1. The Juries

• only qualifications: 30 yrs of age, male, citizen
• pay intro. by Pericles, mid 5th century, 2 obols/day (raised by Cleon to 3 in 420s)
• 3 obols = wage of unskilled worker at end of 5th century
• doesn’t keep up with inflation
• by end of 4th century, back to only well-to-do for the most part
• no judge
• presiding magistrate to supervise procedure and announce verdict but he doesn’t advise on points of law
• jury fixes penalty (many set by law, otherwise chooses from options presented by litigants.)
• jury represents the demos, so its decisions are final
• varied from 200 to 2500, usually odd #’s to avoid ties

2. Prosecutors

• (rarely) assembly or council appoints a public prosecutor, usually volunteer
• Public cases (demosiai dikai) = offences which harm the fabric of the community as a whole, can be brought by anyone (free adult male, that is).
• Private cases (idiai dikai) = only the alleged victim can sue
• Prosecutor summons the opponent
• takes witnesses with him (kleteres)
• defendant appears before a magistrate under whose jurisdiction the case falls
• usually the tribal judges (40, 4 from each tribe)
• could decide issue themselves is 10 drachmas or less involved
• other cases passed on to arbitrator (unless a public case, then this step skipped) who judges
• if appealed, tribal judges bring case to court
• preliminary hearing (anakrisis): details are obscure
• date set for trial

3. Evidence

• each litigant gathers his own evidence
  • from end of 5th century on, state archive of laws in the Metroon
  • BUT, no copies circulated in court which led to selective quotation
  • penalty for quoting non-existent law was death
• 5th century, witnesses testify in person, in 4th century written testimony read out loud by clerk
• no cross examination
• witness statements and other evidence sealed before trial begins

4. Timing

• swift, cases must be settled in a day
• only 1 public case per jury per day, but could judge several private suits
• time kept by the klepsydra (water-clock)
  • speaker must finish by time water is out
  • reading of testimony didn’t come out of speaker’s time
  • different trials allowed different amounts of time
  • didn't have to use up all of his time

Prepared by K. Widgren, from: Demosthenes. Selected Private Speeches. Edited by C. Carey and R.A. Reid. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

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