Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- PART I THE REALM OF THEORY
- PART II THE REALM OF THE COURTS
- 4 Rhetoric, litigation, and the values of an agonistic society
- 5 Litigation as feud
- 6 Violence and litigation
- 7 Hubris and the legal regulation of sexual violence
- 8 Litigation and the family
- Conclusion: litigation, democracy and the courts
- Bibliographical essay
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - Rhetoric, litigation, and the values of an agonistic society
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- PART I THE REALM OF THEORY
- PART II THE REALM OF THE COURTS
- 4 Rhetoric, litigation, and the values of an agonistic society
- 5 Litigation as feud
- 6 Violence and litigation
- 7 Hubris and the legal regulation of sexual violence
- 8 Litigation and the family
- Conclusion: litigation, democracy and the courts
- Bibliographical essay
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Nothing is more unfair than equality.
Before turning to a consideration of Athenian litigation it is appropriate to consider the background of social values which participants brought to the judicial process. This background is particularly important in Athens because neither judges nor litigants had any formal legal training and the system as a whole relied almost entirely upon the initiative of private citizens. As subsequent chapters will show, Athenian litigation by its very nature seldom depended upon arguments about statutory interpretation or legal doctrine. It employed instead assessments of character, reputation, and probability, cast in terms which appealed to the knowledge and values which the judges, as ordinary citizens, possessed. It is beyond the scope of this study to provide a complete account of the social context of Athenian legal practice. Instead, the focus will be upon those values and beliefs of particular relevance for a study of the legal regulation of conflict. Accordingly, this chapter will begin by examining Aristotle's presentation of what the successful orator needs to know about rivalry, enmity, honor, envy, and revenge. Building upon this examination, it will then consider a number of orations where such topics play a central role in the litigants' presentation of the case.
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- Law, Violence, and Community in Classical Athens , pp. 61 - 86Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995
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