Law and Justice in the Courts of Classical Athens
Author | : Adriaan Lanni |
Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
Total Pages | : |
Release | : 2006-02-27 |
ISBN-10 | : 9781139452656 |
ISBN-13 | : 1139452657 |
Rating | : 4/5 (657 Downloads) |
Download or read book Law and Justice in the Courts of Classical Athens written by Adriaan Lanni and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-02-27 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.