Greek law in its political setting : justifications not justice / edited by L. Foxhall and A.D.E. Lewis.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Foxhall, Lin.

Lewis, A. D. E.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Law, Greek.

Physical Description:

172 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1996.

Summary:

This volume explores the ways in which law integrated with other aspects of life in ancient Greece. The papers collected here reveal a number of different pathways between law and political, social, and economic life in Greek societies. Emanating from several scholarly traditions, they offer a range of contrasting but complementary insights rarely collected together. What emerges clearly is that law in Greece only takes on its full meaning in a broadly political context. Dynamic tensions govern the relationships between this semi-autonomous legal arena and other spheres of life. An ideology of equality before the law was juxtaposed with a practical reality of individuals' unequal abilities to cope with it. It is hard to draw firm lines between the settlement of cases in court and the spill-over of legal actions into the agora, the streets, the fields, and the houses. Hence it is hardly surprising if justice can all too easily give way to justification.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [155]-165) and index.

ISBN:

0198140851

OCLC:

33102454