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[German version] (χειρόγραφον; cheirógraphon), literally ‘handwriting’ (handwritten note). Along with the   syngraphe the most common form of private document in the Egyptian papyri. Entering the Roman world from the 3rd/2nd cents. BC onwards, the cheirographon tends towards the style of the private letter, and is not restricted to any particular type of transaction. Witnesses were a customary feature. The cheirographon would usually be in the hands of the person authorized by it. In the Roman period, the cheirographon could by δημοσίωσις ( dēmosíōsis: incorporation in an offi…

[German version] (κατάλυσις; katálysis). Literally the ‘dissolving’ of the constitution (τοῦ δήμου, toû dḗmou), meaning high treason, which could be persecuted by any citizen in Athens either through graphḗ or eisangelía . It is contested whether an eisangelía of this sort goes back to Solon (6th cent. BC) and was judged by the Areopagus (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 8,4). According to the council's oath transmitted in Dem. Or. 24,144, the boulḗ had the right to intervene in the katalysis. After the law on eisangelía was revoked in 411 BC (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 29,4), katalysis was regulated in det…

[German version] (πρόρρησις/ prórrhēsis, literally 'proclamation'). Prorrhesis is originally a means of blood feud against somebody accused of a bloody deed. If somebody is addressed publicly as a murderer (Homicide) by somebody who according to Draco's Law is justified in blood feud (IG I3 104,20-33; Dem. Or. 42,57), he has to stay away from the Agora and all sacred sites until the case ( phónos ). In all there were three occasions for prorrhesis: at the grave of the victim, in the Agora and by way of the basileus (C.) (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 57,2). Only the last had t…

[German version] (τιμητὸς ἀγών/ timētòs agṓn, 'legal action with assessment'). In Athens every case to be decided by a dikastḗrion was either 'non-assessable' or 'assessable'. In the first case ( atímētos agṓn ), by statute a particular sanction, whether the death penalty, banishment or a fixed fine, was linked to the verdict; in the second case ( timētaì díkai ) after deciding the verdict, if it was ìaffirmed the jury had to agree again, i.e. on the extent of the punishment or on the amount of the sum adjudicated. In their 'assessment' (τίμησις/ tímēsis) the jury could only side with o…

(ἀντιγραφή, -εύς; antigraphḗ, -eús) The expression, like all litigation terms in Greek law not formulated by jurists, is imprecise [1]. It can mean: [German version] 1. Counterplea a) in the sense of a defendant's written counterplea, submitted by the defendant to the authorities responsible for the preliminary examination. He had to swear to the accuracy of the allegations contained in it right at the beginning of the ἀνάκρισις ( Anakrisis) (Poll. 8,58; Demosth. 45,46; 45,87, therefore the expression ἀντωμοσία ( Antomosi…

[German version] (μήνυσις; mḗnysis). A ‘charge’ or ‘application’ in certain criminal proceedings The Greek polis functioned on initiatives of private citizens. In criminal law, too, the principle for accusations was considered to be 'no plaintiff, no judge'. In cases of high treason and blasphemy, which endangered the state, the Athenians nevertheless found ways of compensating for the lack of an official public prosecutor. Thus, in special cases state investigative commissioners (ζητηταί, zētētaí) were appointed and in others a reward was offered to encourage the lodging of a men…

[German version] (ἀναδικία; anadikía). The principle that a case decided by a court could not again be the subject of a court case (for Athens Demosth. 24,54) was breached in individual cases in Greek law. In default proceedings and in some cases after a successful action for false witness, δίκη ψευδομαρτυρίων ( Pseudomartyrian dike), it was possible to open new proceedings, anadikia. According to a scholion to Pl. Leg. 937d this concerns cases on citizens' rights, testimony litigation itself and inheritance suits. Plato, in contrast to the law of Athens, generally envisages anadikia …

[German version] (δικάζειν; dikázein). The word (approximately: ‘to exercise a right’) is associated with the ending of a dispute with a sentence. Whether the sentence was originally passed by an ‘arbitrator’ who was consensually appointed by both parties is highly questionable. Rather, dikazein in the early period was the activity of a council of elders or of an official (  dikastḗs ) that was at least rudimentarily provided with state authority. In what form this dikazein would occur is also uncertain: either an official decided in the matter on his own or a formal p…

[German version] (κακηγορία; kakēgoría), verbal insult, an offence in Athens since the period of Solon (6th cent. BC). Deceased persons were always protected, living persons only in the case of defamation in public (Plut. Solon 21; Dem. Or. 20,104). The insulted person could file a private complaint ( dike), but had to share the compensation fine with the state. In the 4th cent. BC, all prohibited insults were recorded on a list (e.g. murder, striking the parents, throwing away the shield), but the…

[German version] (Ἔγκτησις; Énktēsis). In the Greek states the acquisition of property was reserved to citizens. Individual foreigners were granted the privilege of énktesis, the right to acquire ‘land’ or ‘a house’ (or both) by a popular resolution. In Athens some   métoikoi were thus provided, generally perhaps the   isoteleís . In the Doric area the term ἔμπασις/ἴμπασις ( émpasis/ ímpasis) was used instead of enktesis. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography J. Pečirka, The Formula for the Grant of E. in Attic Inscriptions, 1966  A. R. W. Harrison, The Law of Athens I, 1968, 237f.  A. S. H…

[German version] (ὁμολογία; homología), literally ‘speaking the same way’, describes in Greek colloquial language simple oral consent or agreement. In the legal sense homologia was soon also used for written agreements (  syngraphḗ ,   synthḗkē ). The legal connection with the homologia originated, as can be seen in Athens, in the preliminary procedural concession of individual assertions of the opponent. In the preliminary procedure (  anákrisis , see   diaitētaí [2]) the parties had the duty to answer each other's questions (Dem. Or. 46,10). Answering such a que…

[German version] (προεισφορά/ proeisphorá, 'property tax advance'). Because the eisphorá ('property tax') in Athens yielded necessary funds too slowly in times of crisis, a liturgy [I B] to 'give an advance' as a proeisphorá on the whole of the sum to be raised, without interest, was imposed (presumably before 362 BC) on the 300 richest citizens of the city. Deducting their own contributions, they could at their own risk collect the proeisphorá from fellow members of their symmoría (tax bracket). The proeisphorá is attested also of other  democratic poleis  (e.g., Priene and Lindus…

[German version] A. Definition and sources Strictly speaking, the correct term is ‘Athenian law’ (AL), because ‘Attic’ designates the landscape, dialect, art and culture, while Athens, by contrast, refers to the polis and the state; but in German scholarship the designation ‘Attic law’ has been used since the beginning of the 19th cent. when philologists and jurists occupied themselves increasingly with investigating the trials and law of Athens after the issuance of a prize question by the Royal Aca…

[German version] (κλητήρ; klētḗr). On the basis of the word, a person who has to do with the summons to legal proceedings ( klḗsis, prósklesis ). 1. In the Delian League, state-appointed klētḗres summoned people to legal proceedings that were held in conjunction with the tributes (IG I3 21,42 and 68,48/49: 426/5 BC; 71,39: 425/4 BC). 2. In civil proceedings the summons were a matter for the plaintiff. In Athens two klētḗres were as a rule consulted in this regard (detailed regulation outlined in Pl. Leg. 846c) whose names were noted on the statement of claim. If th…

[German version] (ὑποβολῆς γραφή; hypobolês graphé). Civil suit against a person who was passed off as the child of a citizen. Such false children, usually bought as slaves, are frequently mentioned in Attic court speeches and  comedies: childless women attempted to consolidate their position in the household in this manner, but hypoboles graphe is only known from the Lexica Segueriana V [2]. The penalty for being a false child was being sold into slavery. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography 1 I. Bekker (ed.), Anecdota Graeca I, 1814/1865, 311 2 Lipsius, 417.

[German version] Literally ‘surplus’ (τὰ ὑπέροχα, tà hypérocha, or ἡ ὑπεροχή, hē hyperochḗ), technically it designates the extra value by which the value of the secured object exceeds the amount of the secured debt, Latin superfluum. As the Greek pledge is to be understood strictly as a lapsed pledge (cf.   hypothḗkē ), it necessitated special contractual or judicial regulations if the extra value was intended to serve as security for a further creditor or return to the security debtor following sale of the security. Multiple m…

[German version] (Δώρων γραφή; Dṓrōn graphḗ) . In Athens, the charge of corruptibility (Poll. 8,42), also including the corruptibility of a judge. Active bribery in connection with jurisdiction was prosecuted with   dekasmoû graphḗ . The offence consisted in presents given to, and accepted by, officials, among whom the lawyers in public and private trials were also counted (Dem. Or. 46,26), to the detriment of the state (Lys. 21,22: ἐπὶ τῆς πόλεως κακῷ; Dem. Or. 21,113: ἐπὶ βλάβῃ τοῦ δήμου). The charge was filed in lighter cases with the   logistaí , in graver cases with the   thesmothêtai …

(ἔρανος; éranos). Etymology uncertain; the word originally meant ‘a meal for friends’ (Hom. Od., Pind.). The cost was borne in common by the participants. Collections made among friends in order to present a gift to one of them were also called éranoi; to give gifts in return was merely customary, not a statutory obligation (Theophr. Char. 17,9). Two legal institutions developed on this basis: [German version] [1] Collective fund A kind of collective wealth. Funds ( eisphoraí) collected by a group of individuals ( plērōtaí, Dem. Or. 21,184f.) were applied to a particular purpos…

[German version] (ὑπωμοσία; hypōmosía). In Athens there were two types of sworn statements: 1. in the court proceeding one party could apply in person or through a representative for sojournment (Dem. Or. 48,25f.; schol. Dem. Or. 21,84) if there was significant cause, such as travel or funerary duties. The opponent was able to dispute this with a ἀντωμοσία ( antōmosía, counter-oath). 2. If an application was deliberated in the council (  boulḗ ) or the popular assembly (  ekklēsía ), every citizen was able to declare through a hypomosia that he would bring a suit against the applic…

[German version] (κλοπή; klopḗ). Theft, misappropriation and receiving stolen goods. Robbery, misappropriation of temple property ( hierosylía ) on the one hand and pickpocketing by people doing general damage ( balantiotómoi , kakoúrgoi ) on the other hand was distinguished from klopḗ in Athens. Klopḗ of private property could be prosecuted by díkē only by the victim of the theft; a graphḗ on the grounds of klopḗ of state property is unlikely, as there were other processes ( eúthynai , eisangelía ). A thief at night could be killed without incurring punis…