Comprehensive and extensive, Democratic Law in Classical Athens (PDF) provides a new perspective for seeing a legal system that was democratic in a way only the Athenians could achieve.
The democratic legal system made by the Athenians was completely controlled by ordinary citizens, with no lawyers, judges, or jurists involved. It placed great significance on the litigants’ rhetorical performances. Did this make it nothing more than a rhetorical contest judged by largely unschooled citizens that had nothing to do with law, a criticism that some, including Plato, have made?
Michael Gagarin argues the contrary, arguing that the Athenians both controlled litigants’ performances and combined many other unusual features into their legal system, including rules for interrogating slaves and swearing an oath. The Athenians, Gagarin shows, followed the law as they understood it, which was a set of principles more flexible than our present understanding allows. The Athenians also claimed that their legal system serve the ends of justice and benefit the city and its people. In this way, the law eventually satisfied most Athenians and perhaps produced just results as often as modern legal systems do.
Reviews
“Gagarin’s description of the way Athenian democracy worked and how comprehensively law and democracy were intertwined is sharpened by frequent and interesting comparisons to US democracy and law. His gift here is a clear judgment of differences between the two systems and a clear perception of resemblances, helped a great deal by a broad familiarity with US law bibliography evident throughout the ebook.” ― Adele Scafuro, professor in the Department of Classics, Brown University
“Supported by many years of research in the field of Greek law, the author systematically shows the many ways in which the Athenians ensured that their legal system supported both the rule of law and democratic ideals and shows clearly that the Athenian legal system was one that attained its aims and worked as intended in the context in which it developed…Gagarin’s latest work is, as always, coherent and accessible while remaining incisive and precise. It will be a valuable introduction to the Athenian legal system for many and valuable addition to the libraries of scholars and students working on the Athenian democracy.” ― Polis Published On: 2021-05-01
NOTE: The product only includes the ebook, Democratic Law in Classical Athens in PDF. No access codes are included.
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