Divided Power and Judicial Review

Abstract

Abstract This chapter focuses on procedures of judicial review in the Greek world. It first contextualizes the analysis within the context of the existing scholarship about the role of the Athenian graphē paranomōn and its relation with the nature of the fourth-century Athenian democracy. The examination of the procedural design of graphē paranomōn demonstrates that the Athenian graphē paranomōn was understood and conceived to be a democratic form of judicial review which constituted one of the most prominent features of Athenian divided power and added an extra layer of institutional complexity to Athenian decree-making. The chapter argues that the graphē paranomōn was a counter-deliberative procedure in the Athenian deliberative system, which enforced the rule of law in decree-making through a strictly majoritarian and adversarial mechanism in opposition to the consensual decision-making of the council and the assembly. It follows an examination of the epigraphical evidence for judicial review procedure beyond Athens in the Hellenistic period which explores the implications of delegating such a task to courts of foreign judges.