Although the law of early Greece has an important value as it affect Roman laws and modern laws in west both directly and indirectly, internal achievements of that research has been little. That is why I have an interest in this subject.
I have tried to examine the early Greek laws in this paper, particularly focusing on the background of legislation and it's features.
Examining the Greek traditional literature and the epic of Homer, we can find the dispute of those days and the mediator that appeared through it. The mediator tried to settle a dispute as adjudicating a valid judgment to both of the disputer on the basis of Themis, Dike, Ethos and so on. But the mediator only could resolve the conflict temporarily. Because there was no definite codification of the authority and yardstick for judgment. And hence social crisis made the appearance of the lawgiver, who say Nomos on the basis of Themis, Dike, Ethos and so on, possible. The written law that was legislated by lawgiver represented a valid criterion to polis citizen and then stabilized polis life as resolving conflicts between individuals and groups. This legislation of the written law served as a momentum for turning laws by human into laws by law.
The law legislated by early greek lawgivers has unique legal features distinguished from near Orient district, because of the geopolitical and cultual characteristics. Because of the weakness of power of the ruler and lawgiver, they intended to connect laws with the authority of devine. This is likely to cause softening up the governmental power, and then polis citizen could enforce a law directly, and the top down substantive law developed instead of the bottom up procedural law. The reliance of the laws on devine didn't mean an irrational creed of citizen of the era, but an activeness of early greek that could heighten completion of the law by taking divine power.
Like this, early greek laws reflect on the phases of the times. It is the cultual end product including the devine and human element for need of the polis citizen itself, and it was just like mirror to reflect the degree of completion of the social-cultural system.