Open Access

Maximilian Bergengruen

• In diesem Aufsatz wird die These vertreten, dass in Kafkas Türhüter-Legende der Begriff "Gesetz" nicht nur, wie man es häufig in der jüngeren Forschung findet, theologisch, sondern auch juristisch gelesen werden kann. Die Titel-Formulierung "Vor dem Gesetz" wird als Aufruf des im zeitgenössischen österreichischen Verfassungsrecht verankerten Gleichheitsgrundsatzes "Vor dem Gesetze sind alle Staatsbürger gleich" verstanden. Dieser Aufruf erfolgt mit einer Neu- bzw. Wiederbetonung der ursprünglich räumlichen Bedeutung der zu Kafkas Zeit grammatikalisiert verwandten Präposition "vor", die ihren sprachlichen Ursprung im Vortreten des Menschen vor den Richterstuhl hat.
• This paper postulates the thesis that in Kafka's doorkeeper legend the term "law" cannot only be read in theological terms – as is often the case in recent research –, but also in legal terms. The formulation of the title "Before the Law" alludes to the contemporary principle of equality fixed in Austrian constitutional law, namely: "Vor dem Gesetze sind alle Staatsbürger gleich" ("all citizens are equal before the law"). This allusion is made with a new or rather a re-emphasis on the original spatial meaning of the preposition "before", which had its linguistic origins in man stepping before the judgement seat, rather than meaning grammaticalized at the time of Kafka. Considering this linguistic history, the doorkeeper can implicitly argue that the formulation "before the law" from the principle of equality brings the judge and the court to the fore, positioning itself – other than what the Man from the Country expects – between himself and the law, or rather: positions itself in the stead of the law. The chaplain tells Josef K. this story because he wants to point to the fact that he is deceiving himself with respect to the role of the court. K. actually assumes that the principle of equality also applies to the relationship between the defendant and the court of law. If however the court replaces law it cannot simultaneously be subject to the equality guaranteed by law. Due to its sovereignty it is rather withdrawn with the effect that the principle of equality in itself is lead ad absurdum. In being obstructed or rather replaced by the court the law in Kafka’s doorkeeper legend proves to be – according to the concluding thesis – a fictio legis, understood in the radical term of an objective genitive.