Demenrichter

The demen judges (from Demos , municipality, in Attica, subdivision of the 10 phyls , originally 100, later 174 in number) were a judges college in ancient Athens that decided private law suits. This college was introduced by Peisistratos with 30 demon judges ( Greek δικασταί κατὰ δήμους , dikastaí katà démous ), abolished by Kleisthenes , then re-established by Ephialtes and Perikles and increased to 403 BC after the rule of the thirty demon judges (403 BC) , the so-called forty.

The forty were drawn in Athens from the 10 phyls and formed ten courts of justice with 4 judges each from each phyle, who pronounced justice in the phyle of the defendants by moving across the country and sitting in court on the spot to conclude the civil disputes To make judgments. Aristotle emphasizes the practical side of this regulation because the rural population did not have to move into the city to file a lawsuit. At the time of the Peisistratos, in which the judges traveled through the country as single judges, this also involved the replacement of the jurisdiction exercised by local aristocrats and the penetration of rural areas with an organ of central statehood. According to Aristotle, Peisistratos himself is said to have traveled to remote rural areas in this capacity.

The procedural rules stipulated that the activity of demen judges was limited to a value in dispute of 10 drachmas at least from the age of forty, i.e. it concerned minor cases of the common people, more amounts in dispute had to be handed over to the arbitrators ( diaitetaí ). As a further task, they assigned the Diaitetai the cases that they had to take on and close during their term of office by drawing lots.

Sources and literature

Aristotle , The State of Athens 16, 5; 53, 1-5.
Jochen Bleicken : The Athenian Democracy (= UTB 1330). 4th, completely revised and significantly expanded edition. Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 1995, ISBN 3-8252-1330-7 , pp. 137, 287, 531.

Remarks

^ Aristotle, Athenaion politeia 16, 5.
↑ Aristotle Ath. 26, 3: under the archon Lysikrates 453/52 BC Chr.
↑ Aristotle Ath. 53, 1: κληροῦσι δὲ καὶ <τοὺς> τετταράκοντα, τέτταρας ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς ἑκάστης, πλρὸς οὓς τας ἄσνοάς δίινας δννας. οἳ πρότερον μὲν ἦσαν τριάκοντα καὶ κατὰ δήμους περιιόντες ἐδίκαζον , μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐπὶ τῶν τριάκοντα ὀλιγαρχίαν τετταράκοντα γεγόνασιν = They (the members of the council ) loose but also from the forties, four out of every tribe , where they (the citizens) the other complaints (Amount in dispute over 10 drachmas). The (forty) used to be thirty and going around to the churches (demes) they spoke right, but after the oligarchy of thirty they turned forty.
↑ Aristotle 16, 5: ... ὅπως μὴ καταβαίνοντες εἰς τὸ ἄστυ παραμελῶσι τῶν ἔργων. = ... so that they would not neglect their work going up to the city .
↑ Michael Stahl : Society and State among the Greeks. Volume 1: Archaic Time (= UTB 2430). Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2003, ISBN 3-506-99000-4 , pp. 256-257.
↑ Aristotle 16: 5.

[1] Aristotle, Athenaion politeia 16, 5.

[2] Aristotle Ath. 26, 3: under the archon Lysikrates 453/52 BC Chr.

[3] Aristotle Ath. 53, 1: κληροῦσι δὲ καὶ <τοὺς> τετταράκοντα, τέτταρας ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς ἑκάστης, πλρὸς οὓς τας ἄσνοάς δίινας δννας. οἳ πρότερον μὲν ἦσαν τριάκοντα καὶ κατὰ δήμους περιιόντες ἐδίκαζον , μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐπὶ τῶν τριάκοντα ὀλιγαρχίαν τετταράκοντα γεγόνασιν = They (the members of the council ) loose but also from the forties, four out of every tribe , where they (the citizens) the other complaints (Amount in dispute over 10 drachmas). The (forty) used to be thirty and going around to the churches (demes) they spoke right, but after the oligarchy of thirty they turned forty.

[4] Aristotle 16, 5: ... ὅπως μὴ καταβαίνοντες εἰς τὸ ἄστυ παραμελῶσι τῶν ἔργων. = ... so that they would not neglect their work going up to the city .

[5] Michael Stahl : Society and State among the Greeks. Volume 1: Archaic Time (= UTB 2430). Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2003, ISBN 3-506-99000-4 , pp. 256-257.

[6] Aristotle 16: 5.