History of Trial Advocacy

HISTORY OF TRIAL ADVOCACY IN GREECE
Trial advocacy is the branch of knowledge concerned with

making advocates more effective in trial proceedings.
Trial- a formal hearing for examination of evidence before a
judge or jury in order to decide guilt in a case of criminal or
civil proceedings.
 The ancient Greek society had no official court system;
consequently, there were neither laws nor punishments as such.
 During the Archaic period in Athens, which was the capital and
largest city in Greece, when one thought someone had hurt him
or stolen something from him, you could drag him or her in front
of a rich man (if you were strong enough) and then you could try
to convince the rich man to order the person to be beaten or
killed.
 During the Mid-seventh century the Greeks began establishing the
first official laws. These included the tort laws, family laws, public
laws and procedural laws. A certain class of individuals, known as the
law givers, was appointed to specifically write the laws. They were
middle class members of the aristocracy and were not allowed to take
part in the daily politics of the society, for fear that they would
otherwise write unfair laws. The most famous law givers were Draco
and Solon. Draco wrote down the first written law of Greece, the
homicide law, which earned him the reputation of being extremely
severe with his punishments, hence the term draconian rules.
He was later on succeeded by Solon, at around 594 BC. Solon
was known to be fair, and as a result he enjoyed full support from
the people. He threw out all the old laws, save for the homicide
law, and created new laws in family and tort categories.
 The establishments of laws created the need for a just penal
system. In order for the Ancient Greeks to have punishments
carried out, they needed a system to try, convict and sentence
the guilty persons. This gave rise to the ancient Greek court
system.
THE ANCIENT GREEK COURT SYSTEM
 These courts were run by amateurs, hence
most trials were completed within a day.
 There were no professional court officials, no
lawyers, no professional judges, and many a
times a normal case would consist of two
litigants, the victim and the accused.
 Both parties would narrate their stories before
an audience, who were the jurors. The jurors
would vote for either parties, upon completion
of the narrations, to show if one was either
guilty or not, and a subsequent vote to decide
the punishment.
 One could get someone to help them write a
speech but he had to present it himself.
 When the speeches were over, and witnesses
had been called, all the people of the jury voted
on whether the accused person was innocent or
guilty. Whoever got more votes won the case.
 Then the accused person and the accuser would
make a speech saying what they thought the
punishment should be, and the jury would vote
again. The punishment that got more votes
would be the one that would be carried out.
 An example of such proceedings is the case
of Socrates who was a classical Greek
Philosopher.
The trial and execution of Socrates took place in
399 BCE. Socrates was tried on two charges:
corrupting the youth and impiety (a perceived
lack of proper respect for something considered
sacred). More specifically, Socrates' accusers
cited two impious acts: "failing to acknowledge
the gods that the city acknowledges" and
introducing new deities (a god or goddess).
Socrates' death was the result of him asking
philosophical questions.
A majority of the dikasts (Athenian citizens
chosen by lot to serve as jurors) voted to convict
him. Consistent with common practice, the
dikasts determined Socrates’ punishment with
another vote. Socrates was ultimately sentenced
to death by drinking a hemlock-based liquid.
Before that, the judge asked him what was an
appropriate punishment, he responded free
breakfast and wine for the next few years.
 There were occasions when one would request
an orator to speak in addition to or on his
behalf if he felt the orator was better at
speaking.
 In such a situation the orator, who was usually
a friend, would be seen as having played the
role of an advocate. The orators who played
the role of an advocate were trained in rhetoric
and not law. Rhetoric is defined as the art of
effective or persuasive speaking or writing.
Many great orators of Greece performed the
function of advocates as many of their most famous
orations were composed for that purpose. The
influence of the advocate in the administration of
justice was scarcely potent in ancient times than it
is at present.
General Rule:
No one could take a fee to plead the case of
another.
 Thus, any representation was to be done for
free. This law was however disregarded in
practice. Though the law was disregarded in
practice it was not abolished and this meant
that orators could not present themselves as
legal professionals or experts. They could not
as well organize themselves into a real
profession with professional associations and
titles like modern day lawyers.
 Trial advocacy in Greece therefore included:
1. Persuasive speech
2. Pleading practice
3. Oral argument
THE CURRENT LEGAL SYSTEM IN
GREECE
Sometime during between the 5th and 6th
century, the Romans conquered the Greek, as a
result, influenced the Greek in many aspects.
They disciplined legal thought and were clearly
oriented towards legal norms. They created the
legal science and were therefore considered to
be the greatest lawyers in the history of
humanity. The Greek were exposed to the
Roman legal system and upon reclaiming their
independence, they still did business the Roman
way.
The Greek legal system has been changing over
the years, and so has the development of the
legal profession within the modern Greek
society. The significance of lawyers has been felt
in the day to day administration of justice. The
need for laws to be interpreted has seen the
number of legal professionals increase
immensely over time. As a way of improving
advocacy skills among the lawyers, Greece is
among the European nations that embraced the
idea of Trial Advocacy within its legal system.

History of Trial Advocacy

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

History of Trial Advocacy

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

HISTORY OF TRIAL ADVOCACY IN GREECE

Trial advocacy is the branch of knowledge concerned with

You might also like