Ephesis eis to dikasterion: Remarks and Speculations on the Legal Nature of the Solonian Reform

What is the original legal nature of the Solonian procedural remedy called ἔφεσις εἰς τὸ δικαστήριον? Both historians of political institutions and legal historians have proposed many different interpretations. The communis opinio at the moment interprets the ἔφεσις εἰς τὸ δικαστήριον in terms of a ‘right of appeal’. In recent years, a few scholars have maintained – albeit with some doubts – that from its introduction at the end of the sixth century, ἔφεσις was the ‘transfer’ of a case from the authority of a magistrate to the popular court rather than an ‘appeal‘ to a court, which was instructed to retry a case already decided by the magistrate. The contribution tries to give some support to the neglected view conceiving of the Solnian-ἔφεσις as a kind of ''veto''.