Akoèn martyrein

AKOÈN MARTYREIN (ἀκοὴν μαρτυρεῖν). The general rule of Athenian, as of English jurisprudence, was against the admission of hearsay evidence. The one exception was the attested declaration of a deceased person, which was carefully distinguished from the ἐκμαρτυρία or written deposition of an absent witness [EKMARTYRIA]. The law is expressed in Demosth. ii. Steph. p. 1130.8, ἀκοὴν δ’οὐκ ἐῶσι ζῶντος μαρτυρεῖν, ἀλλὰ τεθνεῶτος, τῶν δὲ ἀδυνάτων καὶ ὑπερορίων, ἐκμαρτυρίαν γεγραμμένην σ̓ν γραμματείῳ. As regards the living, οὐδὲ μαρτυρεῖν ἀκοὴν ἐῶσιν οἱ νόμοι, οὐδ’ ἐπὶ τοῖς πάνυ φαύλοις ἐγκλ·ήμασιν, εἰκότως (id. c. Eubul. p. 1300, §§ 6, 7, where the reasons for the prohibition are given at length; comp. c. Leochar. p. 1097.55). Will cases would naturally often turn on the evidence of the dead; hence the phrase ἀκοὴν μαρτυρεῖν is of frequent occurrence in the extant speeches of Isaeus (e.g. Philoct. § 64; Ciron, §§ 8, 18, 38).

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