Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
İNÖNÜ ÜNİVERSİTESİ HUKUK FAKÜLTESİ DERGİSİ, cilt.11, sa.11, ss.287-302, 2020 (Hakemli Dergi)
Adultery, which means “illegitimate sexual intercourse”, is a regulative gender norm in
the patriarchal symbolic order. In this article, I will discuss the concept of patriarchal
symbolic order through a reference to Butler’s thesis. Butler argues that Lévi-Strauss’ and
Lacan’s structuralist discourse, bases on the incest law, are formulated as a universal and
ideal form of social/symbolic norms. The common point of this universal structure is that
there is no room for an equal and autonomous female subject. In other words, the female
subject has a subsidiary position in the patriarchal symbolic order. I will explain that the
patriarchal symbolic order norms and the social/symbolic meaning of adultery internally
and externally affect the legal norms and interpretations through acts of violence. I will
critically debate on legal norms and interpretations of adultery by analyzing Cover's
concepts of “legal violence” and Fricker’s “epistemic injustice” by briefly mentioning the
history of adultery in common-law. In Turkey, adultery is regulated as a specific reason
for divorce in the Civil Code. Thus, it is necessary to argue on the ways of interaction
between the legal violence and the jurisprudence on adultery in Turkey. I will try to put
forward the ways of interpretation of judicial decisions in the fault-based divorce process
and subjection of women to legal violence by examining Turkish Family Court’s and
Supreme Court’s precedents on adultery. While determining the amount of the
compensation and the share of intra-marital acquisitions in divorce cases, the Supreme
Court firmly considers adultery of the wife as a gross fault, even more than domestic
violence of the husband.