Ancient Greece

By Delilah van Tol

The western world has always shown interest in ancient greek history. It is a well-known phenomenon when it comes to movies, books, holidays, or history lessons. Moreover, as many have been taught, the Greeks established the concept of democracy, which till this day has been used by 57% of the countries all over the world.[1] It is fair to say that the ancient Greeks' legacy has shown to be of significant importance to the International community. One might wonder what the ancient Greeks would think of alternative dispute resolution or if they used ADR or a similar process to resolve a dispute?

Ancient Greek law existed of certain general principles of law that were implied while resolving disputes, and this was done by resorting to external arbitration. Research has been done about ancient Greek law and discovered is that Greek law was influenced by Egyptian law, and it might be recognized that Greek law is inconsistent with Roman law.[2]

The first arbitral award was found in 363BC on two steles. An Arbitral award or arbitration award refers to a decision made by an arbitration tribunal in arbitration proceedings, which in this case was the reference to the eponymous Athenian archon.[3] Furthermore, the dispute was between two parts of the Salaminioi clan. This clan shared land and other privileges and, for that reason, needed to settle their dispute.[4]

A part of the arbitration process went as follows: The arbitrators (called "diaitetai") mediated a settlement between the Salaminioi of Heptaphylai and the Salaminioi of Sounion. In ancient Greece, it was already of importance that both parties agreed on the arbitrators. The Salaminioi of Heptaphylai and the Salaminioi of Sounion agreed on the arbitrators but did create specific terms. For example, terms regarding the death of a priest, the sacrifices to be made to the gods, and the heroes.[5]

There was a lack of information on the stele regarding how the exact process went regarding the first recorded arbitration process. It is presumed that during the process, each of the topics is covered one by one. All parties were most likely to swear an oath before proceedings, including the arbitrators. Another aspect of the arbitral award that is not clear is whether the award was binding upon the parties or a mere recommendation. The reason for the lack of knowledge is the difficulty with the translation of the language. Words have multiple meanings and interpretations, making translations a challenging job.[6]

This arbitration process ended with an acceptance of the award of all the parties. The stele did not describe the parties' issues and did not describe the reasoning of the arbitrators. [7]

The enforcement of the arbitral award was the next step; this included the earlier established sacrifices to the gods and heroes.[8] Not all is clear regarding the first arbitration proceeding recorded, but the one clear thing is that the ancient Greeks used ADR in similar ways as we do nowadays.  

[1] Drew DeSilver “Despite global concerns about democracy, more than half of countries are democratic” (May 14, 2009, Pew Research Center) https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/05/14/more-than-half-of-countries-are-democratic/ > Accessed 12-05-2021

[2]  Sandys, John Edwin (1911). "Greek Law". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 501–507

[3] USLegal “Arbitral award law and legal definition” (2021) https://definitions.uslegal.com/a/arbitral-award/ > Accessed 12-04-2021

[4] Two ancient Greek Arbitration Awards found in Athens with an introduction by Derek Roebuck ('Ancient Greek Arbitration', 2001, p. 287 et seq.)

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.