Henry A. Rhodes
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I. Special reports on the following people or subjects
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should be assigned to students while covering the
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appropriate parts of the unit:
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A. Solon
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B. Dracon
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C. Common law
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D. Evidence admissible in U.S. courts
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E. The Effects of the Napoleonic Code and Justinian Codes on American Law
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F. History of the Grand Jury in the U.S.
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G. The Connecticut Judicial System
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II. The following vocabulary words should be mastered by students with the completion of this unit. (See lesson plans for a teaching suggestion)
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1. “Draconian”
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18. Common law
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2. thesmothes
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19. Supremacy Clause
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3. archon
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20. Civil law
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4. Thetes
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21. stare decisis
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5. Areopagus
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22. graphe
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6. Palladion
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23. dike
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7. Phreatto
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24. civil case
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8. Delphinion
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25. criminal case
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9. Prytaneion
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26. felony
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10. water clock
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27. misdemeanor
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11. plaintiff
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28. Certiorari
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12. defendant
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29. Certification
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13. logographoi
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30. The Court of Claims
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14. Friendly Prosecution
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31. The Custom Court
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15. Counter Suits
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32. The Court of Customs
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16. Creating Sentiment
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and Patent Appeals
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17. Antidosis
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33. Territorial Courts
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34. The Tax Court
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35. grand jury
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III. I would recommend that this unit be taught using the lecture-discussion method. A U.S. History text or U.S. Civics text would be used by the students for a basis for discussion concerning the U.S. court system. This would be supplemented by lectures from the teacher concerning the Athenian court system. On the completion of this unit a visit to a local court should occur. Some suggested discussion questions are as follows:
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1) Are there any laws that you know about today that you would consider “Draconian”?
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2) How would you like to live in a society in which every offense was punishable by death?
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3) What are some strengths and weaknesses of the American and Athenian court systems?
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4) Why do you think evidence from a slave was only admissible if it was received while the slave was tortured?
Lesson Plan I
Objective
To explain how a case is tried in an American court.
Procedure
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1. The objective will be accomplished by setting up a role playing situation. The following will be needed: 1) a judge 2) a grand jury 3) prosecutor 4) defendant 5) a jury 6) cases
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2. Once the class has elected a judge, the judge will appoint a grand jury from the class to determine if there is enough evidence to prosecute. (The cases will come from a class assignment in which each student will be responsible for creating one case.)
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3. The next step will be the actual trying of the case and the rendering of a verdict.
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4. With each new case there should be a change in the court room personnel so that as many as possible can experience the different positions of an American court.
Homework
After concluding several cases students should write a brief essay in which they describe their experiences in their role playing situations.
Lesson Plan II
Objective
To create an Athenian case and then play the role of a logographos.
Procedur
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1. Several Athenian cases should be read from Kathleen Freeman’s
The Murder of Herodes and Other Trials
from the Athenian Law
to the students to give them examples of cases tried in Athens and the speeches that were written by logographoi. The cases to be read to the students are:
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a.
Wounding with Intent to Kill: Quarrel over
a Boy
— in this case the speech for the defendant was written by Lysias, the case centers on a dispute between two Athenian men over the affections of a boy. In the quarrel one of the men is injured
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b.
On the Murder of Herodes
—the speech for the defendant was written by Antiphon. In this case Helos, a man from Mytilene, is accused of murdering Herodes.
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2. Students will first pair up in teams, one being the defendant, the other the plaintiff.
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3. Students will then create a case or a dispute.
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4. The students will then have to go to another student and have them write a speech defending their position. Students will not be allowed to write their own speeches.
Homework
Complete speeches for fellow classmates. This lesson will be concluded the following day by the class acting as the jury and deciding the cases based on the speeches.
Lesson Plan III
Objective
To review vocabulary words listed in the ‘Teaching Strategies’.
Procedure
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1. This lesson will be modeled after the game show ‘What’s My Line’.
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2. Each student will be assigned a person or vocabulary word from the vocabulary list.
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3. Then each member of the class will be allowed to ask the student questions pertaining to their role. The student questioned can only answer in the affirmative or the negative. If a student asks a question that receives an affirmative answer, they are allowed to ask another question until they receive a negative response, at which time we will go on to the next student. This procedure will continue until someone guesses the role or we go through the entire class.
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4. The winner will be the student who stumps the most students.