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A city which has no regular courts of law ceases to be a city; and again, if a
judge is silent and says no more in preliminary proceedings than the litigants,
as is the case in arbitrations, he will never be able to decide justly; wherefore
a multitude of judges will not easily judge well, nor a few if they are bad. The
point in dispute between the parties should be made clear; and time, and
deliberation, and repeated examination, greatly tend to clear up doubts. For
this reason, he who goes to law with another should go first of all to his
neighbours and friends who know best the questions at issue. And if he be
unable to obtain from them a satisfactory decision, let him have recourse to
another court; and if the two courts cannot settle the matter, let a third put an
end to the suit.
Now the establishment of courts of justice may be regarded as a choice of
magistrates, for every magistrate must also be a judge of some things; and the
judge, though he be not a magistrate, yet in certain respects is a very
important magistrate on the day on which he is determining a suit. Regarding
then the judges also as magistrates, let us say who are fit to be judges, and of
what they are to be judges, and how many of them are to judge in each suit.
Let that be the supreme tribunal which the litigants appoint in common for
themselves, choosing certain persons by agreement. And let there be two
other tribunals: one for private causes, when a citizen accuses another of
wronging him and wishes to get a decision; the other for public causes, in
which some citizen is of opinion that the public has been wronged by an
individual, and is willing to vindicate the common interests. And we must not
forget to mention how the judges are to be qualified, and who they are to be.
In the first place, let there be a tribunal open to all private persons who are
trying causes one against another for the third time, and let this be composed
as follows:—All the officers of state, as well annual as those holding office
for a longer period, when the new year is about to commence, in the month
following after the summer solstice, on the last day but one of the year, shall
meet in some temple, and calling God to witness, shall dedicate one judge
from every magistracy to be their first–fruits, choosing in each office him
who seems to them to be the best, and whom they deem likely to decide the
causes of his fellow–citizens during the ensuing year in the best and holiest
manner. And when the election is completed, a scrutiny shall be held in the
presence of the electors themselves, and if any one be rejected another shall
be chosen in the same manner. Those who have undergone the scrutiny shall
judge the causes of those who have declined the inferior courts, and shall give
their vote openly. The councillors and other magistrates who have elected
them shall be required to be hearers and spectators of the causes; and any one
else may be present who pleases. If one man charges another with having
intentionally decided wrong, let him go to the guardians of the law and lay his
1443
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Buch The Complete Plato"
The Complete Plato
- Titel
- The Complete Plato
- Autor
- Plato
- Datum
- ~347 B.C.
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- PD
- Abmessungen
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Seiten
- 1612
- Schlagwörter
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Kategorien
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International