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The law courts of ancient Athens (4th and 6th centuries BC) were a fundamental organ of democratic governance. According to Aristotle , whoever controls the courts controls the state. These courts were jury courts and very large ones: the smallest possible had 200 members (+1 to avoid ties) and sometimes 501, 1000 or 1500.
The lato sensu "corporeal sentences" included death, imprisonment (for the non-Athenian citizens), atimia (sometimes along with confiscation) and perpetual exile (ἀειφυγία). Heliaia was the primary court in ancient Athens, composed of large juries selected from the citizens to ensure democratic participation in judicial processes.
In Athenian courts, the jury tended to be made of the common people, whereas litigants were mostly from the elites of society. [20] In the Athenian legal system, the courts have been seen as a system for settling disputes and resolving arguments, rather than enforcing a coherent system of rules, rights and obligations. [21]
The formal accusation was the second element of the trial of Socrates, which the accuser, Meletus, swore to be true, before the archon (a state officer with mostly religious duties) who considered the evidence and determined that there was an actionable case of "moral corruption of Athenian youth" and "impiety", for which the philosopher must ...
Timarchus was a wealthy and powerful Athenian, whom Demosthenes wanted as an ally in his judicial assault against Aeschines. In 345 BC, Timarchus and Demosthenes accused Aeschines on a charge of high treason: παραπρεσβεία γραφή (false embassy text), meaning that the accused envoys did not comply with the orders of the state ...
In governance, sortition is the selection of public officials or jurors at random, i.e. by lottery, in order to obtain a representative sample. [1] [2] [3] [4]In ancient Athenian democracy, sortition was the traditional and primary method for appointing political officials, and its use was regarded as a principal characteristic of democracy.
The Heliastic oath (Ancient Greek: ἡλιαστικὸς ὅρκος; heliastikos horkos) was an oath sworn by jurors in the ancient Athenian law courts.. In Demosthenes' speech Against Timocrates, the oath was quoted, and using quotations from other speeches, we can reconstruct the oath's main lines.
The graphḗ paranómōn (Ancient Greek: γραφή παρανόμων), was a form of legal action believed to have been introduced at Athens under the democracy sometime around the year 415 BC; it has been seen as a replacement for ostracism, which fell into disuse around the same time, although this view is not held by David Whitehead, who points out that the graphe paranomon was a legal ...