The court fees normally assessed of a plaintiff at this point, to be reimbursed by the defendant if found guilty, were waived in Meletus’ suit because impiety prosecutions were ‘‘in the public interest.’’ Yet his action would not have been without risk: to discourage frivolous suits, Athenian law imposed a heavy fine on plaintiffs who failed to obtain at least one-fifth of the jury’s votes, as Socrates points out (Ap. 36a7-b2). Unlike closely timed jury trials, pretrial examinations were occasions for questions to and by the litigants, including questions of one another, to make more precise the legal issues of a case so a verdict of guilt or acquittal would be more straightforward. It was no time for speeches. This procedure had become essential because of the susceptibility of juries to bribery and misrepresentation by speakers who deliberately and often skillfully interpreted laws to their own advantage. Originally intended to be a microcosm of the citizen body as a whole, juries were now manned by volunteers - the old, disabled, and poor - who needed the meager pay of three obols, half the drachma that an able-bodied man could earn for a day’s work (cf. Aristophanes, Wasps 291-311). In 399, Athenian men age 30 or over were eligible to volunteer for jury service at the beginning of the archon year, in midsummer. Six thousand were impaneled, probably by lotteries for 600 from each tribe, to be deployed repeatedly in different configurations to the various civil and criminal courts throughout the year. When Socrates’ trial took place at the approach of midsummer, the jurors were experienced if not jaded.
Also, unlike trials, the pretrial examinations could be adjourned and reconvened repeatedly - when, for example, one of the principal parties needed to collect information. If a litigant wished to delay proceedings for weeks or months, this was a rich opportunity. Magistrates could also use the pretrial examination to compel a litigant to reveal information. We do not know what went on at Socrates’ pretrial examination, though his complaints at Theaetetus 172e acknowledge some constraints.
World History
