The jury court (dikasteria) was an important judicial institution of Athens city-state in the classical period. In the heyday of democratic politics, the jury court has great power, and it has become the most important authority in Athenian democracy together with the citizens' assembly, and has even been praised by Athenian orators as the defender of city-state law and the guarantee of democratic politics. Although Aristotle once mentioned that Solon's reform-undoubtedly, this is the origin of all studies on Athenian democracy-created the jury court, foreign scholars almost agreed that he made an anachronism in the use of the word "jury court" and pointed out that Solon established the appeal court (heliaia). The court of appeal in Solon's era is in the same strain as the jury court in Aristotle's era, and the latter is developed from the former, which is generally recognized by scholars who advocate the chronological error of Aristotle's works. Although the Court of Appeal and the Court of Jury have an inheritance relationship, they are different in authority, function and procedure, and cannot be confused. Since the jury court can not replace the court of appeal, and the translation of "jury court" can not summarize all the connotations of the two courts that have appeared successively under the democratic system; Then, with the help of people's courts in English works, it will help us to better understand the court system of democratic government, and more clearly sort out the relationship between appeal courts and jury courts and democratic politics: civil courts are the collective name for judicial institutions by the democratic government of Athens in classical times, and they are state institutions juxtaposed with citizens' congresses and councils. Both the Court of Appeal and the Court of Jury can be called civil courts, but they refer to the specific forms of the two development stages of civil courts respectively.
During the "golden age" of Athens' democratic development, Perikles, the jury court was the highest judicial and supervisory organ of the country, and had the final power to examine and approve the resolutions of the citizens' assembly. Athens jury court is not only engaged in general trial work, but also plays a certain role in legislative activities. It includes 6000 jury judges, who are selected by lot. These judges are divided into 65,438+00 high courts, with an average of 500 people in each court (each high court has 65,438+000 alternate jury judges). Due to the large number of jurors, the danger of judges accepting bribes is prevented ... jurors listen to the confessions of plaintiffs, defendants and witnesses in court. When they found the case, they voted for the verdict without consulting each other in advance. Athens has no full-time state prosecutor; Any citizen can file a lawsuit or help others file a lawsuit ... there is no defender in the court; Every defendant must defend himself. ..... If you need the testimony of slaves in the trial, you must torture them, because people think you can't trust the confession made by slaves voluntarily.