The Ancient Greek Economy. Markets, Households and City-States

THE LEGAL FOUNDATIONS OF ECONOMIC GROwTH 119

An owner in ancient Greece had the right to harvest and either consume

or sell anything grown on his land; if he rented his land to anyone, he had the

right to collect the payment of rent (right to income).^14 In the case of slaves,

masters in Greece had the right to anything they produced (including the chil-

dren of slave women). Those who owned property in Greece had the right to

sell it and to keep all the proceeds from the sale (right to capital). Aristotle (Rh.

1.5.7.1361.a16-19) believed that the right to alienate by gift or sale was the dis-

tinguishing feature of ownership.^15 The governments of the Greek city-states

gave owners the right of security, that is, immunity from expropriations. At

Itanos on Crete citizens swore an oath not to carry out a redistribution of

land or a cancellation of debts (SIG^3 526, lines 22–24). At Athens the incoming

archon promised security of possession to all who held land (Arist. Ath. Pol.

56.2).^16 In the terms of the League of Corinth there was a promise not to con-

fiscate property, cancel debts or to free slaves for the purpose of insurrection

(Dem. 17.15).^17 When Hyperides proposed to liberate the slaves of Attica, he

was brought to trial for proposing an illegal decree, which would have violated

the rights of owners.^18 Owners in Greek communities were able to exercise

their rights over their property as long as they did not alienate it until they died

and were able to bequeath it to whomever they wished (transmissibility and

absence of term). The law of Athens recognized the principle that a man could

leave his property to anyone he wished. There were of course restrictions on

this right; in Athenian law legitimate sons had the right to inherit property

unless they were disinherited (Dem. 20.102; 46.14; Isae. 6.9; Hyp.  3.7). The

Athenians and other Greeks could also disinherit their children and bequeath

their assets to whomever they wished.^19 Finally, if a citizen of a Greek commu-

nity did not pay a debt either to a private individual or to the state, his property

could be seized to pay for this obligation (liability to execution).^20

Although the basic rights of owners do not change from one community to

the next, rules about ownership can vary in different communities in respect

to three issues: (1) Who is entitled to own? (2) What can be owned? (3) What

are the restrictions placed on the rights of owners? At Athens and in other

Greek communities, for instance, foreigners could not own land unless they

were granted this privilege.^21 At Athens, women and children were not allowed

to conduct transactions worth more than a medimnus of barley.^22 At Athens it

was forbidden to own silver mines, which had to be leased from the state.^23 In

the modern world it is against the law to own another human being as one’s

slave, but this practice was widespread in Greece throughout antiquity.

The laws of Greek communities also placed certain restrictions on the rights

of owners in respect to the use of land.^24 In Attica it was forbidden to cut down

sacred olive trees on private land.^25 Solon is reported to have enacted regula-

tions that forbade the planting of olive or fig trees within nine feet of a neigh-

bor’s property and all other trees within five feet, as well as the construction