Judgement was passed on a majority verdict. The juror deposited one of these in a wooden urn whose tokens were disregarded, and the other in a bronze urn whose votes were counted. In the 5th century B.C., jurors cast their vote in secret.Įach juror was provided with two tokens, one for conviction and the other for acquittal. Exceptionally the jury might even include 600 members.Īfter the speeches had been delivered by the prosecution and the defense, the jurors voted without deliberation. Juries composed of citizens over thirty years of age, were often extremely large because it was believed that this reduced the likelihood of bribery. They merely supervised proceedings in a general way. They gave neither advice nor did they sentence those who were found guilty. Though magistrates presided over trials, they did not serve as judges in the modern sense of the term. The testimony of slaves could be obtained only under torture. Only a limited amount of cross examination took place. All trials, irrespective of the severity of the charges, were confined in scope to the space of a single day. The case was then assigned to a particular court on a particular date.
ANCIENT GREEK WORD FOR HIDE FREE
The defendant was free at this time to enter a counter plea. Oaths were exchanged by the plaintiff and the defendant, the former swearing that his accusation was genuine, the latter admitting guilt or swearing that he was innocent.
In cases of homicide, the relatives of the victim were required to prosecute the killer.Ī preliminary hearing called an anaikrisis took place before a magistrate. In the case of a private action, it was the responsibility of the injured party to bring the action.
Though in practice many cases would have been that "anyone who wishes" was free to initiate prosecution in a public action or graphe. Public actions involved the community as a whole, whereas private actions concerned individuals. Other than in cases involving theft, murder, rape and adultery, the accused received a written summons naming the day that he or she was required to appear before a magistrate.Īthenian law was divided into public and private actions. If the injured party was incapable of arresting the criminal, he could summon the magistrate, arrest, and a fine of 1,000 drachmae was imposed. This must have been extremely difficult in the case of violent crime, especially if they happened to be elderly or female. In the absence of any state-run means of law enforcement, it was up to the injured party to bring him (or her) before the magistrates. The Skythian archers whom Athens possessed had the primary task of keeping the peace. I mprisonment was not typically a punishment.Ī Greek community had no police force in the modern sense of the term. Criminals were punished by fines, their right to vote taken away, exile or death. In Athens criminals were tried before a jury of 200 or more citizens picked at random. After reporting a crime, if an arrest was made, an informant would receive half of the fine charged to the criminal. Often Greeks relied on citizens to report crimes. Greeks found it uncomfortable to have citizens policing their own fellows citizens. Solon kept many new laws that fit into the four basic categories of Ancient Greek law.įoreign slaves were often employed to police the cities of Ancient Greece. This law established exile as the penalty for homicide and was the only of the of Draco's laws that Solon kept when he was appointed law giver in bout 594 BC.
It was not until the middle of the seventh century BC that the Greeks first began to establish official laws.Īround 620 BC Draco, the, lawgiver, wrote the first known law of Ancient Greece. Murders were settled by members of the victim's family who would then go and kill the murderer.
In the United States when a person is charged with a crime, no matter how serious, you are innocent until you are proven guilty.įollowing is the story in Greece: After the Dark Ages about 1200 - 900BC and beginning at about 900 BC, the Ancient Greeks had no official laws or punishment. In France when you are charged with a crime, you are guilty until you have proof of your innocence. The engineer who fled, having immunity, actually appeared in court on behalf of the charged engineer yet everybody in the court knew he was in the accident. The other engineer who was injured and who could not leave was charged and tried. Engineers left the scene of the accident and was free.