Law and justice in the courts of classical Athens /
Adriaan Lanni draws on contemporary legal thinking to present a new model of the legal system of classical Athens. She analyzes 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 Athenia...
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| Format: | Licensed eBooks |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge ; New York :
Cambridge University Press,
2006.
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| Online Access: | https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&AN=156558 |
| Summary: | Adriaan Lanni draws on contemporary legal thinking to present a new model of the legal system of classical Athens. She analyzes 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 individualized and discretionary approach to justice. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (x, 210 pages) |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-199) and index. |
| ISBN: | 0511169205 9780511169205 9780511497865 0511497865 9780521857598 0521857597 1280436948 9781280436949 0521733014 9780521733014 |