The Athenian court was one of the most important democratic bodies of this Greek polis. At its core, it was a jury trial. It was called "dikasterion" or "heliea" (from the name of the agora - the market square where the meetings were held). Hence the titles of judges - dicastes and heliasts. The article tells how the verdicts were handed down by the Athens court.
Electivity of members
According to legend, helium was formed in ancient times (approximately in the 7th-6th centuries BC) under Solon, the Athenian legislator, politician and poet. Especially the role of the court and its influence on the life of the state and society increased in the V-IV centuries BC.
The number of members of the helium, who were elected, reached six thousand. These had to be persons at least 30 years of age, with a good reputation, certain life experience and knowledge, usually with a family.
Tribal chambers
The Athenian jury was divided into 10 chambers, called dicasteries. ATeach of them had 600 people, of which 500 were engaged in the analysis of cases, and 100 were in reserve. The researchers explain such a large number of members of the court and chambers by the fact that in such a large-scale city-state as Athens, there were a lot of different cases.
But there is another assumption, according to which, there was a desire to avoid bribing representatives of the judiciary. After all, it is quite difficult to bribe thousands of judges, especially since cases were distributed among the chambers according to lot.
When there was a matter of particular importance, it was de alt with in a joint session of two or three chambers. The Athenian court was the highest judicial body with very wide competence. In fact, he helped the people's assembly, reducing its workload and thus being an addition to this administrative structure.
Litigation
Unlike the courts of a later time, the court in the Athenian state did not have specialized prosecutors and defenders. Both of these functions were carried out privately. The accuser wrote a statement addressed to the relevant magistrate and brought the accused to him. The magistrate led the preliminary investigation, then transferred the case to the helium and presided over the chamber during its analysis.
The fundamental principle of the trial was adversarial. First, the accusing party presented its claims and their justification, then the defendant entered into the dispute, refuting the accusations. After hearing the speeches of the plaintiff and the defendant, the judges proceeded to vote. The decision was consideredadopted if more than half of the votes of the members of the House were cast in favor of it. After that, the defendant was either declared innocent or punished.
The punishment could be imprisonment, confiscation of property, a fine. The most severe views were:
- death pen alty;
- exile to a foreign land;
- disenfranchisement.
Equality of votes was treated as an acquittal.
Complaints of illegality
In addition to the fact that the Athenian court considered litigation, it had another important task - to protect the system of Athenian democracy as a whole. For example, there was a special type of proceedings designed to protect the Athenian constitution, which was called "complaints of illegality."
Its essence was as follows. Every citizen had the right to make a statement that this or that law, which was adopted by the People's Assembly, is contrary to the law or it was issued, violating the established order.
From the moment such a statement was received, the action of the contested law was subject to suspension. There was a special chamber in helium, headed by an archon, which proceeded to carefully study the complaint.
If it was recognized as fair, the contested law was repealed. As for its author, the prospect was by no means rosy. Even the death pen alty could be applied to him, as well as a very large fine or exile.
Existence of possibilityfiling the complaint described above was a very effective measure to prevent the introduction of rash bills in the People's Assembly. However, if it turned out that the complaint was unfounded, its initiator was held liable for litigation.
Competence and professionalism of judges
It was possible to be elected to the Athenian court several times. This contributed to the fact that judges gained experience in conducting cases, their professionalism increased, and their competence increased. Proceedings in helium took place with the participation of magistrates, for example, the presiding officer in a particular chamber could be an archon (the highest official in the state) or a strategist (commander in chief of the troops). They could also conduct preliminary investigations.
Thus, the Athenian judicial system was carefully thought out and developed, and experienced judges were members of the helium. There were effective measures against bribery. All this allowed the judicial system of the city-state to be one of the most important foundations of the democratic system. Even the political opponents of Athenian democracy had to recognize the competence and objectivity of the members of the helium.
