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[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] (κακοτεχνιῶν δίκη; kakotechniôn díkē). Action against ‘wheeling and dealing’, in Athens specifically against a legal opponent whose witness had been condemned for giving false testimony ( pseudomartyrias dike ) (Dem. Or. 47,1; 49,56). The proceedings were conducted by the same official who had also conducted the main trial. The person who had called the witness had to pay a fine to the plaintiff. Since, however, the plaintiff had usually already been awarded damages in the lawsuit, it is rather improbable that he was entitled to the kakotechnion dike without further…

[German version] (ἐμβατεύειν; embateúein). In Athens the seizure of immovable objects (even ships, Dem. Or. 33,6) by ‘stepping upon’ them, due to a claim of ownership (law of succession of the son of the house, right of distraint, court judgement). In Egyptian papyri ἐμβαδεία ( embadeía) signified official seizure as the third stage of compulsory acquisition in real estate matters.  Succession, law of Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A. Kränzlein, Eigentum und Besitz im griech. Recht, 1963, 94ff.  A. R. W. Harrison, The Law of Athens I, 1968, 156; 272; 283  H.-A. Rupprecht, Einfüh…

[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] (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] (ψευδομαρτυριῶν δίκη; pseudomartyriôn díkē), recorded in several Greek legal systems as an 'action for perjury'. Only a person was liable to such an action who had confirmed (generally not on oath) a pre-formulated statement of a litigant before a court ( martyría ), but not one who had denied knowledge of something out of court ( exōmosía ). The opponent in the case was entitled to undertake this private action ( díkē ); the respondent found guilty or the unsuccessful plaintiff in the original trial demanded a financial penalty proportionate to the damages ( blábēs díkē …

[German version] (ὅροι; hóroi). Boundary stones marking the boundaries (also called horoi) of political territories, temple districts and properties, public places and private land throughout the entire Greek world. They bore only the inscription hóros, sometimes with more precise additions, and were under the protection of Zeus Horios. Following inter-state arbitration in border disputes [4] and revision of leased temple land [8], commissions of ὁρισταί ( horistaí) often appeared to set the horoi in the site. As the Greek poleis did not have a  land register, horoi also function…

[German version] (ἱεροσυλία; hierosylía). In many Greek poleis ‘temple robbery’, removal from a sanctuary of objects consecrated to gods, which has been very broadly construed (e.g. also embezzlement of silver in state minting of coins, Syll.3 530, Dyme in Achaea, soon after 190 BC. [2]). In Athens hierosylia was probably prosecuted in the 5th cent. by   eisangelía , later by a coming under the jurisdiction of the  thesmothetai ἱεροσυλίας γραφή ( hierosylías graphḗ), involving the threat of the death penalty with denial of burial in Attica and financial ruin. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibli…

[German version] (ἀπενιαυτισμός; apeniautismós). Absence for a year, penalty of exile, usually for one year, for certain crimes or misdemeanours, in particular manslaughter by criminal negligence (Bekker anecdota 421,20; Suda), which, pronounced by the court, could be in force as φυγή ( phygḗ) for a fixed time, if it was not taken in the strict legal sense, but as a pseudo- phyge (suspension of citizens' rights and duties and automatic reinstatement at the end of the term). Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography D. M. MacDowell, Athenian Homicide Law, 1963, 122 f.

[German version] (κατενεχυρασία; katenechyrasía). Derived from ‘security’ (ἐνέχυρον/ enéchyron, Hypotheke [1] A). The compulsory execution usually carried out privately by the creditor was called katenechyrasia, but more frequently enechyrasía . The most common term, however, was prā́xis (in rare cases eisprā́xis ). In Greece, execution always meant the confiscation and sale of different pieces of the debtor's property, never the entire estate, but (especially in Egypt) it could include the person as well. While the creditor had to proceed privately in the poleis, in Egypt it…

[German version] (φυγή; phygḗ). Literally 'flight' out of the legal community because of the threat of blood feud, which leads to the condition of 'banishment'. Dracon already intended it for homicide in Athens (end of 7th cent. BC; IG I3 104,11). Later in Greek law it was often tolerated in place of the death sentence (Dem. Or. 23,69) or imposed as a sanction for political crimes, either lifelong ( aeiphygía ) or for set periods of time ( apeniautismós ), in the case of ostrakismos for 10 years; it could be recalled by a popular decision or aídesis (agreement of penance…

[German version] (ἀνδροληψία; androlēpsía) was in Athenian law an authorization to take the law into one's own hands, conceded by law (only attested in Demosth. 23,82) to relations of an Athenian murdered on Athenian state territory. If the person responsible for the death had made himself inaccessible to the relations of the deceased, they could seize three hostages from among his dependants (interpretation is controversial). Nothing is known of their fate. Unjustified exercise of androlepsia was punished. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography B. Bravo, Symposion 1977, ed. J. Modrz…

[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 …

(διαιτηταί; diaitētaí). [German version] [1] Private arbitrator In Greek law, diaitetai was the general term used for ‘private’ arbitrators, appointed with the agreement of both parties; empowered either to mediate or to settle the dispute in a binding and final decision (Dem. Or. 27,1; 59,47). Frequently, each party nominated an arbitrator assured of their confidence, and these then agreed on the appointment of a third, so that the arbitration was accomplished by a total of three diaitetai. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) [German version] [2] Athenian board for preliminary proceedings …

(διαθήκη; diathḗkē). [German version] A. Meaning and essence The diatheke represents Greek law's central instrument for testate succession. The word is derived from διατίθεσθαι ( diatíthesthai): the ‘putting aside’ of items of personal possession by the testator for persons who did not belong to the family household (οἶκος, oîkos) and thus could not be legal heirs. Diatheke, somewhat fuzzily translated as ‘testament’, describes the act of disposal itself as well as the associated document. Its purpose was to order the proprietary and family affairs a…

[German version] (κάκωσις; kákōsis), literally ‘bad treatment’ of people requiring special assistance. In Athens there were three such groups: 1. parents, 2. orphans, 3. heiresses ( epikleros ), Aristot. Ath. Pol. 56,5. Since the persons affected were not able to defend themselves on their own, every citizen had the opportunity to call the offender to account through graphe , eisangelia or phasis without themselves risking a lawsuit. Whoever refused to support and to house their parents or grandparents (including adoptive parents), stru…

[German version] (αἴδεσις; aídesis). At the time of Draco (before 600 BC) a contract concluded between the dependants of an intentionally or unintentionally killed person and the person responsible for the death, probably affirmed by an oath, on ending the dispute by paying the wergild (IG I3 104.13; Demosth. 43,57), in the 4th cent. the ex parte pardon granted by the dependants of the person killed by unintentional homicide. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography D. M. MacDowell, Athenian Homicide Law, 1963, 123 ff. A. R. W. Harrison, The Law of Athens II, 1971, 78.

[German version] (δεσμωτήριον; desmōtḗrion). In Athens at the market (on location [1]) there was a prison (Dem. Or. 24,208f.) that owed its name to the fetters, δεσμά ( desmá) that were put on the prisoners usually in the form of chains and shackles. The places of detention were not safe from breakouts in other cities either. The supervisory authority, in Athens the Eleven, decided the nature of custody (in chains, permission for visits). Prisoners were always held with others and imprisonment was not imposed as punishment but to secure the accused, condemned and state debtors. The desmote…

[German version] (ἄδεια; ádeia). Generally freedom from fear; juristically freedom from punishment or prosecution, wherein the state waives per se legitimate demands for prosecution. This waiver was declared in Athens by popular edict (Demosth. 24,45; And. 1,77; 1,12; Lys. 13,55; IG I3 52B16; 370,31+33; 370,64, as an exception by council edict (And. 1,15). In papyri also: protection from injustice, discretion, permission, safety. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A.R.W. Harrison, The Law of Athens II, 1971, 199.

[German version] (παρανοίας γραφή; paranoías graphḗ). 'legal action on account of insanity'. As in Rome, the squandering of an inheritance (but not of property acquired in other ways) was linked also in Athens to mental instability and led to a procedure for interdiction. For this Plat. Leg. 929d requires also infirmity, old age or an uncommonly violent temperament in addition to profligacy. Athenian law provided for a public action against the spendthrift ( graphḗ [1]) (Aristot. Ath. pol. 56,6), which was normally raised by a relative entitled to …