GREEK LAW. The unity of Greek law is seen in the laws of inheritance and adoption, in the laws of commerce and contract and in the publicity given to legal agreements. There are incidental illustrations of Athenian laws in Plato's 'Laws' and in Aristotle's Politics': but no systematic collection of Greek laws has been handed down to us. The 'Constitution of Athens> gives an account of the jurisdiction of the public officials and of the machinery of the law courts.
In Homer there is no word for law. Dike means a away pointed out,* the °course which usage prescribes.° Themis signifies °what has been laid down,° a particular decision, a the plural themistes connotes a body of such precedents, arules of right.° Written laws came much later.
Lycurgus (about 884 }Lc.) is said to have given Sparta her laws; but these were unwrit ten. Laws were first reduced to writing in the 7th century by the Epizephyrian Locrians in Italy (663 n.c.). Legislation in Crete is repre sented by the laws of Gortyn, made known by the discovery of an inscription in 1884. In Athens the tribunals of homicide were con sidered very ancient (Isocrates, Panegyr. 40). The king-archon decided cases connected with religious observances. In the middle of the 7th century the three archons were increased to nine; six of these were called Thesmothetee, who superintended the judicial system. The first code was drawn up by Draco (621 ri.c.). It distinguished carefully between different kinds of homicide. The lawgiver, Solon (594 }Lc.), being elected archon, canceled all debts and mortgages on the person of the debtor and prohibited such slavery in the future. The power of voting in the law courts made the people masters of the Constitution. Permission to execute a will was first given by the laws of Solon. Cleisthenes (508) introduced the law of ostracism. In the next century commission ers (Syngrapheis) were appointed to draw up laws to submit to the assembly. The law court was called dikastericm. The public executioners were known as the ° Eleven" The chief archon presided in cases connected with the family property of citizens; the king-archon in cases of impiety and homicide; the polemardh in cases affecting the Metics, or resident aliens.
The largest and most important courts were the Heliastic. Practically all cases of import ance, except murder and homicide, were tried before these tribunals. The jurors were chosen every year and formed a body called the presided over by the Thesmothetir (the six junior archons). The whole number of. jurors was 6,000 in the 5th century, later 5,000. Of these the number sitting in any particular case varied from 200 to 2,500. There were 10 court-rooms. Each juror was given a staff bearing the color of the court — distinguished by the painted lintel — into which he was to go.
This staff he exchanged at the door for a counter which he showed at the end of the day and received his fee of three obols. Law suits were divided into public and private. The plaintiff summoned the defendant, in the pres ence of witnesses, to appear before the magis trate, and named the day of trial. The suit was lodged by the presentation of a written indictment to the presiding officer. The de fendant's answer also had to be in writing. Both sides brought forward their evidence, which was reduced to writing and sealed in a box to be kept until the day of trial, at which the clerk read both the charge and the answer. The plaintiff then made his speech, and was followed by the defendant. There were no *lawyers.* Witnesses testified as they were called upon by the speakers during their ad dresses to the jury. Each side was permitted to question the opponent, who was obliged by law to answer; but there was no cross-examina tion of witnesses. The witness merely acknowl edged that the testimony was his, after it had been read by the clerk. After the speeches of the contestants the case went to the Jury, who proceeded to vote without retiring from the court-room. At first the ballots were mussel shells, but later they consisted of bronze discs with an axis running through the centre and extending on each side. Each juryman re ceived two of these ballots, the axis in one of which was solid (acquittal), in the other, per forated (condemnation). 'the juror held the ballots in such a way that bystanders could not observe how he was voting. Into a bronze urn he cast the ballot recording his verdict, and into a wooden urn the other. In this way a secret vote was assured. The magistrate then counted the ballots and the verdict was an nounced by a herald. In case of a tie the defendant won. If the plaintiff in a public suit did not secure one-fifth of the votes he was fined 1,000 drachmae. It was the jury's business to decide (after hearing proposals from both sides) what the penalty should be— ordinarily a money fine. Imprisonment was rare; but a man might be kept in jail until he Paid his fine; and he might be imprisoned while awaiting trial, unless he could give se curity. Persons condemned to death were kept in confinement until execution. Even murderers might go at large until the day of trial arrived, for if a murderer escaped to another country the state felt that it was rid of a pollution without expense. But the laws of another state did not protect an exile, and he was at the mercy of any man. Hence banishment was one of the severest punishments that could be in flicted on criminals. Confiscation of property was a frequent penalty; and this earned with it partial or total loss of the rights of josEPH E. HARRY.