There has been a long-running debate about the extent to which the ideal of the rule of law determined the decisions of the courts of democratic Athens.
On Monday, April 10, Professor Sara Forsdyke of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, will present "Rule of law vs. equity in the lawcourts of classical Athens." She will听attempt听to resolve the debate by breaking down the concept of the rule of law into its central components听and then demonstrating that the Athenians ascribed to some but not other components of this ideal.
What:听"Rule of law vs. equity in the lawcourts of classical Athens"
When: Monday, April 10, 4:30 p.m.
Where: Eaton听Humanities, room 250
Forsdyke says, most importantly, she will establish that the principle of legal certainty鈥攁 central component of most modern concepts of the rule of law鈥攚as significantly undermined by the value the Athenians placed on considerations of equity.
Forsdyke is the the Classical Studies department chair at University of Michigan, where her areas of research include Greek historiography, Athenian democracy, Greek law, social and cultural history and ancient slavery.听
In her 2012 book Slaves Tell Tales and Other Episodes in the Politics of Popular Culture in Ancient Greece, Forsdyke听argues the听informal social practices such as festival revelry, oral storytelling and popular forms of justice听played a vital role in the regulation of the political order in听ancient Greek city-states.
Forsdyke received her PhD from Princeton University in 1997.
The free, public lecture is sponsored by the Graduate Committee on the Arts and Humanities, Department of Classics,听and the Center for Western Civilization, Thought and Policy.
