Ancient and Modern Conceptions of the Rule of Law

Abstract

This chapter provides a definition of the contested concept of the rule of law and suggests that it consists of three components: legal supremacy, legal equality and legal certainty. The chapter further argues that the classical Athenian legal system valued all three components of this definition of the rule of law, but also sought to balance the good of legal certainty against a more context specific assessment of equity in particular cases. In making this compromise, the chapter suggests, the Athenians anticipated a tension that continues to exist even in modern legal systems.

Arnaldo Biscardi e il diritto greco. Osservazioni in margine alla funzione giurisdizionale dei tribunali ateniesi, tra gnome dikaiotate ed epieikeia

“…13, alle posizioni di Biscardi); Sickinger, 2008;Wallace, 2018. Per la seconda vd. invece Osborne, 1985;Ober, 1989;Todd, 1993;Cohen, 1995aCohen, , 1995bChrist, 1998;Allen, 2000;Sundahl, 2003;Lanni, 2006Lanni, , 2016Lanni, , 2018Wohl, 2010. Nel dibattito, qualche anno fa, è intervenuta anche Forsdyke, 2018, passim e part. pp.…”

Eclipse and plague: Themistocles, Pericles, Anaxagoras and the Athenians’ war on science

“…For they change the letters in the names of the gods.' 256 248 For consideration of what the rule of law meant in Classical Athens, see Forsdyke (2018); for a different view, see Whitmarsh (2015) 119-20.…”