The intractably unknowable nature of law : Kadi, Kafka, and the law's competing claims to authority

This chapter presents the striking similarities between the cases of Mr Kadi and Josef K., and indeed their contrasting conclusions, to delve into the insights of Franz Kafkas fictional depictions of the law. These focused heavily, among other themes, on the experience of law for those who are subject to the legal systems demands but who do not have, at that moment at least, privileged access to its inner workings. Rather, therefore, than contributing to the literature on Kadi which focuses on intra- and inter-systemic normative conundra, this chapter seeks to understand law as it is experienced as a social artefact which primarily serves and seeks to regulate the actions of people who are not lawyers. Finally, this chapter draws further on the Kadi saga to demonstrate that, beyond these conceptual concerns, certain empirically observable contemporary trends within the law are contributing additional complexity to this problem.