Aidesis
Aidesis ( Greek αἴδεσις ; German for example: atonement , wergeld , reconciliation) was a legal institute of ancient Greek, especially Attic law. It refers to a legal act by which the relatives of a person killed exempted the perpetrator from prosecution after paying a fine.
According to Athenian law, the prosecution of homicides was the responsibility of the relatives of the victim. His father, brother, son or alternatively the phratry made a private charge pending.
However, under certain circumstances, the relatives of the deceased were allowed to act as prosecutors or were even expected to provide aidesis to the murderer . Once that was done, the killer was immune to further prosecution.
The new regulation of the aidesis by Drakon is one of his most important reforms of Attic criminal law. Then a distinction was made between intentional (ἐκ προνοίας) and unintentional ( negligent , ἀεκούσιος) killing - a distinction that was alien to Attic law until then. While aidesis was not possible in the case of willful killing, the person killing unintentionally could benefit from aidesis . If the relatives were not willing to do this, the perpetrator could leave the polis for a few years and thereby evade blood revenge. The intentional murder, however, was punished with death, lifelong banishment and confiscation of property.
In the development of criminal law, the regulation of aidesis represents a step from blood revenge and retribution as a private punishment to the state's monopoly of punishment .
Individual evidence
literature
- Ernst Heitsch : Aidesis in Attic criminal law . Steiner, Wiesbaden 1984, ISBN 3-515-04189-3 . Also in this: Collected writings . Volume 3, Saur, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-598-77703-5 , pp. 285-304 ( limited preview in Google book search).
- Richard Maschke: The will doctrine in Greek law . Stilke, Berlin 1926, p. 51 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
- Eberhard Ruschenbusch : Φόνος. On the right of Dracon and its importance for the development of the Athenian state . In: Historia . Volume 9, 1960, pp. 129-154. Also in this. Small writings on Greek legal history . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-447-05220-1 , p. 39 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
- Theodor Thalheim : Αἴδεσις . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, Col. 941 f.