The need for written laws began with the unequal access to legal knowledge by the aristocracy and the people the established laws of Athens were inefficiently formulated in the spoken language and often modified and re-evaluated. This enactment of a rule of law was an early manifestation of Athenian democracy. The literate could read the code at a central location accessible to anyone. With most societies in Greece codifying basic law during the mid-seventh century BC, Athenian oral law was manipulated by the aristocracy until the emergence of Draco’s code.Īround 621 BC the people of Athens commissioned Draco to devise a written law code and constitution, giving him the title of the first legislator of Athens. The Draconian constitution, or Draco’s code, was a written law code created by Draco near the end of the 7th century BC in response to the unjust interpretation and modification of oral law by Athenian aristocrats. The people of Athens commissioned Draco to devise a written law code and constitution, giving him the title of the first legislator of Athens. A relief of the Draco Lawgiver carving in the United States Supreme Court library / Wikimedia Commons
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