The Homicide Courts and the <i>Dikasteria</i>: A Paradigm not Followed

Abstract

The Athenians praised the Areopagus and the other homicide courts as the city's finest tribunals, seeing in their unusual procedures, particularly the relevancy rule, a greater emphasis on legal argument and less vulnerability to influence by the emotional appeals or social standing of litigants. A distinctive conception of justice, and not only elite competition or social drama, was thus a part of Athenian judicial practice.