Draco (legislator)

Draconian constitution

The laws (θεσμοί – thesmoi) that he laid were the first written constitution of Athens. So that no one would be unaware of them, they were posted on wooden tablets (ἄξονες – axones), where they were preserved for almost two centuries on steles of the shape of four-sided pyramids (κύρβεις – kyrbeis). The tablets were called axones, perhaps because they could be pivoted along the pyramid's axis to read any side.

The constitution featured several major innovations:

• Instead of oral laws known to a special class, arbitrarily applied and interpreted, all laws were written, thus being made known to all literate citizens (who could appeal to the Areopagus for injustices): "the constitution formed under Draco, when the first code of laws was drawn up". (Aristotle: Athenian Constitution, Part 5, Section 41)
• The laws distinguish between murder and involuntary homicide, a novel concept at that time.

The laws were particularly harsh. For example, any debtor whose status was lower than that of his creditor was forced into slavery. The punishment was more lenient for those owing a debt to a member of a lower class. The death penalty was the punishment for even minor offences, such as stealing a cabbage. Concerning the liberal use of the death penalty in the Draconic code, Plutarch states:

It is said that Drakon himself, when asked why he had fixed the punishment of death for most offences, answered that he considered these lesser crimes to deserve it, and he had no greater punishment for more important ones.

All Draco's laws were repealed by Solon in the early 6th century BC, with the exception of the homicide law.

Homicide law

After much debate, the Athenians decided to revise the laws, including the homicide law, in 409 BC. The text of the homicide law is partially preserved in a fragmentary inscription. It states that it is up to the victim's relatives to prosecute a killer.

According to the preserved part of the inscription, unintentional homicides received a sentence of exile. It is not clear whether Draco's law specified the punishment for intentional homicide. In 409 BC, intentional homicide was punished by death, but Draco's law begins: "καὶ ἐὰμ μὲ 'κ [π]ρονοί[α]ς [κ]τ[ένει τίς τινα, φεύγ]ε[ν]." Although ambiguous and difficult to translate, one suggested translation is: "Even if a man not intentionally kills another, he is exiled."

Council of Four Hundred

Draco introduced the lot-chosen Council of Four Hundred, distinct from the Areopagus, which evolved in later constitutions to play a large role in Athenian democracy. Aristotle notes that Draco, while having the laws written, merely legislated for an existing unwritten Athenian constitution such as setting exact qualifications for eligibility for office.

According to Aristotle, Draco extended the franchise to all free men who could furnish themselves with a set of military equipment. However, this claim is not based on the authentic tradition, thus untrue as claimed by Welwei in 1998. They elected the Council of Four Hundred from among their number; nine archons and the treasurers were drawn from persons possessing an unencumbered property of not less than ten minas, the generals (strategoi) and commanders of cavalry (hipparchoi) from those who could show an unencumbered property of not less than a hundred minas and had children born in lawful wedlock over ten years of age. Thus, in the event of their death, their estate could pass to a competent heir. These officers were required to hold to account the prytanes (councillors), strategoi (generals) and hipparchoi (cavalry officers) of the preceding year until their accounts had been audited. "The Council of Areopagus was guardian of the laws, and kept watch over the magistrates to see that they executed their offices in accordance with the laws. Any person who felt himself wronged might lay an information before the Council of Areopagus, on declaring what law was broken by the wrong done to him. But, as has been said before, loans were secured upon the persons of the debtors, and the land was in the hands of a few."

Legacy

Because of his infamous legal code, Draco is the eponym of the adjective draconian (often capitalized), which describes not only excessively severe or cruel legislation, but also any such punishment or rule. With reference to legislation, the word has been used in this sense in English since 1777.

On the south frieze of the courtroom of the United States Supreme Court Building, designed by Adolph Alexander Weinman, Draco is depicted as one in a procession of the "great lawgivers of history". Owing to his controversial legacy, the inclusion of Draco in the frieze was questioned by The Atlantic.