6 - Maritime Cases

Summary

in the middle of the fourth century b.c.e., the athenians created a special procedure for maritime suits, the dikê emporikê. Dikai emporikai were most likely heard in the ordinary popular courts, but were exceptional in the frequency of non-citizen participation as litigants and witnesses, and in the rule that only disputes over written contracts could be heard through this procedure. Maritime suits, like Athenian homicide cases, exhibit a distinctive notion of relevance and mode of legal argumentation. Speeches in dikai emporikai appear to be more focused on the terms of the written contract and less likely to appeal to arguments from fairness or to evidence regarding the character and social standing of the litigants than ordinary popular court speeches. The unusual mode of argumentation in maritime cases can be traced to two interrelated causal factors: the common participation of foreigners in dikai emporikai, and the need to facilitate trade and attract non-Athenian merchants by offering a predictable procedure that focused on the enforcement of contracts as written.

A few words regarding the nature of our sources for the dikai emporikai are in order. In discussing characteristics of the homicide courts that set them apart from ordinary popular courts, it was possible to draw on numerous texts explicitly remarking on the differences between them. There are no comparable discursive comments regarding the procedures of the dikai emporikai.