexual Orientation” 112
C H A P T E R S I X Police Science, British Style: Pub Licensing and
Knowledges of Urban Disorder 141
C H A P T E R S E V E N “Common Knowledge Must Enter the Equation
Somewhere”: Knowledge as Responsibility 167
C H A P T E R E I G H T Racial Masquerades: White Inquiries into “the
Indian Style of Life” 193
C H A P T E R N I N E Conclusion 222
Bibliography 229
Index 241
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Acknowledgments
✦ Contrary to the heroic myth of the scholar laboring in a garret, I
have found that the more books I write, the more I need and the more I
appreciate the contributions made by other people to what is then pub-
lished under my name. While naming people in acknowledgments is
always hazardous, nevertheless it is necessary to try to thank some of
those whose willingness to engage with my work was an absolutely
necessary working condition.
Invaluable research assistance was provided by Dawn Moore for sev-
eral chapters and by Maureen Simpkins and Paula Dupuis for chapter
8. Bibliographic and editorial assistance at the final stage was cheerfully
and intelligently provided by Pauline Rosenbaum and Cristina Gel-
somini. A three-year grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Re-
search Council made it possible to obtain their assistance, as well as
present papers at conferences and pay for sundry lowly but necessary
things. Further material as well as intellectual support was generously
provided, as has been the case for almost a decade, by colleagues, staff,
and students at the Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto. A
research contract with the Law Commission of Canada on “democracy
in governance” allowed me to think through some of the larger theo-
retical questions and learn a great deal about legal theory, as well as
helping me to think about the policy implications of theoretical debates.
Alan Hunt, Tom Osborne, and Austin Sarat gave me detailed input
on the original book proposal, for which I am very grateful. Some
friends and colleagues were later recruited to provide expert advice on
particular chapters. I did not always take their advice, but their gener-
osity allowed me to make incursions into new fields. My heartfelt
thanks in this regard to Connie Backhouse, Karen Busby, David Gar-
land, Janet Halley, Jennifer Henderson, Alan Hunt, Jim Phillips, and
Barbara Sullivan. Needless to say, remaining mistakes and obscurities
are my responsibility.
Versions of chapter 3 were presented at the Law and Society meetings
in Budapest, at the Columbia University Law School, and at the Univer-
sity of Toronto Law School; a version of chapter 6 was presented at the
American Bar Foundation in Chicago. Comments from people present
at those talks were extremely helpful. Some parts of chapter 2 appeared
in a different form in “The harms of sex and the risks of breasts” (So-
cial and Legal Studies 8, no. 2 [1999]), and the refereeing process there
was also very helpful. Similarly, a small part of chapter 6 and a portion