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[German version] (εἰσαγωγεύς; eisagōgeús). Every office holder who was entitled to preside over a court in Athens ( Archontes) was responsible for introducing (εἰσάγειν , eiságein) his subjudice cases into a law court (  dikastḗrion ) and, concerning this act, was also referred to as eisagogeus. In a narrower, technical sense, the eisagogeus was part of a five-member collegium which was entitled to preside over certain urgent legal affairs (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 52,2). In Ptolemaic Egypt, the eisagogeus was a permanent official of Greek nationality and nominated by the kin…

(πρᾶξις; prâxis). [German version] [1] Execution of a court decision Legal term for the execution of a monetary decision in a Greek private lawsuit ( d íkē [2]), which in Athens was the affair of the successful creditor and was termed prâxis generally (And. 1,88) and also in the text of contract documents (Demosth. Or. 35,12). The usual word for 'execution' was εἰσπράττειν ( eispráttein) (Demosth. Or. 47,33; 47,37; 47,41; 57,63; 57,64). Prâxis was not allowed against the person of the debtor, but merely permitted the seizure of items of his property ( enechyrasía ). For prâxis in the Secon…

[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] (πρόσκλησις; prósklēsis), the summons, the 'call to court'. At Athens, it took place by a private action, with the plaintiff informing the respondent of the claim ( énklēma ) and the date on which he was to present himself before the magistrate of the court. The prosklesis had to be made before one or two witnesses to the summons ( klētḗr ), whose confirmation of the proper prosklesis was required as a condition for a default judgment in the event of the respondent's non-attendance, and who were liable to pseudoklēteías graphḗ ('action for making a f…

[German version] (προίξ; proíx). Etymologically 'gift bestowed with an open hand' (in the epics known only in the genitive in the sense of 'free'), in the agnatic family order of Greek poleis proíx denotes the 'dowry' (in contrast to the phernḗ of small families in Hellenistic-Roman Egypt). It is not before the 3rd cent. AD (precursor FIRA I2 58,25; AD 68) that proíx occurs as a translation of the Roman dos . The legal structure of the proíx is best known from Athens (on the Hellenistic inscriptions from Myconos, Tenos, Amorgos, Naxos and Syros cf. [6. 135-137, 149 f.])…

(μίσθωσις; misthōsis). [German version] A. General Similar to the Roman locatio conductio , the Greek misthosis comprises a series of remunerated transactions in which one person transfers things (or a person) to another person for use, so that a particular outcome is achieved, or commits themselves to providing labour or a service. The current (Romanist) classification of these transactions into rent/lease, work and service agreements is too coarse for misthosis because Greek contract practice developed suitable special regulations depending on the specific facts…

[German version] (ἐξούλης δίκη). In Athens, a charge of ‘expulsion’ was a criminal charge. It was available to privileged claimants (e.g. the successful creditor in a lawsuit) against debtors who resisted, by formally expelling the creditor, the justified seizure of property by the creditor's formalized use of force. The expelled party could raise the charge of e.d.; if he could justify his action, the expeller was sentenced to a fine of double the value of the land. It was divided between the claimant and the state, in accordance with a law of  Solon's. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography E.…

[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] (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] (παράφερνα; parápherna), literally 'items of property given alongside the dowry (‘ phernḗ ’)', in the Graeco-Roman world signified a variety of legal institutions, in all cases separate property belonging to the wife. In the laws of the Greek poleis women were fundamentally capable of owning property, however, they were often limited in their capacity to enter business transactions. Their goods were inherited in a different way than those of men ([8. 26-130; 5. 64-70], see IPArk No. 5, ll. 4f.: πατρῶια/ματρῶια, patrôia/ matrôia, paternal/maternal property) s…

[German version] (κοινωνία; koinōnía) is the general Greek term for any type of human community such as a state, association, commercial company, or community of heirs or joint owners. Regarding associations, a law by Solon is transmitted in Dig. 47,22,4, Gaius 4 ad legem XII tab. (= Solon fr. 76a Ruschenbusch), while societies and communities are mentioned only occasionally in the Attic sources. In the papyri, koinonia refers to the Roman societas as well as to communio. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A. R. W. Harrison, The Law of Athens I, 1968, 240-242 A. Biscardi, Diritto greco a…

[German version] (παρακαταβολή; parakatabolḗ). Literally the payment of a sum of money ( parábolon ), it was used in Athenian law to denote a number of payments which the parties had to make at the start of a lawsuit ( prytaneía ). Especially in in lawsuits about inheritance and in those concerning confiscated goods, the pursuer had to deposit one tenth, sometimes one fifth of the value of the dispute, which was forfeited to the State, sometimes to the successful litigant (disputed) if he lost the case. The purpose of this was similar to the epōbelía that had to be paid…

[German version] (παραπρεσβείας γραφή; parapresbeías graphḗ). Public action ( graphḗ ) against envoys (s. presbeía ) who had foresaken their duties. Many examples from Athens are known; the PG of Demosthenes [2] (Demosth. Or. 19) against Aeschines [2] (Aeschin. Or. 2) is famous. Punishable offences included, for example, transgression of official capacity, false reporting, unauthorised actions, receiving foreign envoys against the wishes of the council and the people, or the receiving of gifts ( dṓrōn graphḗ ). The accuser could also raise a claim of eisangelía . The eúthynoi ( eúthy…

[German version] (συνωμοσία; synōmosía). Legally barely definable 'oath community', which occurs throughout Greek areas among private individuals, in cult, the army, politics and judiciary ( Hetairía [2]), and also in inter-state relations; used in the Roman period as a translate factio or coniuratio (FIRA I2 Nr. 68, Z. 7, first Cyrene edict on praevaricatio ). Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography E. Seidl, s. v. S., RE 4 A, 1445-1450  L. Rubinstein, Litigation and Cooperation, 2000, 204-208.

[German version] (κράτησις; krátēsis) denotes in Greek civil law the actual power over an object, allowing physical access to it, comparable to ownership, but not understood technically in the sense of the Roman p ossessio (the Greeks knew neither possession by prescription ( usucapio ) nor a special ownership protection by interdictum ). Kratesis was exercised, for example, by the creditor on the mortgaged object, even if this had remained with the debtor, and likewise by the tenant on a leased property. A person having the kratesis on an object was not allowed to dispose of it,…

[German version] (δάνειον; dáneion). The  loan, limited assignment of fungible goods (in kind or money) was an everyday way of doing business throughout the regions inhabited by the Greeks. It took place between private individuals as well as in public life. The lenders were often banks or temples and the borrowers often states, which often also owed debts to private individuals (e.g. IG VII 3172: Orchomenus is indebted to Nicareta). This practise was generally known as daneion, but sometimes   chrḗsis was used; the   eranos loan is a special type. The daneion was set up with a fixed r…

[German version] (λογογράφος; logográphos). Writer of Greek court speeches. The ten classical Attic rhetors were called logográphoi. The word was, however, also frequently used in a derogatory sense (e.g. Aeschin. 1,94; 3,173). As in principle the parties in the proceedings in Athens had to represent the matter themselves before the court, the ‘orator’, if he was not appearing on his own matter, remained undetected in the background: he was not a representative of a party or an attorney ( syndikos ), but a ‘speech writer’ (which is how logographos should be literally translated). H…

[German version] (Χρηματισταί; Chrēmatistaí). In the Egypt of the Ptolemies, judges delegated by the king to try fiscal and civil cases for all sectors of the population. They were probably introduced in the 2nd cent. BC. The courts had jurisdiction over an individual nome, or several in combination. In the provinces the chrematistai courts lapsed during the early part of the Roman Empire; in Alexandria they are attested into the 3rd cent. AD, with a somewhat modified range of functions. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography H. J. Wolff, Das Justizwesen der Ptolemäer, 21970 H. A. Rupprech…

[German version] (Διωμοσία; Diōmosía). At least from the time of Dracon (before 600 BC) Athenians of both parties and their helpers (witnesses) were obliged to swear a solemn oath, the diomosia, to the archon basileus during the official preliminary hearings ( prodikasíai) for murder trials. The prosecutor swore (while calling upon the goddesses of revenge and other deities) to his right of prosecution at the risk of his own person, lineage, and house, and to the fact that the defendant really had committed the crime (Antiph. 6,16; Dem…

[German version] (ἀδίκημα; adíkēma). Non-technical term for an illegal act committed intentionally on a private person (Aristot. Eth. Nic. 1135 b 20 f.; Rhet. 1374 b 8); if adikema was associated with damage to property, it led to a   blabes dike . Sometimes the unlawfully gained property is also referred to as adikema (Pl. Leg. 906d). In the papyri: marital misconduct, violent affront, peculation. Thür, Gerhard (Graz)