Special Topics in Legal Theory: Ancient Athenian Law

Seminar — 2 units. The history of Athenian democracy is entwined with our own – often as the negative example that our founders wished to avoid in designing our political institutions.  This critical view of Athenian democracy, and particularly its lawlessness, largely derived from the critical views of contemporary elite authors, such as Plato.  More recent analysis of Athenian democracy has demonstrated that in fact the democracy was a success across many dimensions and that it was particularly lawful rather than lawless.  This observation raises a number of important questions that we will address in this class.   The Athenian legal system was very different from our own and in particular was far less formal.  How did it work and why did it work?  More profoundly, why have political and legal theorists misunderstood Athens for so long and what can we learn from that failure? 

Final Assessment: Exam
Grading Mode:  Letter Grading