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CHAP. XLVIII.: The receivers; auditors. - Aristotle, Constitution of Athens [320 BC]

Edition used:

Aristotle’s Constitution of Athens, trans. Thomas J. Dymes (London: Seeley and Co., 1891).

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CHAP. XLVIII.

The receivers; auditors.

There are ten receivers appointed by lot by tribes. When they have received the lists, they cancel the moneys as they are paid in in the presence of the Council in the council-chamber, and again return the lists to the public notary. If anyone fails in payment the fact is then recorded, and the reason why; and he must pay the deficit or go to prison, and the Council has authority by law both to compel payment and to commit to prison. On the first day they receive the moneys and apportion them to the offices, and on the following they bring forward the apportionment, after recording it on a tablet, and draw up the list in the council-chamber, and . . . in the Council, if anyone, be he either magistrate or private individual, is known to have acted unfairly in the apportionment; and they put the question of his guilt to the vote. Further, the members of the Council appoint by lot from their own body tellers to the number of ten to account to the magistrates in each presidency. They appoint by lot also auditors, one from each tribe, and two assessors to each auditor, who are obliged to sit in the markets, which are called after those who have given their names to each tribe; and if anyone wishes at his own suit to prefer an audit against any of those who have given in their accounts within five days of their being given in, he writes on a white tablet his name and the name of the defendant, and the offences with which he charges him, and taking the valuation he decides upon, hands it over to the auditor. The auditor receives it, and if, after a hearing, he convicts, he hands over private cases to the jurors for the demes, which represent the particular tribe, while public cases he refers to the Thesmothetæ. The Thesmothetæ, if they entertain the suit, in their turn bring the audit before the court of justice, and the decision of the jurors is final.