The Juries
As I have stated before, the juries held all power in the courts. These juries were made up of ordinary citizens (usually from the lower class) and when the case was over, they were paid for their services. But you might be asking "How were they chosen? Was the process of selection completely objective?" Well, here are the answers. They were chosen by a machine like the one shown above. On the day of the trial, a man inserted all of the jurors' tickets into a machine with slots arranged into rows of ten. Then, he took a funnel and filled it with black and white marbles. Then he cranked the marbles out. If the first marble was white, then people in the first row were assigned to serve. If it was black, then they did not have to serve, and their tickets were taken out. He continued to do this until all the people were assigned.
This system ensured that the selection was always random and that no one could bribe people to vote for someone else. (since the selection was done on the day of the trial) This meant that no one person was (intentionally) selected more than anyone else. This combined with the magistrates being absolutely useless gave the people absolute power in the courts, and they had no idea.
This system was so good that it remained in place for 300 years. Within that time period, Athens had changed leaders very many times. Each leader changed the city a little bit, but none made any changes whatsoever to the court system. At the end of that 300 years the Macedonians came and changed it, but remained mostly the same. To me, this is truly the mark of an amazing system.
This system ensured that the selection was always random and that no one could bribe people to vote for someone else. (since the selection was done on the day of the trial) This meant that no one person was (intentionally) selected more than anyone else. This combined with the magistrates being absolutely useless gave the people absolute power in the courts, and they had no idea.
This system was so good that it remained in place for 300 years. Within that time period, Athens had changed leaders very many times. Each leader changed the city a little bit, but none made any changes whatsoever to the court system. At the end of that 300 years the Macedonians came and changed it, but remained mostly the same. To me, this is truly the mark of an amazing system.