Hellenistic law was a composite of three separate legal systems—traditional Greek law as discussed above, the traditional legal systems of the lands ruled by Alexander's successors, and royal whim. To study Hellenistic law is to study the various Greek laws and codes discussed here; the laws of such areas as Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Persia; and the political history of the Diadokhoi (Successors). There was definitely a delicate balance between the traditional local codes, wherever they were, and royal whim. Although it is true that Hellenistic monarchs had absolute, even divine, control over their territories, the rhetoric of freedom forced them, for diplomatic reasons, to honor to some extent the traditions and autonomy of the Greek poleis.
One important innovation of the Hellenistic period, falling somewhere between the categories of law and international politics, was the growth of supranational arbitration, whereby conflicts between cities and states were submitted to third-party arbitrators. For example, in a conflict over territory boundaries between Corinth and Epidauros, delegates from Megara were called in to settle the dispute. The resolution was inscribed on stone and set up in the sanctuary of Asclepius in Epidauros, the ancient way of "publishing" a document: "The Megarians decided as follows for the Epidaurians and Corinthians concerning the land which they contested and concerning Sel-lanys and Spiraeus, sending a tribunal of 151 men in accordance with the decree of the Achaeans. When the judges reached the territory in question and adjudged the land to belong to the Epidaurians, the Corinthians challenged the delimitation, whereupon the Megarians again sent from among their judges 31 men to define the boundaries in accordance with the decree of the Achaeans; and these men came to the territory and delimited it thus. . ." (translation by Walbank 1992, 143).
World History
