Administrative Justice in Ancient Athens

Popular sovereignty has never been as completely in practice as in ancient Athens. The people didn't merely exercise their power at intervals, they wielded it at all times. The Assembly, which was composed of all citizens, decided and debated all questions of public policy. The legislation, executive, and judicial functions of government were exercised by commissions drawn from the citizen body by lot. This made it so the people actually administrated justice, interpreting and applying the law as they saw fit. A jurist on the bench would never balk the popular will by giving inconvenient precedents. Theoretically, a judicial decision rendered today could be reversed in a similar case tomorrow. [Ancient Greece]