Draco's Code

Draco's Code, promulgated around 621 to 620 BCE, was Athens's first written law code, replacing the arbitrary oral rulings of aristocratic judges. It is remembered chiefly for its severity, prescribing death for a wide range of offenses, which gave rise to the English word draconian. Its one durable legal contribution was the first codified distinction in Athenian law between intentional and unintentional homicide. Solon's reforms of 594 BCE repealed nearly the entire code but explicitly preserved Draco's homicide statutes, carrying that one piece of Draco's law forward into later Athenian legal practice.