Structure Of The Athenian Legal System Flashcards
1
Q
Law courts; what they were
A
- People who committed any crime, whether petty theft or high treason would be tried in court by their fellow citizens.
- However, cases which involved murder were tried before a special court of old men which met in the open air on Areopagus or ‘Hill of Mars.’
- There was no public prosecutor in Athens. Instead it was left individual citizens to accuse any person who had done wrong.
- To make sure that one citizen would not accuse another for reasons of spite or malice, the accuser would be punished by a fine if he failed to win at least one-fifth of the total number of votes case by the jury.
2
Q
Legal System; how carried out
A
- No police force in Athens
- Scythian archers policed the city but did not pursue criminals or detect crime, they were mostly used for crowd control in the assembly and law courts
- Citizens accused of a crime were tried in a court by other citizens
- There was a special court for those on trail for murder
- Individuals had to bring cases about, there was no public prosecutor
- accusers had to win 1/5 of the jury vote to ensue people weren’t taking others to court for no reason
- Two types of change; Private matters between two citizens (loan repayment) and accusation of crime against that State of Athens
3
Q
The Structure of Athenian Legal System
A
- Law Courts were in the Athenian Agora (main forum area)
- You had to be 30 years old to be eligible to be a juror.
- Juries were at least 201 to 501 people in size
- 10 law courts could sit at any one time.
- Jurors were selected by lot (random)
4
Q
Jurors; age-no knowledge of law
A
- Jurors had to be; a male citizen, over 30 and he didn’t need any education
- The jury was randomly selected by a kleoterion machine - this meant that everyone had an even chance of being chosen
- Juries ranged between 201-501 men, this made bribery almost impossible
- jurors selected on the day of the case
- women, slaves and metics were not eligible to be jurors
- many jurors had absolutely no knowledge of Athenian law
5
Q
Jurors;paid-no judge
A
- jurors were paid a small amount (3 obols) for their service which appealed to the poor and old
- Jurors decided if the man accused was guilty and, if so, what punishment he hound receive
- No judge in Athenian courts, it was an Archon who watched over the trial; he did not have any power to decide a penalty
6
Q
Jurors;dikasts-pinakion
A
- At the heart of the legal system, known in Greek as dikasts
- each tribe chose 600 jurors by lot each year
- 6000 registered jurors for the year
- At the beginning of the year, each juror received a pinakion bearing his name and stamp of the owl of Athena
7
Q
Kleoterion Machine
A
- Each citizen-juror had a bronze or wooden ticket (pinakion) on which were inscribed his name and a letter indicating to which of the 10 jury-sections he belonged.
- He went at dawn to the kleroteria of his tribe where he deposited his ticket in a box labelled with his section letter.
- When the tickets of all those seeking jury-duty had been deposited in the 10 boxes, they were pulled out at random and filed in the slots of the two kleroteria, each of five columns, with one column being devoted to each section-letter.
8
Q
Process of an Athenian Trial
A
- Accuser and offender appear before a magistrate and evidence they have is written down
- Accused and accuser make speeches timed by water clock known as klepsydra
- Each man spoke on his own behalf, but they could get professional speech writers to make up their speeches which they then learnt off by heart; only rich people could afford this
- They used arguments which would not be allowed in a court of law today such as plays, private conversations, individual accounts
- They tried to win the pity of the jury and sometimes an accused man might even bring his wife and children into the court dressed in rags so that people would feel sorry for him
- Neither the prosecutor or the accused called witnesses, except to swear that the statements they had previously made before the magistrate were true
- There was no cross-examination
9
Q
Process of an Athenian Trial
A
- After the speeches came the verdict – guilty or not-guilty
- There were two jars, one marked ‘guilty’, other marked ‘not guilty’
- Each juror had a pebble which he placed in one of the jars
- If the verdict was ‘guilty’, the penalty had to be decided
- If there was no fixed penalty for the crime the prosecutor would propose a penalty and the defendant had the right to propose a different punishment. This was sensible enough as the accused person was likely to propose something the jury would accept
- The penalties under Athenian law varied between fine, exile and death
- The Athenians had no jails suitable for detaining prisoners for a long time
10
Q
About the Trials
A
- Trails took place everyday except on festival days and days the assembly sat so about 150 to 200 days a year
- at dawn on a court day an order of proceedings was published and those jurors who wanted to sit that day started to arrive
- Allotment machine ie Kleoterion machine, determined wether a juror would be on a case that day or not and there was good chance he was sent home
- The jurors listened and perhaps chatted quietly amongst themselves
11
Q
About the Trials
A
- Some jurors probably shouted abuse or support at those on trial
- As each juror left the court, he placed a he dropped a pebble into a guilty or not guilty jar, a majority vote was all that was required for a decision
12
Q
About the Trials
A
- Some crimes had fixed punishments
- Most usual punishment was a large fine which could be financially ruinous
- Other common punishments included loss of citizenship, confiscation of property, a spell in the stocks, exile or very rarely death
- If there was no fixed punishment juror scratched a line on his wax tablet; a long line favoured a heavier penalty, a shorter line a lighter penalty
13
Q
Strengths of the legal system
A
- It allowed participation for all citizens over the age of 30, due to the provinces of public pay
- Due to the size of the jury it was almost impossible to bribe a jury
- Citizens were over 30 and therefore were mature citizens
- It was a majority decision that resulted in a verdict and a sentence, these decisions were not made by one man.
14
Q
Weaknesses of the Legal System
A
- the Jury could easily be swayed by the defendant arranging for one or more speakers to plead for him and if these speakers were good the jury would applaud them and look more kindly on the defendants case
- Many techniques were used to gain the jurors sympathy and approval, decisions were often based on the emotions of the jury not on the facts of the case.
- Citizens were not legal experts and they often only had a vague idea of the law
- Another problem was that precedents were not observed, there was often no consistency in verdicts
- Women could bot serve on juries or represent themselves in court
- Slaves had to be tortured before giving evidence
- Women, Metics and slaves played no part in the formation of the laws in the assembly
- Athenian empire member states were forced to travel to Athens to bring cases to court at their own expense
15
Q
Analysis of the selection of an Athenian Jury
A
- selection by lot meant that it was very difficult to bribe an Athenian jury – this could result in a fairer outcome for the trial
- the last-minute nature of the selection of jurors also limited the amount of bribery in the Athenian legal system
- a lack of legal knowledge might impact the decision many jurors make and force them to rely on the knowledge of others
