Download Draconian Constitution

Draconian Constitution
(Greece)
The laws he laid down were the first written
constitution of Athens. So that no one would be
unaware of them, they were posted on wooden
tablets), where they were preserved for almost
two centuries, on steles of the shape of threesided pyramids. The tablets were called axones,
perhaps because they could be pivoted along
the pyramid's axis, to read any side.
The constitution featured several major
innovations:

Instead of oral laws known to a special
class, arbitrarily applied and interpreted, all
laws were written, thus made known to all
literate citizens (who could make appeal to
the Areopagus for injustices): "... the
constitution formed under Draco, when the

first code of laws was drawn up." (Aristotle:
Athenian Constitution, Part 5, Section 41)
The laws distinguish between murder and
involuntary homicide.
The laws, however, were particularly harsh. For
example, any debtor whose status was lower
than that of his creditor was forced into slavery.
The punishment was more lenient for those
owing debt to a member of a lower class. The
death penalty was the punishment for even
minor offences. Concerning the liberal use of
the death penalty in the Draconic code, Plutarch
states: "It is said that Drakon himself, when
asked why he had fixed the punishment of
death for most offences, answered that he
considered these lesser crimes to deserve it, and
he had no greater punishment for more
important ones."[4] All his laws were repealed
by Solon in the early 6th century BC, with
the exception of the homicide law.
Draco's Law of Homicide
After much debate from the Athenians, it was
decided to revise the laws, including the
homicide law, in 409. The homicide law is a
highly fragmented inscription, but it does state
that it is up to the victim’s relatives to prosecute
a killer. According to the preserved part of the
inscription, unintentional homicides receive a
sentence of exile, while intentional murders are
punishable by death. Apart from the
inscriptions very little is known about Draco’s
background or the nature of most of his laws.
However, the significance of his work was
prevalent when most of his laws were
successfully abolished by Solon.
Council of Four Hundred
Draco introduced the lot-chosen Council of
Four Hundred (in reality, 401)—distinct from
the Areopagus—which evolved in later
constitutions to play a large role in Athenian
democracy. Aristotle notes that Draco, while
having the laws written, merely legislated for
an existing unwritten Athenian constitution,
such as setting exact qualifications for
eligibility for office.
Draco extended the franchise to all free men
who could furnish themselves with a set of
military equipment. They elected the Council of
Four Hundred from among their number; nine
Archons and the Treasurers were drawn from
persons possessing an unencumbered property
of not less than ten minas, the generals
(strategoi) and commanders of cavalry
(hipparchoi) from those who could show an
unencumbered property of not less than a
hundred minas, and had children born in lawful
wedlock over ten years of age. Thus, in the
event of their death, their estate could pass to a
competent heir. These officers were required to
hold to account the prytanes (councillors),
strategoi (generals) and hipparchoi (cavalry
officers) of the preceding year until their
accounts had been audited. "The Council of
Areopagus was guardian of the laws, and kept
watch over the magistrates to see that they
executed their offices in accordance with the
laws. Any person who felt himself wronged
might lay an information before the Council of
Areopagus, on declaring what law was broken
by the wrong done to him. But, as has been said
before, loans were secured upon the persons of
the debtors, and the land was in the hands of a
few."
Draco's Law
Around 600 B.C., a Greek citizen named Draco
developed a written code of law for the Athens
population. This code of law, by today's
standards, is so severe and infamous that
another eponym was formed into our language.
We now use the term Draconian to describe an
unusually harsh law. Draco's laws eliminated
private modes of justice and placed all legal
authority in the government's hands. While
some misdemeanors were punishable by death,
some severe crimes were punishable by exile.
Although this code is archaic and harsh by
today's standards, it did create a uniform
approach to the affairs of Greece and Draco was
widely admired.
A surviving remnant of Draco's Law
from Athens approximately Draco or
Dracon [dra'kon], fl. 621 BC, Athenian
politician and law codifier. Of his codification
of Athenian customary law, only the section
dealing with involuntary homicide is
preserved. From this and from later
accounts in the writings of Aristotle and
Plutarch, it appears that in Athens the
penalty of death was prescribed for the
most trivial offenses. The code adopted the
principle that murder must be punished by
the state and not by vendetta. Though the
code was considerably ameliorated by
Solon, its name became a synonym for
harsh legislation.
Here is an example: "Even if a man
unintentionally kills another, he is exiled.
The kings are to adjudge responsibility for
the homicide either the killer or the planner;
and the ephetai are to judge the case. If
there is a father or brother or sons, pardon
is to be agreed to by all, or the one who
opposes is to prevail. But if none of these
survives, by those up to the degree of first
cousin once removed and first cousin, if all
are willing to agree to a pardon; but the one
who opposes is to
But if not one of these survives, and if he
killed unintentionally and the fifty-phratry
members admit him to the country and let
the fifty-one choose these by rank. And let
also those who killed previoiusly be bound
by this law.
A proclamation is to be made against the
killer in the market place by the victim's
relatives as far as the degree of cousin's son
and cousin. The prosecution is be shared by
the cousins and cousins's sons and by sons-
in-law, fathers-in-law, and phratry
members...
If anyone kills the killer or is responsible for
his death, as long as he stays away from
the frontier markets, games, and
Amphictyonic sacrifices, he shall be liable to
the same treatment as the one who kills an
Athenian; and the ephetai are to judge the
case. It is allowed to kill or arrest killers, if
they are caught in the territory...If a man
defending himself straightway kills someone
forcibly and unjustly plundering or seizing
him, the killer shall pay no penalty