Search

[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] After the conquest of Egypt by Alexander [4] the Great (331 BC), the native population continued to live with its traditional legal concepts as they are preserved in documents ( Demotic law) and perhaps laws ( Codex Hermopolis). The elite of Ptolemaic Egypt, which originated from Greek mercenaries and immigrants, regulated its private affairs according to its own concepts that had merged into a legal koine. Only the Greek towns of Naucratis, Alexandria [1] and Ptolemais [3] ha…

[German version] (πρυτανεῖα/ p rytaneîa). At Athens (also at Miletus and Ilium), the court fees to be paid in advance by both parties to an action, but which the loser then forfeited to the winning party, were called prytaneîa. Prytaneîa were to be paid in most private cases (however, in inheritance cases, the parakatabolḗ was prescribed); in public cases, generally the παράστασις ( parástasis). The prytaneîa ran 3 drachmai for a contested value between 100 and 1,000 drachmai, 30 drachmai above that threshold, with no prytaneîa paid below the 100 drachmai threshold. It is uncertain wh…

[German version] (προστιμᾶν/ prostimân), 'additional penalty' available to the plaintiff. In Athens in cases of theft (Klope) courts had the option of imposing loss of honour in addition to a fine. The thief would be locked in the stocks for five days and nights and placed in the pillory (Lys. 10,15; Dem. Or. 24,114 and 146). Presumably prostimân happened in a third vote, after the jurors had voted on guilt and the fine. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A.R.W. Harrison, The Law of Athens, vol. 2, 1971, 177  D. Cohen, Theft in Athenian Law, 1983, 62.

[German version] (Δατηταί; Datētaí). ‘Dividers’, i.e. private arbiters in Athens, chosen by the parties, who presided over disputes amongst joint heirs. The procedure was initiated by private litigation for a division into shares, δίκη εἰς δατητῶν αἵρεσιν (Aristot. Ath.Pol. 56,6), against a joint heir who objected to a compromise. Usually, the archon was responsible for accepting the litigation while the Polemarch was responsible in exceptional cases if the litigation was directed against a metic (…

[German version] (εἴσπραξις; eíspraxis). ‘Collection’ in the largest sense; in Athens, for instance, it was the collection of tribute payments for the naval alliance (IG II2 1273, 24), in Egypt that of all taxes, but also of private debts ( Praxis). Thür, Gerhard (Graz)

[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.