Ancient Greece was not a state but existed as a collection of city-states known as poleis (πόλεις), all with different laws.
There is no systematic collection of ancient Greek laws; the earliest notions of the subject can be found in Homeric poems.
[1] Other evidence for ancient Athenian law comes from statements made in the extant speeches of the Attic orators, and from surviving inscriptions.
[1] Historians consider the Ancient Athenian law broadly procedural and concerned with the administration of justice rather than substantive.
[9] One of the earliest dateable legal events in Athenian history is the creation of the Draconian law code by Draco, c.620 BC.
[10] The law seems to have distinguished between premeditated and involuntary homicide, and provided for the reconciliation of the killer with the family of the dead man.
[11] The Athenian law codes set forth by Draco were completely reformed by Solon, who was the archon of Athens c.593 BC.
[13] Though Athens is commonly cited in discussions about Greek law, Sparta also developed a lasting legal code, attributed early on to Lycurgus.
[14] The gerousia was known as the council of elders and included the two kings, likely preparing documents concerning business ventures for the apella.
The gerousia also held significant power over the judicial system in Sparta, especially in the case of the death penalty.
In Athenian courts, the jury tended to be made of the common people, whereas litigants were mostly from the elites of society.
[21] The Prytaneion court was responsible for trying unknown people, animals, and inanimate objects for homicide, and it is assumed that it was in order to ensure that Athens was free of blood-guilt for the crime.
The jury was all-male,[22] and it has been argued that the Athenian court seemed to have been remarkably unwilling to allow any female presence in the civic space of the lawcourt itself.
In the Athenian legal system, there were no professional lawyers, though well-known speechwriters such as Demosthenes composed speeches which were delivered by, or on behalf of others.
These speechwriters have been described as being as close as a function of a modern lawyer as the Athenian legal system would permit.