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[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 Council to 307 BC, 1985, 22.

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[German version] (ἐπίκληρος; epíklēros). Not quite correctly translated as ‘heiress’. If an Athenian citizen or   métoikos was survived only by daughters, they were not entitled to the inheritance in their own right, but their legitimate sons were, and so the inheritance (  klḗros ) could in some circumstances benefit a different family. Because of that danger the law allowed the nearest male collateral relative of the testator ( Anchisteia), to obtain at the same time from the archon or polemarch ( Archontes I), by a process of   …

[German version] (βλάβης δίκη; blábēs díkē). In Greek law, a private action for damage to property. In the case of intentional damage, the guilty party had to pay compensation to the tune of twice the value of the damage caused, as assessed by the plaintiff in his petition. The blabes dike may originally have been legally applicable only as regards violation of the law relating to neighbours. It may only have been by virtue of case law that this restricted profile of action was extended to include other cases of damage to property. Prevailing o…

[German version] (κατήγορος; katḗgoros). The prosecutor in Athens. Athenian public criminal law was based on the principle of popular complaint ( graphḗ ), a special office for public prosecution did not exist. Nonetheless, in cases that threatened the state directly, the council or the public assembly could nominate citizens to represent the interests of the state without holding an office. They were called kategoros, or, more frequently, synḗgoros (‘attorney’) (representation of the demes: Aristot. Ath. Pol. 42,1; IG II2 1196; 1205). In such cases, the public assembly c…

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[German version] (λιπομαρτυρίου δίκη; lipomartyríou díkē). Law suit on account of failure to provide a witness statement. The procedural testimony ( martyría ) consisted in the Greek poleis of a statement pre-formulated by the plaintiff or the defendant that was pronounced to the witness in the procedure and which the latter confirmed by his very appearance before the court. When a witness was summoned privately by a procedural party (καλεῖν, kaleîn, Pl. Leg. 937a, PHalensis 1,222f., IPArk 17,12; προσκαλεῖν, proskaleîn, Dem. Or. 49,19), he had two options: either he refuse…

[German version] (ποινή; poinḗ). Used in Homer quite concretely for blood money (Hom. Il. 18,498; aídesis ), but also generally for revenge, retribution, later extended to any monetary penalty a private person could demand for a tort ([4. 10, 35]; cf. Latin poena …

[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-law powers [1; 6. 125]. Similarly this was not the case where paramone indicated a guarantee of appearance (procedurally: for getting the defendant to court; administratively: for the performance of liturgical or other services) [5. 1213f.]. Hellenistic inscriptions from the Greek motherland documented the term paramone as meaning the legal duty of the freedman towards his liberator, to provide him with services for the remainder of his life or until such time as the money spent in liberating him had been repaid. Usually the ransom acted as a loan paid in advance, the repayment of which was secured by the paramone ([2. 200], cf. [4. 72-83]; for paramone by law s. [3. 76-85]). Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography 1 B. Adams, Paramone und verwandte Texte, 1964 2 K.-D. Albrecht, Rechtsprobleme in den Freilassungen …

[German version] (ἀγχιστεία; anchisteía). In Athens the closest collateral relatives were combined as anchisteia. In the event of  murder of a member of their family they had a duty to bring an action against the perpetrator and the right to grant pardon ( Aidesis) to an unintentional perpetrator (IG I3 104,13-25). The anchisteia also referred to the circle of those with inheritance rights if there were no direct descendants (blood or adopted   …

[German version] One can only speak of a land register (LR) in the legal sense when a complete, comprehensive register of property - either of all inhabitants (personal property system) or of all plots of land in a precinct (real property system) - is generally acknowledged, thus guaranteeing…

[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 ( …

[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] (ἀπαγωγή; apagōgḗ). ‘Taking away’ was a drastic, speedy procedure in criminal cases in Athens. In its original form it permitted two categories of criminals (κακοῦργοι and ἄτιμοι, kakoûrgoi and átimoi), if caught in the act, later also where the facts of the case were obvious, to be taken away to prison and if they confessed to be punished immediately, or otherwise to be kept in custody and handed over to the court. Responsibility lay partially with the Eleven and partially with the thesmothetai. The penalty was death. Later written charges of the same name cou…

[German version] (παράβολον; parábolon). Literally payment, a sum of money that according to Poll. 8,63, had to be deposited in Athens as security payment when lodging an éphesis , however, it wa…

[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, …

[German version] (βαλαντιοτόμοι; balantiotómoi). ‘Cutpurses’ (pickpockets) were pursued in Athens on the basis of the νόμος τῶν κακούργων ( nómos tôn kakoúrgōn) with   apagōgḗ (‘leading away’) and punished with death. Thür, Gerhard (Graz)

[German version] (παρατιλμός/ paratilmós, literally the removal of hair), a measure employed against an adulterer ( moicheía ) caught in the act, whereby the hair around the anus was plucked out whilst rubbing in hot ashes. Generally it was accompanied by inserting a radish into the anus (ῥαφανίδωσις, rhaphanídōsis; Aristoph. Plut. 168 wit…

[German version] (ἐπιορκία; epiorkía) means ‘perjury’, ever since Homer and throughout (with the exception of a single incidence in Solon's Laws as ‘oath’, Lys. 10,17). It was common practice for every  oath to conclude with a curse for a potential perjurer. As epiorkia was not a secular offence, its punishment ─ which was not limited to the offender himself, but could extend to his entire household ─ was in the remit of the gods, who were witnesses and guarantors of the oath (Xen. An. 2,5,21; Dem. Or. 23,68; 19,220; Lys. 32,13).  Oath Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography K. Latte, s.v. Meine…

[German version] (συνήγορος; synḗgoros), literally 'co-speaker'. Person who speaks in court with - not instead of - one of the parties in a case; a term not always distinguished from sýndikos . In principle, the Greek view was that each party should present their own case in person. In ancient Athens synēgoroi claiming either a close relationship to the party they supported or enmity to the party they opposed could be allowed in private and public actions; only accepting money was forbidden to a synegoros (Dem. Or. 47,26). Since joint action in court was, from a more recent poi…