Philosophical Foundations of Justice of the Ancient Greek Achaean Period

Abstract

The article under discussion, on the basis of ontological-axiological analysis, makes an attempt to review the processes and basic fundamentals that have formed the system of the Ancient Greek Justice during the Achaean Period. Having investigated the historical and legal artifacts of the above mentioned period, the author of the article assumes and explains certain things concerning the identifying features of the Ancient Greek Justice, that have not lost their importance and topicality by now. It has been pointed out in the article that at the early stage of state formation in the Ancient Greek society, certain factors of justice’s apparition and evolution have been quite obvious. Besides, the latter phenomenon contained some basic fundamental ontological principles that not only turned later into the correspondent axiological institutions in the system of justice, as well as determined the essential directions of the court system development, but also preserved their importance and topicality nowadays. It has been emphasized in the article under discussion that the process of justice formation on the territory of Europe began during the Achaean period of the Ancient Greek history. The process of justice introduction assumed at that time certain objective features. Furthermore, it was based on the principles of democracy, such as: 1) The openness of the trial; 2) The application of witnesses’ testimonies as the proof of different views, expressed by the parties in court. 3) The case consideration by a few judges. 4) The formation of control bodies that would observe the trial. 5) The compatibility of the trial. 6) The introduction of jury. Among other features of the Ancient Greek democratic system of justice during the Achaean period is the introduction of the system of punishment for the committed crimes. The punishment consisted, mostly, in fines that concerned the «criminals» property.