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[German version] A security, especially in relation to purchases. On the model of ancient oriental laws (cf. Gn 38,17), the Greek ἀρραβών ( arrhabṓn) represents a requirement to establish liability. The usual token of personal liability was a ring. Its symbolic meaning was soon accompanied by a financial function: breach of contract on the part of the giver of the arrha/arrhabon resulted in the latter's being retained by the recipient (the security functions as a forfeit); breach of contract on the part of the recipient rendered him liable to return the arrha/arrhabon or usually a mul…

[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] (βιαίων δίκη; biaíōn díkē). A private action that could be brought in Athens against robbery, rape of a free person (male or female), or abduction of a free person for the purpose of illicit sexual relations. In the 6th cent. BC Solon had established a monetary fine for this offence; later, on grounds of public interest, the fine paid to the injured party was accompanied by one of the same amount to the state. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography D. Cohen, Law, violence, and community in classical Athens, 1995.

[German version] (μνήμονες/ mnḗmones). Literally ‘memorizers’; the term goes back to the pre-literary era (from c. 700 BC) and refers to the keeper of the archive of a Greek polis, usually called γραφεύς/ grapheús, ‘writer’. (In a sacral context Aristot. Pol. 1321 b 34 lists hieromnḗmones as well). The term κατάκοοι/ katákooi, ‘‘listener’’ [2. 218], goes back to the pre-literary era as well, whereas the term ποινικαστάς/ poinikastás, ‘‘someone who knows the Phoenician letters’’ [1. 180 f.], attests to a nascent literacy. Since the 5th and 4th cents. BC, mnḗmones have been docu…

(διάλυσις; diálysis). [German version] [1] Procedural law The procedural law of the Greek states was based on the principle of the reconciliation of both parties involved (διαλύειν, dialýein). Only after the failure of that step a formal verdict was to decide on the matter. Dialysis proceedings thus constituted the first procedural step in ‘preliminary proceedings’, irrespective of whether heard by a magistrate (  anákrisis ) or by public or private   diaitētaí , in international arbitration or in proceedings heard by ‘foreign judges’ called from one or more cities to decide on a case. T…

(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] (ἐφέται; ephétai). There were in classical Athens, besides the court of  Areopagus, three further collegiate courts for capital cases; these sat at the Palladion, at the Delphinion and in Phreatto ( Dikasterion), and comprised 51 ephetai (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 57,3f.). These colleges of jurors ( Dikastes) were small in comparison with the other dikasteria. It is now believed that, prior to Solon, ephetai also sat at the court on the Hill of Ares, but at that time not all citizens could yet be appointed. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography R. W. Wallace, The Areopagos Cou…

[German version] (ἀπογραφή; apographḗ) was in Athens any written statement in respect of an authority, especially the submission of a list of goods to be confiscated by the state. Subsequently the application for confiscation of the listed stock and the whole confiscation process were also called apographe [1]. Trial by jury, normally presided over by the Eleven Men, was responsible for the proceedings. In Egypt apographe meant a written notice to a public authority on property or personal status as well as an entry in the public land registry [2]. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography 1 A. …

[German version] (πρόκλησις; próklēsis), literally 'challenge'. The concentration in cases before the Athenian courts of justice ( d ikastḗrion ) on a single time-limited trial created a need for careful preparation of material before the case, or in a preliminary trial before the relevant court magistrate ( anákrisis , diaitētaí ). Próklēsis was an opportunity to provoke the opponent to make binding statements before the trial. This means both the act, before witnesses, of making a deposition aimed at the opponent and its content  and the fixin…

[German version] (λαοκρίται; laokrítai). Authorized by the king in Ptolemaic Egypt, consisting in each case of three judges of Egyptian ethnic origin taken from the priestly class, before whom the Egyptians (λαός/ laós, the people) could resolve their civil law disputes according to their hereditary law and in the Demotic language. A building ( laokrísion) designated for the laokritai is attested from the Fayûm (PTebtunis 795,9; 2nd cent. BC). An official of Greek nationality ( eisagogeús ) appointed by the central administration acted as the chairman…

[German version] (καταδίκη; katadíkē). Verdict of guilty from a trial by jury, including defined penalties, or fines imposed by the authorities (used synonymously with díkē ). Egyptian papyri also contractually established penances. Thür, Gerhard (Graz)

[German version] (ἐξωμοσία), literally ‘denial on oath of knowledge’. 1) In the procedural law of Athens, witnesses could avoid the obligation to appear in court (and confirm evidence which had been pre-formulated by one of the two parties in the case) by swearing ceremonial oaths out of court to the effect that they ‘did not know’ the facts in question. The exōmosía did not entail any legal sanctions, only positive testimony in court could be sued for (  pseudomartyríōn díkē ). There is evidence of a similar system recorded as apōmosía in the indemnity contract of Stymphalus (IPArk …

[German version] (καταχωρίζειν; katachōrízein). Generally ‘classify’, also military, in official Hellenistic language specifically ‘register, enter in a list’. Thus, for example, in the Greek motherland, simple popular decisions (esp. honours) were protected against repeal by ‘entering’ them formally among the laws. In Roman Egypt, katachorizein might describe any entry in a list, especially important being the incorporation of a copy of the document in the bibliothḗkē enktḗseōn ( Land register). Katachorizein could also signify a legal action against unknown offe…

[German version] (τιμή/ timḗ, literally 'honour', 'esteem'), is used in Attic law in two aspects. (1) In the Archaic period a killer could stave off the victim's relatives' right of revenge by paying weregeld ( time, fine) in accordance with an agreement of conciliation ( Aídesis ). However, somebody killed lawfully, in self-defence or retribution for an unlawful act, or for breaching a ban, would remain 'unavenged' (ἄτιμος/ átimos), and their relatives could not claim a time [3. 101; 2. 99]. In later atimía , deprivation of civic rights, the idea of payin…

[German version] (παλινδικία; palindikía). 'Once more raising a legal action in the same matter', cf. anadikía and the underlying words (ἀνὰ/ anà and πάλιν δικάζειν/ pálin dikázein). The criticism levelled against advocates ( logográphos), to have obtained a palindikía through trickery (Plut. Demosthenes 61; Poll. 8,26), did not always have to take a rupturing of material legal power ( paragraphḗ ) into account, but could also relate to the fact that that a legal claim was prosecuted with a variety of actions, as was permissible in Ath…

[German version] (αἰκείας δίκη; aikeías díkē). In Athens a private charge of assault and battery. It presupposed that the physical mistreatment had been perpetrated without intention of insult and that the defendant had attacked first (Demosth. 47,40; cf. PEnteuxeis 74; 79; PHalensis 1,115; 203 f.). The penalty, estimated by the plaintiff himself, was awarded to him if he succeeded in the proceedings. It was the only private action in Athens in which there were no court fees to pay. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A. R. W. Harrison, The Law of Athens II, 1971, 93 f. G. Thür, Beweisf…

[German version] (παρανόμων γραφή; paranómōn graphḗ). 'Action for improper legislation'. It was presumably only after the time of Pericles that there was introduced in Athens a public action ( graphḗ [1]) that could be raised within a year by a citizen without prior convictions against anybody who had proposed in the Assembly ( ekklēsía ) a resolution that contravened procedural prescriptions or an existing law. The thesmothetai (á rchontes I.) had jurisdiction, and the dikastḗrion (on one occasion even packed with 6,000 jurors, Andoc. 1,17; 415 BC…

[German version] (παραμονή; paramonḗ). Noun formed from the verb παραμένειν ( paraménein, 'to stay with someone') used throughout Greece to denote a number of legal relationships. In Egyptian and Mesopotamian papyri the word paramone regularly occurs as a civil-law obligation whereby the debtor subjected himself or a dependant of his, to the power of the creditor to repay the capital sum or the interest ( antíchrēsis [6. 127]). Contracts for the letting of services or the completion of a task ( místhōsis ) often contained a paramone-clause, however, these did not entail civil-la…

[German version] (βεβαίωσις; bebaíōsis). In legal transactions involving the transfer of possession of an object, i.e. purchase contracts [4. 115f.], contracts governing transfer of use (μισθώσεις, misthṓseis [3. 141; 4. 122]) and arrhal contracts connected with παράδοσις ( parádosis), bebaiosis signifies the undertaking by the previous owner to the new owner not to interfere with the latter's acquired right of possession (in the papyri: μὴ ἐπελεύσεσθαι, mḕ epeleúsesthai), and to defend that right against third parties [1. 357, 360, 444]. In the event that t…

[German version] (ἀργίας γραφή; argías graphḗ). After Draco (before 600 BC), probably to preserve households with considerable land property, had issued a law against idleness and had threatened it with   atimia , Solon (594/3 BC) made the action into a public one, reduced the punishment to a fine and implemented atimia only on the third conviction. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography E. Ruschenbusch, Unt. zur Gesch. des athenischen Strafrechts, 1968, 50 f.