The Judgement — Franz Kafka

A father, alone in his room, tells his adult son exactly how he will die — and the son does it, that same evening, with no trial, no lawyer, and not one piece of evidence produced against him. Franz Kafka called the story “The Judgement,” and it sits in your paper because it asks the hardest question a law student can be asked: what does a person condemned by an authority that owes them no process at all actually have left?

In two minutes

In a few pages, Georg Bendemann's father accuses him, tries him and sentences him to death — with no charge, no evidence and no chance to answer — and Georg carries out the sentence on himself. The story is a case study in judgement without due process.

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