Thesis (Th. M.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-112).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-112).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [112]-114).

Thesis--Munich. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. ix-xli).

This thesis examines the institutional design and the procedures regulating the decree-making in the poleis of the Classical and Hellenistic periods. The main contention of this thesis is that Greek decree-making is to be conceived as the result of a multi-layered system of interaction and delegation of deliberative authority among different institutions: councils, officials, assemblies and lawcourts. My thesis argues, therefore, that decree-making procedures were specifically designed to implement the concept of 'divided power', a value shared by both democracies and non-democratic regimes, and to shape the collective behaviour of the citizens when acting as decision-makers within the institutions. By adopting models from the political sciences, my thesis bridges the gap between institutional approaches to political decision-making and more recent approaches that have stressed the role of values and ideology as key factors to understand ancient Greek politics. Chapter 1 lays out the methodology of the thesis informed by the New Historical Institutionalism. Chapter 2 analyses the practice of delegation of power from the Athenian Assembly to the Athenian Council in order to enact additional measures. The careful study of the delegation-clauses sheds light on the administrative power of the Council by demonstrating that the Council played a proper policy-making role through the enactment of a decree, which was the product of Council's expertise in defined matters, such as religious affairs, foreign policy and the navy. Chapter 3 builds on the findings of the previous chapter, and shows the workings and development of delegation-clauses to the Council in two examples from outside Athens, Mytilene and Megalopolis over the longue durée. Chapter 4 deals with the deliberative procedures of Hellenistic Sparta. The Spartan 'divided power' envisaged that the Gerousia shared the probouleutic power with the ephors who could independently submit the bill to the Assembly. The Gerousia, however, held the power of nomophylakia and could veto the final decree. This chapter shows that divided power and the need of legal stability were addressed by Spartan institutions, but with different results because of the wider powers of officials in the decree-making. This chapter introduces the important issue of the balance between people's deliberation and stability of the legal order, which form an important focus of chapters 5 and 6. Chapter 5 discusses the role played by legal procedure of the adeia in fifth-century deliberative decision-making in the Assembly. This chapter provides a new comprehensive account of this legal institution. Adeia instituted a pre-nomothetic procedure, according to which the Assembly could change an entrenched piece of legislation or decree without clashing with the nomothetic ideology. Chapter 6 examines the relationship between deliberation and judicial review in the Greek poleis. The first section discusses the Athenian graphe paranomon, the public charge against an illegal decree. A thorough analysis of the legal procedure and of the institutional design shows that deliberative decisions were made within the framework of the rule of law and the graphe paranomon enforced this principle. This did not imply an institutional prominence of the lawcourts in the Athenian decision-making. The lawcourts performed an important role in the deliberative process through providing a safeguard of legal consistency by adding the legal expertise of the judges to the general rationale of the decree-making. The second part of the chapter is dedicated to the discussion of evidence of judicial review from outside Athens and the multifaceted role of the Hellenistic practice of appointing foreign judges in adjudicating public lawsuits, and especially in the judicial review of decrees.

Diss. Hebrew Univ. Jerusalem, 2001. / Formerly CIP. Includes bibliographical references and index.

The Mesopotamian inscriptions and collections in ancient Mesopotamia consist of different meanings extended over long time-periods and with social, political, economic and ethnic differences. Scholars in determining whether the texts are an authentic source for Mesopotamian law traditions developed different theories and each of these theories has different variations. In a literature study to obtain if the inscriptions and collections are an authentic source, the different theories and methodologies of the inscriptions and collections were mentioned and the inscriptions and collections were tested in accordance with the characteristics of the Mesopotamian law traditions. Until new interpretation of documents of daily activities and legal activities, which can prove, that these texts are an authentic source, the interpretation of the collections and inscriptions on the legal issues of ancient Mesopotamians must be applied with caution and studied together with the greater corpus of cuneiform texts. / Old Testament and Ancient Near East Studies / M.A. (Ancient Near East Studies)

The Mesopotamian inscriptions and collections in ancient Mesopotamia consist of different meanings extended over long time-periods and with social, political, economic and ethnic differences. Scholars in determining whether the texts are an authentic source for Mesopotamian law traditions developed different theories and each of these theories has different variations. In a literature study to obtain if the inscriptions and collections are an authentic source, the different theories and methodologies of the inscriptions and collections were mentioned and the inscriptions and collections were tested in accordance with the characteristics of the Mesopotamian law traditions. Until new interpretation of documents of daily activities and legal activities, which can prove, that these texts are an authentic source, the interpretation of the collections and inscriptions on the legal issues of ancient Mesopotamians must be applied with caution and studied together with the greater corpus of cuneiform texts. / Old Testament and Ancient Near East Studies / M.A. (Ancient Near East Studies)

In most cases in a deceased person’s estate, there are problems with co-ownership where more than one family member inherits the deceased family estate assets. To escape the perils of co-ownership the beneficiaries consensually agree to divide the inherited communallyshared asset/s. This agreement can take place immediately after the death of the family estate owner or some time later regarding some or all of the said assets. On the conclusion of the division agreement, the contractual party who receives the awarded assets enjoys sole ownership and the other contractual parties by agreement retract their ownership. In a jurisprudential content analysis of forty-six recorded family deceased division agreements from Old Babylonian Larsa and Nippur, essential elements are identified which are the framework and qualification requirements for a family deceased division agreement. Within this framework the concepts, terms and elements of the agreement are categorised as natural and incidental elements, which reflect the specific law traditions and choices of contractual parties and show the unique scribal traditions in the different Old Babylonian city-states of Larsa, Nippur and Sippar. The aim of the study is to shed a more focused light on the interpretation of recorded Old Babylonian division agreements and to show that the division agreement was a successful, timeless, estate administration mechanism and tool to obviate any undesirable consequences of co-ownership of the bequeathed property. / Old Testament & Ancient Near Eastern Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Ancient Near Eastern Studies)

Text in English / This study indicates the strong link between the belief in the afterlife and the inception of testamentary dispositions in ancient Egypt. To understand law, and specifically succession law, the importance of religion must be understood. Religion was embedded in society. One of the most important principles of religion was maat, which formed the basis for law. The living and dead formed part of the same community. The belief in the afterlife implied an immortality, an eternal continuation of life. There was a moral relationship between the dead and living and the deceased was dependent on sustenance after death. There was an obligation for the family to sustain the deceased, but this piety diminished and a need arose to make arrangements for sustenance prior to death. This led to the inception of the testamentary disposition document. The purpose of succession law is to maintain and strengthen the socio-economic structure in society and it therefore fulfils a social function. At the heart is the nuclear family. In ancient Egypt two systems of succession law developed: customary intestate succession and testate succession (by way of testamentary disposition). Different types of documents were used in ancient Egypt to serve the purpose of a testamentary disposition, such as the pious foundation and the imyt-pr. Important concepts and elements of succession law from the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms are identified and discussed. These include fideicommissum, trusts, usufruct, habitatio, legacies, the importance to indicate ownership of property, etc. The testamentary disposition documents of ancient Egypt must be one of the earliest examples of testate succession law. The Egyptian testamentary disposition, with its concepts and elements of succession law, was established centuries before Rome and Roman law were established. The resemblance to our modern-day wills and testaments through our Roman testate succession law heritage is remarkable. / Classics and World Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (Ancient Near Eastern Studies)