The Athenian Judicial System was created by Solon in 6th Century BC. Effectively, he created a democratic society where each person had a right to be tried fairly before being convicted. However, Solon did not mean for the people to have as much power as they later had - he simply wanted them to be able to elect the magistrates.

Juries in Ancient Athens were normally 501, so there could not be any ties, picked at random from 6000 citizens who had been chosen to represent the different polises. As there were so many people in the jury, a court hearing was a very loud and chaotic event. The juries were so big so they could represent as much of the Athenian people as possible, and so be fairer. The jury were paid to do their job, so the poor could afford to be part of a jury for one...