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ence. That entails a second contradiction.” “It’s quite easy to
clear up these contradictions,” said the painter. “We’re talk-
ing about two different things here, there’s what it says in
the law and there’s what I know from my own experience,
you shouldn’t get the two confused. I’ve never seen it in
writing, but the law does, of course, say on the one hand
that the innocent will be set free, but on the other hand it
doesn’t say that the judges can be influenced. But in my ex-
perience it’s the other way round. I don’t know of any
absolute acquittals but I do know of many times when a
judge has been influenced. It’s possible, of course, that there
was no innocence in any of the cases I know about. But is
that likely? Not a single innocent defendant in so many cas-
es? When I was a boy I used to listen closely to my father
when he told us about court cases at home, and the judges
that came to his studio talked about the court, in our circles
nobody talks about anything else; I hardly ever got the
chance to go to court myself but always made use of it when
I could, I’ve listened to countless trials at important stages
in their development, I’ve followed them closely as far as
they could be followed, and I have to say that I’ve never seen
a single acquittal.” “So. Not a single acquittal,” said K., as if
talking to himself and his hopes. “That confirms the im-
pression I already have of the court. So there’s no point in it
from this side either. They could replace the whole court
with a single hangman.” “You shouldn’t generalise,” said
the painter, dissatisfied, “I’ve only been talking about my
own experience.” “Well that’s enough,” said K., “or have you
heard of any acquittals that happened earlier?” “They say

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