A Glossary of Athenian Legal Terms

diamarturia · A formal presentation of a witness (martus) whose evidence serves to compel the public official before whom it is presented either to act in a certain way, or (more commonly) to desist from so acting. As a result of the introduction of paragraphe around 400 BCE, the scope of diamarturia was soon rapidly restricted: after 380 BCE, its only attested use is in inheritance cases, where a legitimate son could have a claim by a more remote relative quashed on the grounds that the case was not actionable; to re-open the case, the rival claimant would have successfully to prosecute the witness by dike pseudomarturion.

Greek: διαμαρτυρία.

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When using this article as a resource, cite it thus:

S.C. Todd, selections by Michael de Brauw, “A Glossary of Athenian Legal Terms,” in Adriaan Lanni, ed., “Athenian Law in its Democratic Context” (Center for Hellenic Studies On-line Discussion Series). Republished in C.W. Blackwell, ed., Dēmos: Classical Athenian Democracy (A. Mahoney and R. Scaife, edd., The Stoa: a consortium for electronic publication in the humanities [www.stoa.org]) edition of March 16, 2003. Contact: cwb@stoa.org.

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