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[German version] (ἐγγύη; engýē). Surety or bail, later also termed   engýēsis . Its oldest form, the hostage surety, can be seen in Hom. Od. 8,266-366. Therefore, the engye was a guarantee in case the main debtor did not fulfil his duty of repayment. The security consisted of access to the hostage, the ἔγγυος ( éngyos), provided to the creditor. Like a pawn, he became the creditor's who proceeded on his own if the guaranteed success did not materialize, hence also the post-verbal expression engye from ἐγγυάω ( engyáō) ‘to hand over’ as pledge [1]. In classical Greek law there was a…

[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…

[German version] (ἀγραφίου γραφή; agraphíou graphḗ). In Athens a written charge of ‘not writing down’ by a debtor (and therefore annulment of his debt), counted by Aristotle (Ath. Pol. 59,3) as one of the public actions which came into the area of competence of the thesmothetai. According to Demosthenes (58,51) these are state debtors who had carried out deletion of their names from the publicly drawn-up list, even though the debt had not been paid (Harpocration, dependent on Demosthenes, who also quotes Lycurgus and Pytheas as sources, al…

[German version] (ὑπάλλαγμα; Hypállagma). Literally ‘exchange’, a credit security law in Roman Egypt stipulated through contractual clauses. Unlike the   hypothḗkē , the H. guaranteed the creditor no proprietary rights over securities in the possession of the debtor, as a rule a piece of real estate, but only required the debtor to keep ready certain objects to satisfy the creditor by way of enforcement. Contracts contained no forfeiture clause, but the debtor, as with the hypothḗkē, was subject to certain restrictions in respect of disposal of the objects in his possession.  Debt Thür…

[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] (νόθος/ nóthos) designates, in all Greek legal systems, a free person who was born out of wedlock or into a marriage that was not legally recognised. In Homer (Hom. Il. 13,693; 2,726), sons of a free man and a slave could rise to become military leaders. According to Hom. Od. 14,208ff., the nóthos was entitled to a portion of property assets, like legitimate sons, in the distribution of the paternal legacy (cf. the νοθεία/ notheía, bequests to a nóthos, often even made while the testator was still alive; Harpocr. s.v.). According to IPArk 1,17, after the de…

[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, …

(Φάσις; Phásis). [German version] [1] River in the southwestern Caucasus River in the southwestern Caucasus that flowed into the Pontos Euxeinos near Ph. [2], present-day Rioni. Its estuary shifted several times, resulting in the growth of the mainland (cf. Str. 1,3,7). An ocean bay at the estuary of the P. is mentioned by Ptol. 5,10,1. The P. is first mentioned by Hesiod (Hes. Theog. 337-344). It was navigable over a course of 180 stadia (Ps.-Scyl. 81). The river's upper course was a rapid mountain strea…

[German version] (πολίτευμα/ políteuma). As well as meaning 'government' and 'form or constitution of a state', politeuma denoted, particularly in the Seleucid kingdom and Ptolemaic Egypt, affiliations among compatriots, e.g. the minority populations of Macedonians, Greeks, Persians and Jews, who had some degree of self-government and independent jurisdiction. After the disappearance of the ethnic components, politeuma still denoted an elite of the privileged classes. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography M. Th. Lenger, Corpus des Ordonnances des Ptolémées, 21980, XVIIIf.  J.…

[German version] (ἔφεσις; éphesis). Derived from the verb ἐφίεσθαι ( ephíesthai, to turn to someone), in Athens ephesis denoted a series of legal actions in which a person turned to the competent authority for a decision after a provisional decision had been reached. One certainly cannot speak of a uniform institution comparable to today's ‘appeal’. Solon (around 600 BC) is said to have allowed the ephesis for decisions of the  archontes at the  Heliaea (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 9,1). In the classical period there was the ephesis to a   dikastḗrion against an   epibolḗ impo…

[German version] (διαδικασία; diadikasía). In Athens a judicial procedure aimed at organizing the legal situation without plaintiffs and defendants. It was not introduced as part of the usual civil action (δίκη, díkē) and took place in two main groups of cases, namely in disputes in which two or more opponents asserted a better claim to a private or public right, or in those cases in which it was a matter of exemption from a duty under public law. In the first group the most common case involved a claim by several persons to a legacy in an inheritance dispute [1. 159ff.]. The object of the cla…

[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] (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] (ἐπαγγελία; epangelía). In Athens the legally prescribed announcement of the submission of a   dokimasía against a speaker who put forward a motion in the public assembly. It could be submitted by any citizen against the applicant who had incriminated himself of an action that removed his right to speak, but who had not yet been convicted in court (Aeschin. In Tim. 28ff. 81). Epangelia means the announcement of a complaint against the obligor in the Egyptian papyri. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A. R. W. Harrison, The Law of Athens II, 1971, 204 M. H. Hansen, The Athe…

[German version] (Δήμευσις; Dḗmeusis). Confiscation of assets by the state. 1. Demeusis is encountered in Greek criminal law together with capital punishment, lifelong exile or penalties for severe crimes but the term demeusis is not always used. Occasionally, demeusis occurred in Athens on its own (cf. Dem. Or. 47,44). Plato (Leg. 855a) radically rejected confiscation, apparently because of the injustice to innocent heirs [1]. The property was always confiscated for the benefit of the community even though the sum wholly or partial…

[German version] (καταποντισμός; katapontismós). To throw into the sea - the killing of a person by drowning, or the cultic sinking of objects. If the sea was distant, the katapontismos could be performed at a river. Already in myth, katapontismos is attested as a special act of cruelty, or as a capital punishment with the mark of an ordeal (the gods could save the condemned) in cases when the right to a burial and death cult had been forfeited. In historical times, tyrants or cruel rulers were punished with katapontismos, although sometimes only their corpse or even their statue wa…

[German version] (ξενίας γραφή; xenías graphḗ), literally a 'charge/claim of (the status of) foreigner'. Public action for arrogation of Athenian citizenship. A Greek polis was constituted as an association of persons; despite their right to personal freedom, outsiders ( xénoi ,  cf. [1. 1442-1447; 4. 18-27]) had no fundamental participation in family or citizen status, or in the protection of the law. The rights of  a citizen (πολίτης/ polítēs; presumably to be distinguished from an  ἀστός/ astós  [3. 49-78]) could be exercised in Athens only by somebody who had been…

[German version] (ἀνάκρισις; anákrisis). After bringing an action the parties in the proceedings met in the anakrisis, a preliminary process before the magistrate of the court. Just like the official   diaita in Athens, this appointment was used for conciliation procedures or preparation for the main proceedings before the   dikasterion . In the anakrisis the parties were obliged to answer one another's questions. This part of the proceedings can be referred to as the ‘dialectic’, as opposed to the ‘rhetorical’ part of the main proceedings. All the…

[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] (οἶκος/ oîkos; “house, household”). The Greek terms oîkos and oikía (οἰκία) were often used synonymously; however, in Attic Greek, oîkos was generally no longer used to denote the house as a building, but for the household, while oikía as a rule meant the building. The work oîkos encompassed the entire possessions of the household as well as the family (although in Athenian law the term seems never to have been applied to the family). In Aristotle, the oîkos to which the married couple, their children and slaves belonged became the most important element o…

[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] I. Ancient Near East see Cuneiform, legal texts in Thür, Gerhard (Graz) [German version] II. Greek Succession laws in Greece primarily followed the concept of family succession. Greek law therefore contained several provisions to secure succession within the family group even where there were no legitimate sons ( gnesioi). For example, eispoíēsis allowed the nomination of a non-testamentary heir, a process akin to adoption. Where such a replacement heir was also absent, the inheritance ( klḗros ) either passed to lateral kin ( anchisteía ) o…

[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 …

[German version] (ἄμβλοσις; ámblosis).  Abortion, recommended by Plat. Pol. 461c and Aristot. Pol. 1335 b 25 under certain circumstances, besides abandonment of the newborn, but regarded in Greece in general opinion as reprehensible (Hippoc. 4,630,9 f.). However, there is no evidence of amblosis as a punishable offence in the area of either Greek or (see, however, Cic. Clu. 32) Graeco-Egyptian law.  Abortio;  Abortion Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography E. Cantarella, L'ambigno malanno, 21985, 66 f.

I. Ancient Orient [German version] A. General The magic of the ancient Orient and of Egypt is based on a view of the world that runs counter to that of religion. In the world-view of magic, men, gods and demons are tied to each other and to the cosmos by sympathies and antipathies, whereas in the religious world view everything is created by the gods for their own purposes; the relations between men and the cosmos are the result of deliberate actions of the gods. In the practice of religion, however, b…

[German version] As with the koine in Greek historical linguistics, legal koine (LK) refers to a phenomenon of Hellenism analyzed by legal history after the event: the spontaneous merging of various Greek legal concepts, especially in Ptolemaic Egypt. Institutions of different poleis ( Polis) blended there in the legal world through the mingling of elements of the Greek population among each other [4. 140] without the authorities working towards unity (in this way also in [3. 50 f.]). As examples…

[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] A term used in modern scholarship, from Ancient Greek law. Hans Julius Wolff (1902-1983; obituary [4]) discovered in the contract law of the Greek poleis and Hellenism a fundamental doctrinal concept, which departs in essential respects from modern conceptions modelled on Roman law: it is not the consensus between the parties to an agreement that creates the right to claim on the part of the 'creditor' and the liability on the part of the 'debtor', but, indirectly, the felony of injury (βλάβη/ blábē) against the creditor’s assets occasioned by the debtor’s beha…

[German version] (ἀσυλία; asylía). Protection of persons and things, at first within the sanctified precincts of the ἱερὸν ἄσυλον ( hieròn ásylon). The foreigner, ξένος ( xénos), was in especial need of asylia because he was subject to another legal jurisdiction, and had to obtain legal protection in the host country in order to be safe from violent attack. In this connection cf. the bilateral agreement between Oeanthea and Chalium in c. 450 BC [1; 2]. It is possible that all secular asylia and even the μετοικία ( metoikía) had their origins in the sacral asylia. [3; 4]. Thür, Gerhard (Gra…

[German version] (ἕδνα/ hédna, ep. ἔεδνα/ éedna). Common only in the collective plural, in Homer they are the bridegroom's  presents to the bride's father (idea of the ‘purchase marriage’) or to the bride herself (similar to the Germanic jointure). Differently to Hom. Od. 1,277 and 2,196: endowing of the bride by her father (related to the   parápherna or the   phernḗ ), sometimes also to be interpreted as a ‘dowry’ (  proíx ). Unclear: Od. 2,53 (verb); Il. 13,382 (deverbative noun). Presumably, the hedna is based on the archaic idea of arranging social relationships by means o…

[German version] (φερνή; phernḗ). Movable goods brought by the wife into the marriage as 'dowry' (φέρειν, phérein), were known throughout the Greek world as pherne. The pherne needs to be distinguished from the προίξ ( proíx ), i.e. the dowry mainly comprised of plots of land and slaves, which was common in the Greek poleis. The lines between these concepts were blurred through the valuation of the ammount to be returned in terms of money, though the two terms cannot be regarded as synonyms [1. 2040f.]. Classical Greek authors used the term pherne only when referring to mythical and n…

[German version] (ἔνδειξις; éndeixis). Literally ‘charge’: in Athens the endeixis was a special form of public intervention by a private person that resulted in the immediate arrest of the accused or an order for a material surety by the head of the court (the ‘Eleven ’, the Árchōn Basileús or the thesmothétai;  archontes). It was permissible against persons (state debtors, exiles and átimoi ( atimia) who visited places (their home town, the public assembly, council, courts, sanctuaries, the market) that they were forbidden to visit by law or popular resol…

(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…