Description
Book SynopsisThe definitive book on judicial review in Athens from the 5th through the 4th centuries BCE. The power of the court to overturn a law or decreecalled judicial reviewis a critical feature of modern democracies. Contemporary American judges, for example, determine what is consistent with the Constitution, though this practice is often criticized for giving unelected officials the power to strike down laws enacted by the people's representatives. This principle was actually developed more than two thousand years ago in the ancient democracy at Athens. In Control of the Laws in the Ancient Democracy at Athens, Edwin Carawan reassesses the accumulated evidence to construct a new model of how Athenians made law in the time of Plato and Aristotle, while examining how the courts controlled that process. Athenian juries, Carawan explains, were manned by many hundreds of ordinary citizens rather than a judicial elite. Nonetheless, in the 1890s, American apologists found vindication for judicia
Trade ReviewThe book has been nicely produced by JHU Press, and, at its best, has the merit of drawing our attention to major issues of constitutional law and the history of institutions as the basic contexts to understanding the political culture of Athenian democracy.
—Alberto Esu, University of Mannheim,
Bryn Mawr Classical ReviewTable of ContentsAbbreviations and Conventions
Introduction: The People and the Law—Demos and Nomos
Part I. Legislative Procedure and Court Control
Chapter 1. Making Law and Mending the Constitution
Chapter 2. Judges and Lawmakers
Chapter 3. "Unlawful Acts" (Paranoma) and the Case of the Arginousai Generals
Part II. The Constitutional Window
Chapter 4. Privileged Characters: Aristokrates' Shield for Charidemos
Chapter 5. Outrage: The Case against Androtion
Chapter 6. Overthrowing the Court: The Case against Timokrates' Surety Law
Chapter 7. Breaking the Bargain: The Case against Leptines' Law
Part III. The Crown Case and Its Antecedents
Chapter 8. The Aftermath of Chaironeia
Chapter 9. The Crown Case Comes to Trial
Conclusion: Law's Measure
Notes
Bibliography
Index
