Women In The Law Courts Of Classical Athens

Konstantinos Kapparis challenges the traditional view that free women, citizen and metic, were excluded from the Athenian legal system. Looking at existing fragmentary evidence largely from speeches, Kapparis reveals that it unambiguously suggests that free women were far from invisible in the legal system and the life of the polis. In the first part of the book Kapparis discusses the actual cases which included women as litigants, and the second part interprets these cases against the legal, social, economic and cultural background of classical Athens. In doing so he explores how factors such as gender, religion, women's empowerment and the rise of the Attic hetaira as a cultural icon intersected with these cases and ultimately influenced the construction of the speeches.

In this 2006 book, Adriaan Lanni draws on contemporary legal thinking to present a model of the legal system of classical Athens. She analyses the Athenians' preference in most cases for ad hoc, discretionary decision-making, as opposed to what moderns would call the rule of law. Lanni argues that the Athenians consciously employed different approaches to legal decision-making in different types of courts. The varied approaches to legal process stems from a deep tension in Athenian practice and thinking, between the demand for flexibility of legal interpretation consistent with the exercise of democratic power by ordinary Athenian jurors; and the demand for consistency and predictability in legal interpretation expected by litigants and necessary to permit citizens to conform their conduct to the law. Lanni presents classical Athens as a case study of a successful legal system that, by modern standards, had an extraordinarily individualised and discretionary approach to justice.

Law and Society in Classical Athens, first published in 1987, traces the development of legal thought and its relation to Athenian values. Previously Athens’ courts have been regarded as chaotic, isolated from the rest of society and even bizarre. The importance of rhetoric and the mischief made by Aristophanes have devalued the legal process in the eyes of modern scholars, whilst the analysis of legal codes and practice has seemed dauntingly complex. Professor Garner aims to situate the Athenian legal system within the general context of abstract thought on justice and of the democratic politics of the fifth century. His work is a valuable source of information on all aspects of Athenian law and its relation to culture.

The aim of this book is to situate the Athenian legal system within the general context of Greek thought on justice and of the political system of the democracy. Social factors such as the position of women are also relevant to the study of the law. In addition, the author has taken cognisance of the archæological evidence for the practice of the Athenian law courts; and the evidence for forensic practice both in speeches and in the drama is carefully discussed. -- Book jacket.

This volume brings together essays on Athenian law by Edward M. Harris, who challenges much of the recent scholarship on this topic. Presenting a balanced analysis of the legal system in ancient Athens, Harris stresses the importance of substantive issues and their contribution to our understanding of different types of legal procedures. He combines careful philological analysis with close attention to the political and social contexts of individual statutes. Collectively, the essays in this volume demonstrate the relationship between law and politics, the nature of the economy, the position of women, and the role of the legal system in Athenian society. They also show that the Athenians were more sophisticated in their approach to legal issues than has been assumed in the modern scholarship on this topic.

This book draws on contemporary legal scholarship to explain why Athens was a remarkably well-ordered society.

Content Description #Includes bibliographical references and index.