Use and Abuse of Law in the Athenian Courts

Chris Carey is Emeritus Professor of Greek at University College London. He has published on Greek lyric, epic, drama, politics, oratory and law.Ifigeneia Giannadaki is a Research Associate at University College London. Her publications focus on aspects of Athenian law and oratory. She is currently completing her Commentary on the Speech of Demosthenes, Against Androtion (Oxford University Press).Brenda Griffith Williams is an an Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Greek and Latin at University College London She has published A commentary on selected speeches of Isaios and articles on Athenian law and rhetoric.

"The volume as a whole offers a very successful examination of the ways in which law could be used in Athenian legal cases and outlines the room that was available for interpretations, manipulations, extensions, and contractions of law that might be understood as ‘abuse’, depending on one’s reading of the legal system. (...) All of the papers have something to offer, and many offer innovative and succinct readings that contribute greatly to the field. It is especially gratifying to see a section on rhetoric in the volume, acknowledging that all information on law taken from the Attic orators must be read through a rhetorical lens. (...) This volume, and Wohl’s paper in particular, demonstrates that there is still plenty of room for innovation in the fields of Athenian law and oratory." - Christine Plastow, in: BMCR 2019.10.10"Ultimately, one of the greatest strengths of this book lies in its open-endedness, in its recognition that, like Athenian law, the state of the question is necessarily flexible. (...) These diverse perspectives and voices have pieced together a compelling, multifaceted illustration of a dynamic legal system that responded to the needs of its practitioners. The range of interpretations resulting from a single body of evidence suggest that these ancient texts, and the legal system to which they belonged, will continue to offer a rich field of study to scholars for years to come. This collection’s prioritization of flexible and polyvalent interpretations represents, I believe, the use of academic discourse." - Hilary J. C. Lehmann, Knox College, in: CJ-Online, 2021.04.07.

• AbbreviationsNotes on ContributorsIntroductionChris CareyPart 1 Conceptualising The System1 Abuse Is in the Eye of the BeholderMichael Gagarin2 The Elasticity of Athenian LawRobin Osborne3 The Athenian View of an Athenian TrialEdward M. Harris4 Bridging the Divide Between Public and Private: dikē exoulēs and Other HybridsChris CareyPart 2 Procedural Manoeuvres5 Isaeus 6: A Case of Procedural Abuse (and Scholarly Misunderstandings)Brenda Griffith-Williams6 Anakrisis and Legal Argumentation in Athenian Public TrialsChristos Kremmydas7 The Postponement of the Trial by Jury in Athens: The Timing of the graphē paranomōnLászló Horváth8 Abusing Legal Procedures for Impeding the Legal ProcessNoboru SatoPart 3 The Rhetoric of Law9 Clauses out of Context: Partial Citation of Statutes in Attic Forensic OratoryLene Rubinstein10 Twisting the Law in Ancient AthensIlias Arnaoutoglou11 (Re)constructing the Athenian Legal SystemIfigeneia Giannadaki12 Liturgies and the Rhetoric of Law in Fourth Century Athens: A Case Study on an antidosis ([Dem.] 42)Kostas Apostolakis13 Jurisdiction and Jurisprudence in Demosthenes 23Victoria Wohl14 ‘Theft’ as a Metaphor for the Abuse of Legal Process at AthensS.C. ToddPart 4 Specific Areas of Law15 Laws Against Laws: The Athenian Ideology of LegislationMirko Canevaro16 Abuse of the eisangelia in the Latter Half of the Fourth Century BCEleni Volonaki17 Athenian Homicide Law and the Model Penal CodeDavid D. Phillips18 Abuse of Inheritance Law in Isaeus?Rosalia HatzilambrouGlossaryBibliographyIndex of termsIndex of names and placesIndex locorum