000 02070 a2200337 4500
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008 250312042016GB eng
020 _a9781317168430
037 _bTaylor & Francis
_cGBP 42.99
_fBB
040 _a01
041 _aeng
072 7 _aNHC
_2thema
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072 7 _aHBLA1
_2bic
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072 7 _aHIS002000
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072 7 _a347.385066
_2bisac
100 1 _aVasileios Adamidis
245 1 0 _aCharacter Evidence in the Courts of Classical Athens
_bRhetoric, Relevance and the Rule of Law
250 _a1
260 _aOxford
_bRoutledge
_c20161125
300 _a244 p
520 _bThere has been much debate in scholarship over the factors determining the outcome of legal hearings in classical Athens. Specifically, there is divergence regarding the extent to which judicial panels were influenced by non-legal considerations in addition to, or even instead of, questions of law. Ancient rhetorical theory and practice devoted much attention to character and it is this aspect of Athenian law which forms the focus of this book. Close analysis of the dispute-resolution passages in ancient Greek literature reveals striking similarities with the rhetoric of litigants in the Athenian courts and thus helps to shed light on the function of the courts and the fundamental nature of Athenian law. The widespread use of character evidence in every aspect of argumentation can be traced to the Greek ideas of ‘character’ and ‘personality’, the inductive method of reasoning, and the social, political and institutional structures of the ancient Greek polis. According to the author’s proposed method of interpretation, character evidence was not a means of diverting the jury’s attention away from the legal issues; instead, it was a constructive and relevant way of developing a legal argument.
999 _c3950
_d3950