Interview with Draco

Today's guest called Draco played an imported role in Greek history. He is the first legislator of Athens who was democratically chosen by the Athenian citizens.

However, the Athenian citizens didn't expect Draco's rules to be so harsh. The word Draconian, which describes repressive legal measures originates from Draco's code.
Let's welcome Draco, the first official lawgiver of Athens!

Hello, thank you for inviting me here today.

We would love to hear why you decided to change the former system and replace orally transmitted laws with a proper constitution.

The former system was ruled by Athenian aristocrats. The laws were never written down. They were passed on orally, or they simply didn't exist. Many times people would solve their conflicts without any law at all. Meaning through feuds often ending in blood.
The new laws that I have officially written down has become Athens constitution and is only allowed to be enforced by a court of law.

So the aim of our code was to stop unjustified laws that were announced orally?

Exactly. In order to spread awareness about the new constitution I made sure that the laws were written down on big stones called axones. Therefore, it wasn't possible for anyone to randomly invent a new law or to deny the existence of another. Only the laws written on the axones were valid.

One of the laws written in the constitution states that debtors who had a lower status than their creditors were pressured into slavery. In other words, people with less money faced more brutal punishments than wealthier people.

Well, I would not say that it is a brutal punishment. The debtor has committed a crime by borrowing money that he or she can not give back. Such a crime equal the crime of theft and robbery. The creditor won't get his money back because the debtor can't repay him.

Yet Athenian citizens are still complaining that this law is too harsh. Another law that has caused unease among the people is the rule stating that minor offences like stealing food should be punished with the death penalty. How do you explain such a serious decision?  

In my opinion minor crimes deserved to be punished by the death penalty as much as greater crimes. Sure, maybe there are crimes that deserve an even crueler punishment, but we haven't found a better sentence than the sentence to death. It is the easiest way to get rid of criminal people. Furthermore, being punished by death for less severe crimes scares people off and prevents them from repeating the crime.

Interesting point of view. Even though there the new constitution is critically discusses and not 100% excepted by the Athenian citizens, it is a good start to an Democracy with an organized system.  Thank you very much for taking time to do this interview.