«Nullum crimen et nulla poena sine lege». Some Remarks on Fourth-Century Athens

the essay focuses on the Athenian antecedents of the Enlightenment principle nullum crimen et nulla poena sine lege. Among many historians, it is commonly held that, in the fourth century B. C. the Athenian legal system still embodied an «agonistic society» where nomoi represented either forms of evidence or mere pretexts for starting legal actions, and public trials were «arenas» directed to determine societal hierarchies. The essay challenges this view: it investigates the role of written and unwritten nomoi, as well as of the discretionary powers of the courts in the area of public actions, and strengthens the idea that Classical Athens implemented the rule of law.