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MARCUS N. TOD, M.A._, ON INTERNATIONAL 



secure that all the relevant evidence, duly attested and con- 

 firmed, shall be laid before the court. The actual trial begins 

 with the speeches, limited in duration, of the two advocates, 

 into the course of which are introduced the pieces of evidence, 

 oral or documentary, adduced to confirm the statements made : 

 only the actual speech is timed, the water-clock being stopped 

 so long as a witness is heard or a document read aloud by the 

 secretary. Then follows an interval for the cross-examination 

 of such witnesses as are able to be present, and at its conclusion 

 the advocates are allowed to sum up, within a reduced time- 

 limit. There is no further speaking : the court at once finds its 

 verdict, each member voting as he feels inclined, without any 

 " retirement of the jury " or opportunity for combined 

 discussion and consideration. Sometimes we learn exactly how 

 many votes were given on each side. In the case between 

 Sparta and Messene the numbers were 16 and 584 for the two 

 states respectively, in another they were 126 and 78, while in 

 a third, between Cierium and Metropolis in Thessaly, 298 

 judges voted for the former and 31 for the latter, while five 

 votes were invalid, for some reason which is not stated. 

 Usually, however, the numbers are not given, the majority 

 deciding the award of the court. 



There is one characteristic feature of the records of Greek 

 arbitration as contained in inscriptions which deserves at least 

 a passing mention. The arbitrators recognized that they had 

 an even higher task to fulfil than the mere settlement of a 

 quarrel between two states ; if possible, those states must be 

 reconciled to each other, and the friendship, which had been 

 interrupted, must be restored. And with this end in view they 

 constantly attempted (the same holds true also of arbitration in 

 private disputes) to induce the states to agree to an equitable 

 settlement. In other words, they tried to decide the difference 

 by mediation before they exercised their arbitral powers and 

 delivered a binding verdict. For they realized that mediation 

 is the function of a friend, arbitration that of a judicial tribunal. 

 I give you a single illustration, the clearest, perhaps, known to 

 us, yet assuredly typical rather than exceptionaL In the report 

 on the case between two towns of eastern Crete, Itanus and 

 Hierapytna, the court, composed of eighteen Magnesians, records 

 that, at the conclusion of the speeches made by the advocates 

 of each side, the judges put down their verdicts in writing, that 

 is, they definitely decided what verdict they would give if such 

 were rendered necessary, but were anxious, if possiljle, to avoid 

 the hard and fast decision of the judicial sentence and therefore, 



