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[German version] (ἐξαιρέσεως δίκη; ex(h)airéseōs díkē). In Athens, anyone who claimed that someone else was his slave needed no special authority in order to ‘lead away’ (ἄγειν, ágein) the person concerned. A third party could then intervene and ‘free’ (ἐξαιρεῖσθαι or ἀφαιρεῖσθαι εἰς ἐλευθερίαν, ex(h)aireîsthai / aphaireîsthai eis eleutherían; Aeschin. in Timarchum 62; Demosth. Or. 59,40; Lys. 23,9) the captive with an act of formalized violence. The captor then had to free the captive, although only on receipt of surety, and could then proceed against the third party arguing exhair…

[German version] (δικαστής; dikastḗs). In the Greek city states lay persons rather than professional judges were appointed to the   dikastḗrion . Dikastes is therefore best translated as ‘juror’. Any male citizen of more than 30 years of age and of blameless reputation could register in Athens as a dikastes. As an ‘identification’ he was given a small tablet that bore his name and each year he had to swear the ‘Heliastic oath’ that he would vote according to the law (Dem. Or. 24, 149-151). The dikastes was paid for the day that he was in court (  dikastikòs misthós ). Whoeve…

[German version] (ἐπιβολή; epibolḗ) Any office-bearer in Athens (  Archaí , to which the   boulḗ also belonged) was entitled by law to impose within his sphere of responsibility an epibole, a small sum up to a legally determined level by way of a fine; the epibole was subject to   éphesis . The epibole in P.Zen. 51,15 (3rd cent. BC) is also to be understood in this sense. In papyri of the Roman period, epibole (or ἐπιμερισμός, epimerismós) denotes the allocation of uncultivated land to individual farmers or communities for purposes of taxation. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A. R. W. Harr…

[German version] (ἡμιόλιον; hēmiólion), literally ‘one and a half times’. Hemiolion refers to a supplementary charge of 50% of a monetary or goods service (calculated by multiplying the basic amount by one and a half). In the Hellenistic and Roman periods the hemiolion stereotypically appeared in the penalty clauses of private contracts as a fine for non-fulfilment (frequently in addition to interest), both in the papyri of Egypt and in the few documents extant elsewhere. The hemiolion had replaced the diploûn (διπλοῦν, double) of the older contractual clauses, as is well i…

[German version] (προστιμᾶν/ prostimân), 'additional penalty' available to the plaintiff. In Athens in cases of theft (Klope) courts had the option of imposing loss of honour in addition to a fine. The thief would be locked in the stocks for five days and nights and placed in the pillory (Lys. 10,15; Dem. Or. 24,114 and 146). Presumably prostimân happened in a third vote, after the jurors had voted on guilt and the fine. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A.R.W. Harrison, The Law of Athens, vol. 2, 1971, 177  D. Cohen, Theft in Athenian Law, 1983, 62.

[German version] (ἀτίμητος ἀγών; atímētos agṓn). Primarily in Athens, a trial in which the accused could make no counterplea ( Antitimesis) regarding the severity of the penalty. After a guilty finding no further decision was necessary as to the degree of the punishment: the trial was ἀτίμητος, ‘beyond judgement’. The severity of the penalty was already established by the relevant law: in public trials for serious offences it often entailed death or banishment. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A. R. W. Harrison, The Law of Athens II, 1971, 81f.

[German version] (εἴσπραξις; eíspraxis). ‘Collection’ in the largest sense; in Athens, for instance, it was the collection of tribute payments for the naval alliance (IG II2 1273, 24), in Egypt that of all taxes, but also of private debts ( Praxis). Thür, Gerhard (Graz)

[German version] (δικαστικὸς μισθός; dikastikòs misthós). Daily payment for Athenian jurors from the mid 5th cent. BC (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 2,2). In early Athenian democracy the principle of democratic equality of all citizens applied. Increasing economic and social inequality resulted in only the economically independent citizens, i.e. the wealthy part of the population, being able to participate in courts while the less wealthy and poor citizens, especially the rural population, could not abandon the…

[German version] (παράκλητος/ paráklētos, literally 'one who has been called in support'). In Athens, litigants fundamentally had to present their own case, mostly supported by related persons, who took up the word in front of the courts in support ( sýndikos , synḗgoros ). A practice developed (Xen. Mem. 4,4; Pl. Ap. 34c; Pl. Leg. 934e), whereby the accused, who in the epilogue to his defence oration made an appeal for acquittal to the jury, 'called out' his wife, parents, children, relations or influential friends, i…

[German version] The noun is derived from διδόναι ( didónai) ‘to give’ and like the verb has no specific legal meaning. The legal institutions gift and endowment are quite inadequately covered by the term dosis : the Attic orators use διδόναι ( didónai) and διατιθέναι ( diatithénai;  Diatheke) alternately when they justify testamentary gifts of money from Solon's law. In the large law inscription of Gortyn, didónai means ‘to bestow’ (col. IX 15-30, with legal limitations). When setting up an endowment, ‘giving’ naturally plays an important role, but it depends…

[German version] (παρακαταθήκη; parakatathḗkē). derived from the verb παρακατατίθεσθαι ( para-kata-títhesthai, to deposit) the noun parakatatheke, also parathḗkē, is employed in the entire Greek sphere to denote a range of legal relationships in which objects of persons were entrusted to someone under a duty of care. Although the term was used in Byzantine legal literature as a Greek translation for the Roman term depositum , Greek parakatatheke had a more wide-ranging application. For example the person to whom it was entrusted was entitled to use or consume …

[German version] (ἀειφυγία; aeiphygía). Permanent banishment; in Athens archaic punishment for φόνος ( phónos, homicide), τραῦμα ( traûma, bodily harm) and τυραννίς ( tyrannís), pronounced by the Areopagus as a ‘special court’ (not by the Heliaia in normal dikasteria). There was a family liability, so the living members of a house went into exile, the dead were torn from their graves and property was confiscated (Demosth. 21,43 on IG I3 104; 20,2. Plut. Sol. 12). Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography U. Kahrstedt, Staatsgebiet und Staatsangehörige in Athen, 1934, 97 ff. P. J. Rhodes, …

[German version] (συγχώρησις/ synchṓrēsis). No later than the end of the 1st cent. BC, the synchoresis had developed as a notarial legal document in Ptolemaic Egypt, originating from the voluntary jurisdiction of the chrematistai and a conciliation of parties in a dispute before the court of chrematistai. It was issued as a regular form of document by the katalogeîon in Alexandria [1] during the Roman period. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography S. Allam, Zum Aufkommen der notariellen Urkunde (Syngraphe und Synchoresis) im griechisch-römischen Ägypten, in: Studien zur…

[German version] (ἐπίκρισις; epíkrisis). The term was unknown in Athens. Epicrisis was used in inscriptions as a judicial control on penalties imposed by the authorities (IPArk. 3, 19,50: Tegea; Syll.3 1075, 6: Epidaurus) or as an objective third party's assent to a settlement reached by the contesting parties [1. 190ff.]. The verb ἐπικρίνεσθαι ( epikrínesthai) is found in Hellenistic court language meaning ‘to resolve’ (Sherk 194f.), in IPArk. 31 B 22 meaning decernere ( decretum) of a Roman authority. In Roman Egypt epikrisis was the procedure for establishing membership o…

(δημιόπρατα; dēmióprata). [German version] [1] Public auction of goods for the benefit of the Athenian state treasury The public auction of goods for the benefit of the Athenian state treasury. They were initially submitted for confiscation in the course of the   dḗmeusis mostly by the plaintiffs in the main proceeding. After the index (the   apographḗ ) of the goods to be confiscated had been read to the public assembly, ‘to notify everyone of the dispossessed property’ (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 43,4), it was forwarded to the Eleven, …

[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…

[German version] (μεσεγγύημα; mesengýēma), the ‘thing entrusted’: an item or money, which was entrusted jointly by several individuals to a third party. The mesengyema was then to be returned to one or to all depositors as agreed (Harpocr. s.v.). The procedure was suitable for safe-keeping during disputes, for stakes in bets and for secure keeping of documents (cf. Isocr. Or. 12,13; IG VII 3172,69: Boeotia; BGU 592 II 9 and Mitteis/Wilcken 88,13: both 2nd cent. AD; PAntinoopolis 35 II 14, 4th cent. AD: Egypt). Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography J. Partsch, Griechisches Bürgschaftsrec…

[German version] (συγγραφή; syngraphḗ) refers to a Greek 'document' in the material sense; regarding the content, it refers to an agreement (sing.), a draft of a law or a call for bids on public buildings or leases (regularly pl., syngraphaí ). In the sense of 'contractual agreement', syngraphe is one of several terms, the other being synállagma , symbólaion, synthḗkē and homología (Poll. 8,140). Only one type of document is referred to as syngraphe in essentially the same way from the 4th cent. BC on into the Roman Period: the private minutes (a stylized, objective …

[German version] (μοιχεία; moicheía). In Greek law, clandestine sexual intercourse with a free, respectable woman against the will of her kýrios (II.). It was therefore not only a matter of “adultery” but of wounding of the family honour; the closest male relative of an unmarried woman was also insulted. Only the head of the household ( oíkos ) was meant to decide on a woman's sexual matters, family relationships and descendants. If a man invaded this relationship, he fell victim to private revenge. If he was caught in the act, (Lys. 1,30; 13,66), the kýrios or his closest male relative…

[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…