The graphḗ paranómōn (Ancient Greek: γραφή παρανόμων), was a form of legal action believed to have been introduced at Athens under the democracy sometime around the year 415 BC; it has been seen as a replacement for ostracism, which fell into disuse around the same time, although this view is not held by David Whitehead, who points out that the graphe paranomon was a legal procedure with legal ramifications, including shame, and the convicted had officially committed a crime, whereas the ostrakismos was not shameful in the least.
Once someone announced under oath that he intended to bring such a suit, the legislation or decree in question was suspended until the matter was resolved.
(Jurors, it is true, had a slightly higher status, as they had to be over thirty, not twenty as for the assembly,[1] and they were under oath.)
Very many of the known prosecutions concern not substantive legislation but honorary decrees, seemingly of little importance from a modern viewpoint.
A signal example is the pair of speeches surviving from a graphē paranómōn from 333 BC, Demosthenes' On the Crown in response to Aeschines' Against Ctesiphon.