This intervention is based on research in Cambodia on domestic violence and forced eviction. It draws on the distinction between rule of/by law to examine women's experiences of rights claiming. While 'rule of law' is a value to be respected and a mechanism via which to guarantee justice and human rights to all citizens, 'rule by law' is a distortion that is more easily conceived of as an instrument of power and oppression. The intervention's emphasis on the blurring between these distinctions highlights the stark absence of feminist geography work in the growing field of legal geographies.