The Origin of Written Laws in Ancient Greece Cover Image

Възникването на писаните закони в Древна Гърция
The Origin of Written Laws in Ancient Greece

Author(s): Deyana Marcheva
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Education, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, History of Law, Civil Law, International Law, Higher Education
Published by: Нов български университет
Keywords: Written Laws; Ancient Greece; Thesmos; Nomos; Publishing; Guarantees Against Arbitrary Power

Summary/Abstract: The article addresses the question how and why do written laws come into being in Ancient Greece in the archaic period from the mid seventh century BC. The research delves into different types of historical sources including stone inscriptions and literary works so that to illuminate fragments and details of how the people refl ect on the necessity and signifi cance of written laws. The assumption is that there is no one general explanation why people started to write down the laws. In Ancient Greece the general lasting rules that we call today laws were fi rst denoted with the term “thesmos”, and later with the term “nomos”. In any case, the fi rst written laws were publicly acknowledged and announced as a guarantee against the arbitrary power.

  • Issue Year: 8/2019
  • Issue No: 9
  • Page Range: 276-289
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Bulgarian