The Rule of Law in Action in Democratic Athens
Edward M. Harris
Abstract
This book aims to show how the Athenians attempted to put the ideal of the rule of law into action and to understand the nature of litigation in its democratic context. Recent books about the Athenian courts have focused mainly on Athenian social values, but they have paid less attention to the political ideal of the rule of law and to the procedures the Athenians followed to implement this ideal. This study moves beyond the study of rhetoric and ideology to examine how the law worked in action, both in the community as a whole and in the courts. One of the key themes is the importance of payi ... More
This book aims to show how the Athenians attempted to put the ideal of the rule of law into action and to understand the nature of litigation in its democratic context. Recent books about the Athenian courts have focused mainly on Athenian social values, but they have paid less attention to the political ideal of the rule of law and to the procedures the Athenians followed to implement this ideal. This study moves beyond the study of rhetoric and ideology to examine how the law worked in action, both in the community as a whole and in the courts. One of the key themes is the importance of paying close attention to the precise features of legal procedures in order to understand how litigants behaved in daily life and made their arguments in court. The book is divided into three parts. Part I analyzes the political and social contexts of Athenian law. Parts II examines how the Athenians applied the law in their courts. Part III deals with the breakdown of the rule of law.
Keywords:
Athenians,
rule of law,
litigation,
democracy,
legal procedures
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2013 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199899166 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: January 2014 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199899166.001.0001 |
