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Chapter
Chapter
Law-making at Athens in the fourth century bc
DOI link for Law-making at Athens in the fourth century bc
Law-making at Athens in the fourth century bc book
Law-making at Athens in the fourth century bc
DOI link for Law-making at Athens in the fourth century bc
Law-making at Athens in the fourth century bc book
ABSTRACT
The fourth-century inscriptions mentioning nomothetai and their proceedings are of two kinds only. This chapter suggest thats the Old Legislation Law and the Review Law are contemporary and complementary. After the review and inscription of laws ordered by the decree of Teisamenos in 403/2, the Athenians set up a regular procedure for scrutinising proposals for new laws and for scrutinising the existing laws to see if they required amendments. Some, particularly those about the functioning of the nomothetai, were probably stated fully in the Old Legislation Law and so could be taken for granted without repetition in the Review Law. At some date before 370, to make the introduction of new laws easier, the Old Legislation Law was repealed and replaced by the New Legislation Law; but the Review Law remained, probably not for any reason of deliberate policy but merely because no one took the trouble to propose any amendment or replacement.
