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Rule of Law vs. Equity in the Lawcourts of Classical Athens

Monday, 04/10/2017
4:30PM
Humanities 250
University of Colorado Boulder

With Professor Sara Forsdyke, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

There has been a long-running debate about the extent to which the ideal of the rule of law determined the decisions of the courts of democratic Athens. This paper attempts to resolve the debate by breaking down the concept of the rule of law into its central components, and then demonstrating that the Athenians ascribed to some but not other components of this ideal. Most importantly, I demonstrate that the principle of Legal Certainty -  a central component of most modern concepts of the Rule of Law -  was significantly undermined by the value that the Athenians placed on considerations of equity.

Sponsored by:

Center for Western Civilization, Thought and Policy
Graduate Committee on the Arts Humanities

Results:

Sara Forsdyke's public lecture focused on the various aspects of the “rule of law” identified by modern legal scholars as an entrée to a contentious topic in ancient history, the extent to which Athenian courts adhered to the letter of the law or allowed more general considerations to play a part in their decisions.

Her presentation to Peter Hunt's class identified cases where Athenian slaves might took advantage of their knowledge of the law either to flee to a sanctuary or, more surprising, to enter into a collusive relationship with another citizen to the detriment of their master.  In Plato’s Laws, we find an early version of “noxal surrender,” the law that when a slave caused damage to a third person’s property, the master could either compensate the third party or hand over the slave.  Professor Forsdyke noticed that Plato also specified the recourse of the master in the case of collusion between the slave and third party, i.e., a fraudulent damage claim for the sake of obtaining ownership of the slave—with the slave playing a part for the sake of some reward. Her lunch with graduate students was particularly welcome because Prof. Hunt was teaching a seminar on Thucydides and Sara had just completed editing the Oxford Handbook of Thucydides.

The organizer Peter Hunt noted that after Prof. Forsdyke's visit, he has rethought and rephrased his judgment about slave sanctuaries to accommodate Sara’s points, which take a more optimistic view of the institution than he previously had.  This will be reflected in his book on Ancient Greek and Roman Slavery, which is currently in proofs. Prof. Hunt's students in Greek and Roman Slavery were very impressed with her arguments and method of teaching; her investigation of the collusive damage by slaves made a strong impression and showed up on many final exam essays. 

The Center for Western Civilization, Thought and Policy funds research and educational initiatives that contribute to critical reflection on the development of Western civilization. All CU Boulder faculty and students are eligible to apply If you are interested in applying for a , deadlines are rolling throughout the year.